FOGGY DEW (revolutionary) Ireland

Easter 1916 Dublin Ireland uprising. Ireland rebellion against the draft in what they felt was England's war, not Ireland's.

Twas down the glen one Easter morn
To a city fair rode I
When Ireland's line of marching men
In squadrons passed me by
No pipe did hum, no battle drum
Did sound its dread tattoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey's swell
Rang out in the foggy dew

Right proudly high over Dublin town
They hung out a flag of war
Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath
Strong men came hurrying through
While Brittania's sons with their long-range guns
Sailed in from the foggy dew

Twas England bade our wild geese go
That small nations might be free
Their lonely graves are by Suvla's waves
On the fringe of the grey North Sea
But had they died by Pearse's side
Or fought with Valera true
Their graves we'd keep where the Fenians sleep
Neath the hills of the foggy dew

The bravest fell, and the solemn bell
Rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide
In the springtime of the year
And the world did gaze in deep amaze
At those fearless men and true
Who bore the fight that freedom's light
Might shine through the foggy dew

GRACE

Ireland poet Joseph Mary Plunkett stood among those murdered for signing an anti-draft proclamation for all Ireland. At 1:30 a m - the night before his execution May 4, 1916 - he married his fiancee Grace Gifford in the Kilmenham Jail chapel. I know the melodies of "Grace" and "Death of Ellenton" but can't find the MIDIS online.

CHORUS
Oh, Grace, please hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love
For we must say goodbye

As we gather in the chapel in old Kilmainham Jail
I think about these past few weeks, oh will this foray fail
From our schooldays they have told us we must yearn for liberty
But all I want in this whole world is to have you here with me

Oh I know it's hard for you my love to ever understand
The love I bear for these brave men, my love of this dear land
But when Foury called me to his side down in the G P O
(General Post Office, Dublin)
I had to leave my own sickbed - to him I had to go

Now as the dawn is breaking my heart is breaking too
On this May morn as I walk out my thoughts will be of you
As I write these words upon the walls so everyone will see
I loved so much that I could see his blood upon the rose

There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye

THE DEATH OF ELLENTON

Across the Atlantic from Ireland. 1953 President Truman ordered Ellenton and nearby towns, most of which dated to the 18th century, and built an H-bomb plant there. Residents were given hiring priority. A sign said "We build H bombs here to use on towns you love as much as we do ours."

Where the broad Savannah flows along to meet the mighty sea
There stood a peaceful village that meant all the world to me
Twas home for happy people I knew each and every one
All my kin and friends I loved, the town was Ellenton

The military came one day and filled our hearts with woe
We'll study war right here they said, the little town must go
They came with trucks and dynamite the din and dust rose high
I stood and gazed in silence there and watched my home town die

They brought bulldozers by the score where children used to play
Pushed over all the trees we loved and scraped the flowers away

Now homes are gone the schoolhouse too the sweat and toil of years
And with them all our hopes and joys of past and future years
The little church was hauled away the fields are brown and bare
And in their place a mighty plant they built the H-bomb there

Now smoke hangs o'er the valley like mist before my eyes
That has been there ever since the day I saw my hometown die
Friends we've known and loved we'll meet upon some other shore
But Ellenton, fair Ellenton is gone forever more

COOL WATER

All day I face the barren waste
Without the taste of water
Cool water

Old Dan and I with throats burned dry
And souls that cry for water
Cool, clear water

Nights are cool and I'm a fool
Each star's a pool of water
Cool water

But with the dawn I'll wake and yawn
And carry on for water
Cool clear water

The shadows sway and seem to say
Tonight we pray for water
Cool water

And way up there he'll hear our prayer
And show us where there's water
Cool clear water

Dan's feet are sore, he's yearning for
Just one thing more than water
Cool water

Like me I guess he'd like to rest
Where there's no quest for water
Cool clear water

Keep a-movin Dan don't you listen to him Dan
He's a devil not a man and he spreads the burning sand with water
Dan can't you see that big green tree where the water runs free
And it's waiting there for you and me
Cool clear water

JESSE JAMES

Jesse James was a man who killed many a man
He robbed the Glendale train
And the people they did say for many miles away
It was robbed by Frank and Jesse James

Chorus
Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life
Three children they were brave
But that dirty little coward that shot Mr Howard
Has laid poor Jesse in his grave

It was on a Wednesday night, the moon was shining bright
They robbed the Glendale train
And the people they did say for many miles away
It was robbed by Frank and Jesse James

It was on a Saturday night when Jesse was at home
Talking with his family brave
Robert Ford came like a thief in the night
And laid poor Jesse in his grave

Robert Ford that dirty little coward
I wonder how he feels
For he ate of Jesse's bread and he slept in Jesse's bed
And he laid poor Jesse in his grave

This song was made by Billy Gashade
As soon as the news did arrive
He said here was no man with the law in his hand
Who could take Jesse James when alive

PRETTY BOY FLOYD

Gather round me children, a story I will tell
Of Pretty Boy Floyd the outlaw, Oklahoma knew him well

It was in the town of Shawnee, it was Saturday afternoon
His wife beside him in the wagon, as into town they rode

There a deputy sheriff approached him in a manner rude
Using vulgar words of language, and his wife she overheard

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain and the deputy grabbed a gun
And in the fight that followed he laid that deputy down

He took to the trees and timbers and he lived a life of shame
Every crime in Oklahoma was added to his name

Yet he took to the trees and timbers on that Canadian River's shore
And Pretty Boy found a welcome at many a farmer's door

There's many a starving farmer the same old story told
How this outlaw paid their mortgage and saved their family home

Others tell you of a stranger that come to beg a meal
And underneath his napkin left a thousand dollar bill

It was in Oklahoma City it was on a Christmas Day
There come a whole car load of groceries with a letter that did say

You say I'm an outlaw you say I'm a thief
Well, here's a Christmas dinner for families on relief

Now as through this world I ramble I see lots of funny men
Some will rob you with a six-gun and some with a fountain pen

As through your life you travel as through your life you roam
You'll never see an outlaw drive a family from their home


Billy the Kid

I'll sing you a true song of Billy the Kid
I'll sing of the desperate deeds he did
Out in New Mexico long, long ago
When a man's only chance was his own .44

When Billy the Kid was a very young lad
In old Silver City he went to the bad
Out in the West with a gun in his hand
At 12 he first killed a man

Fair Mexican maidens play guitars and sing
Songs about Billy, their boy bandit king
How ere his young manhood reached its sad end
A notch on his pistol for 21 men

On the same night when Billy died
He said to his friends: I'm not satisfied
There's 21 men I put bullets through
Sheriff Pat Garrett must make 22

This is how Billy the Kid met his fate
The bright moon was shining, the hour was late
Shot down by Pat Garrett, who once was his friend
The young outlaw's life had now come to its end

Many a man so fine and fair
Starts out in life with a chance to be square
Like poor Billy he wanders astray
And loses his life the very same way

Songs 3

Both sung to the tune of "The Ship that Never Returned"

The MTA Song

CHORUS
Well did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned

Let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station
And changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him one more nickel
Charlie couldn't get off that train

Charlie's wife goes down to the Scolly Square Station
Every day at a quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train goes rumblin through

Now you citizens of Boston don't you think it's a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay
Fight the fare increase vote for George O'Brien
And get Charlie off the MTA

WRECK OF THE OLD 97

Oh they gave him his orders in Monroe Virginia saying
Steve you're way behind time
This is not 38 but it's old 97
You must put her into Spencer on time

He turned and said to his tired greasy fireman
Shovel in a little more coal
And when we cross that White Oak Mountain
Just watch old 97 roll

It's a mighty tough road from Lynchburg to Danville
A line on a three mile grade
It was on this grade he lost his leverage
You can see what a jump he made

He was going down the grade making 90 miles an hour
When his whistle broke into a scream
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
Scalded to death by the steam

Now all you ladies please take warning
From this time now and learn
Never speak harsh words to your true loving husband
He may leave you and never return

Songs 4

WABASH CANNONBALL

Chorus Listen to the jingle the rumble and the roar As she glides along the woodlands through hills and by the shore Hear the mighty rush of the engine hear the lonesome hoboes call You're traveling through the jungle on the Wabash Cannonball Now Eastern states are dandy so Western people say From New York to St Louis and Chicago by the way From the hills of Minnesota where the rippling waters fall No changes could be taken on the Wabash Cannonball She came down from Birmingham one cold December day As she pulled in the station you could hear the people say Here's a gal from Tennessee she's long and she's tall She came down to Birmingham on the Wabash Cannonball Here's to Daddy Claxton may his name forever stand And always be remembered in the courts throughout the land His earthly race is over and the curtains round him fall They'll carry him home to victory on the Wabash Cannonball

WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN

Chorus Will the circle be unbroken Bye and bye Lord bye and bye There's a better home awaiting In the sky Lord in the sky I was standing by my window On a cold and cloudy day When I saw that hearse come rolling For to carry my mother away Lord I told that undertaker Undertaker please drive slow For this body that you're hauling Lord I hate to see her go I followed close behind her Tried to hold up and be brave But I could not hide my sorrow As they laid her in her grave I went home, my home was lonely Now my mother she has gone All my brothers, sisters crying What a home, so sad and alone

THE THREE BELLS

There's a village hidden deep in the valley Among the pine trees half forlorn And there on a sunny morning Little Jimmy Brown was born All the chapel bells were ringing In the little valley town All the songs that they were singing Were for baby Jimmy Brown There's a village hidden deep in the valley Beneath the mountains high above And there twenty years thereafter Little Jimmy was to meet his love All the chapel bells were ringing Twas a great day in his life And the songs that they were singing Were for Jimmy and his wife From the village hidden deep in the valley One rainy morning dark and gray A soul winged its way to Heaven Little Jimmy Brown passed away Just a lonely bell was ringing In the little valley town Twas farewell that they were singing To our good old Jimmy Brown Then the little congregation Prayed for guidance from above Lead us not into temptation Bless this hour of meditation Guide us with eternal love

LONG BLACK VEIL

Ten years ago on a cold dark night There was someone killed 'neath the Town Hall light There were few at the scene but they all agreed The man who ran looked a lot like me Chorus She walks these hills in a long black veil She visits my grave when the night winds wail Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me The judge said son what is your alibi If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die I spoke not a word though it meant my life I was in the arms of my best friend's wife The scaffold was high and eternity near She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan In a long black veil she cries over my bones

FREIGHT TRAIN

Freight train freight train going so fast Freight train freight train going so fast Please don't tell what train I'm on So they won't know where I've gone When I die Lord bury me deep Way down on old Chestnut Street So I can hear old Number Nine As she goes rolling by When I'm dead and in my grave No more good times here I'll crave Place the stones at my head and feet And tell them I've gone to sleep