"Song For Ireland"

Author: Phil and June Colclough

Walking all the day near tall towers where falcons build their nests
Silver-winged they fly they know the call of freedom in their breasts
Saw Black Head against the sky where twisted rocks they run to the sea

Chorus:
Living on your western shore
Saw summer sunsets, asked for more
I stood by your Atlantic Sea
And sang a song for Ireland

Drinking all the day in old pubs where fiddlers love to play
Saw one touch the bow he played a reel which seemed so grand and gay
Stood on Dingle Beach and cast in wild foam we found Atlantic bass

Chorus

Talking all the day wth true friends who try to make you stay
Telling jokes and news singing songs to pass the time away
Watched the Galway salmon run like silver dancing, darting in the sun

Chorus

Dreaming in the night I saw a land where no one had to fight
Waking in your dawn I saw you crying in the morning light
Sleeping where the falcons fly they twist and turn all in your air-blue sky

Chorus

"Fields of Athenry"

Author: Pete St. John

By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling
"Michael, they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyan's corn,
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

Chorus
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young man calling
"Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity."

Chorus

By a lonely harbor wall, she watched the last star fall
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray for her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

Chorus

"Town I Loved So Well"

Author: Phil Coulter

In my memory I will always see the town that I have loved so well
Where our school played ball by the gas yard wall
And we laughed through the smoke and the smell.
Going home in the rain running up the dark lane
Past the jail and down beside the Fountain
Those were happy days in so many many ways
In the town I loved so well.

In the early morn the shirt factory horn
Called the women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played a mother's role
Fed the children and then walked the dog
And when times got rough there was just about enough
But they saw it through without complaining
For deep inside was a burning pride
In the town I loved so well.

There was music there in the Derry air
Like a language that we could all understand
I remember the day when I earned my first pay
When I played in a small pick-up band
There I spent my youth and to tell you the truth
I was sad to leave it all behind me
There I learned about life and I found a wife
In the town I loved so well:

But when I returned oh my eyes how they burned
To see how a town could be brought to its knees
By the armoured

cars and the bombed out bars
And the gas that hangs on to every breeze
Now the army's installed by the old gas yard wall
And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher
With their tanks and their guns
Oh my God, what have they done
To the town I loved so well.

Now the music's gone but they carry on
For their spirit's been bruised, never broken
They will not forget but their hearts are set
On tomorrow and peace once again
Now what's done is done and what's won is won
And what's lost is lost and gone forever
I can only pray for a bright brand new day
For the town I love so well.

"The Old Man"

Songwriter: Frederick O'connor

The tears have all been shed now
We’ve said our last goodbyes
His souls been blessed
He’s laid to rest
Andit’s now I feel alone
He was moer than just a father
A teacher my best friend
He can still be heard
In the tunes we shared
When we play them on our own

Chorus
I never will forget him
For he made me "what I am"
Though he may be gone
Memories linger on
And I miss him, the old man

As a boy he’d take me walking
By mountain field and stream
And he showed me things
Not known to kings
And secret between him and me
Like the colours of the pheasant
As he rises in the dawn
And how to fish and make a wish
Beside the holly tree

I thought he’d live forever
He seemed so big and strong
But the minutes fly
And the years roll by
For a father and a son
And suddenly when it happened
There was so much left unsaid
No second chance
To tell him thanks
For everything he’s done

"The Minstrel Boy"

Author: Thomas Moore

The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone
in the ranks of death you will find him
his father’s sword he has girded on
and his wild harp slung behind him
“The land of song,” said the warrior bard,
“tho all the world betray thee
one sword at least thy ranks shall guard
one faithful harp shall praise thee”

The minstrel fell but the foreman’s chain
could not bring his proud sould under
the harp he loved never spoke again
for he tore it’s chords asunder
He said, “No chains shall sully thee.
The sould of love and bravery
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!”

"Voyage"

I am a sailor
you're my first mate
we signed on together
we coupled our fate
Hauled up our anchor
determined not to fail
for the heart's treasure
together we set sail.

With no maps to guide us
we steered our own course
we rode out the storms
when the winds were gale force
sat out the doldrums
in patience and hope
working together
we learned how to cope

Chorus
Life is an ocean
love is a boat
in troubled waters
keeps us afloat
when we started this voyage
there was just me and you
now gathered round us
we have our own crew

Together we're in this relationship
we built it with care
and to last the whole trip
Our true destination's
not marked on any chart
we're navigating
for shores of the heart

"Danny Boy"

Author: Fred Weatherly

Oh Danny Boy, the pipes the pipes are calling
from glen to glen and down the mountain side
the summer’s gone and all the flowers dying
it’s you it’s you must go and I must bide
but come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
or when the valley’s hushed and white with snow
it’s I’ll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny Boy my Danny Boy I love you so

And when ye come and all the flowers are dying
if I am dead as dead I well may be
you’ll come and find the place where I am lying
and knell and say an Ave there for me
and I shall hear tho soft ye tread above me
and all my grave will warmer sweeter be
and if you bend and tell me that you love me
than I shall sleep in peace until you come to me

"Only Our Rivers Run Free"

Author: Michael McConnell

When apples still grow in November,
When blossoms still grow from each tree,
When leaves are still green in December,
It's then that our land will be free.
I’ve wandered her hills and her valleys,
And still through my sorrow I see,
A land that has never known freedom,
And only our rivers run free.

I drink to the death of her manhood
Those men who'd rather have died
Than to live in the cold chains of bondage
To bring back their rights were denied.
Oh, where are you now that we need you,
What burns where the flame used to be
Are you gone like the snow of last winter
And only our rivers run free

How sweet is life, but we're crying
How mellow the wine, but we're dry.
How fragrant the rose, but it's dying
How gentle the wind, but it sighs.
What good is in youth when it's aging?
What good is in eyes that can't see?
Whem there's sorrow in sunshine and flowers
And only our rivers run free.