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Broken Irish
I was born in Publin for something I didn’t do
A place there was always trouble in and someone shoutin’ too
I was born both young and innocent and still they gave me life
But I’m glad that I’m an Irishman - and so’s me wife
We had no neighbours sad to say we only had eye witnesses
And thought the guys were gay who preferred the girls to Guinnesses
But I got out – I ran – I didn’t realise ‘til later
I became a self-made man, now I worship me creator
Tho’ to be an exile can be bad not every song is sad
Me, I’m so happy to be here - I won’t be cryin’ in my beer
‘Cos, them oul’ times weren’t always rare and tho’ they call the city fair
If I never saw the place again you know I wouldn’t care
Broken Irish is what we spoke, in a fix but always broke
And a hearty meal to most was two pints and a smoke
When I talk I get a smile ‘cos people like the Emerald Isle
Broken Irish is what I speak but I am not unique
Everybody must be born in one place or another
It was Ireland for me so I’d be closer to me mother
Me Da decided to get fit, sez he,“I’ll walk 3 miles a day”
And in a month or so he was 100 miles away
I come from Ireland, true, I could go back but won’t
Here I play the didgeridoo and sometimes I didgerie don’t
Between the weather and the beer we’re near to paradise
All day the sunshine beats down here and half the bloody night
And the dingos’ endless circling in the blue, blue cloudless sky
With kangaroos on every street and the best laws cash can buy
You took me in I tried to come up to expectations
I did me best to not be shite and to make a few donations
To your world of song and dance and tho’ I’m no Caruso
At least I took the chance when I became a muso
Who started out with nothin’ and still has most of it, alright
Enough to last me all me life if I die tonight
Broken Irish is what we spoke, in a fix but always broke
And a hearty meal to most was two pints and a smoke
© Des Wade 2021
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Thomas (Bang Bang) Dudley
As the stagecoach to Medicine Bow leaves the Liberties
Bang Bang takes aim with his trusty key
With John Wayne at the reins they hightail it through The Coombe
And all the baddies’ bullets - well they can’t do nothin’ to ‘em
For fifty years he rides the range upholdin’ law ‘n’ order
With shoot outs from Clanbrassil Street to the Rio Liffey’s waters
From the prairies of Stephen’s Green and the badlands in between
Bang Bang has the fastest draw that you have ever seen
“Bang bang, you’re dead,” is what you’d hear him shout
With the young ones laughin’ half in fright and the oul’ wans givin’ out
Aw, Bang Bang, you’re dead but your movie runs and runs
In the memories of Dublin town, you poor oul’ son of a gun
“We’ll head ‘em off at the pass with Johnny Forty Coats
“Before they reach the Phoenix Park,” he says to Skin the Goat
Slug Willard’s gang are on the ridge silhouetted you can see
And tho’ they’ve blocked the Ha’penny Bridge Bang Bang holds the key
But even now when I leave the show I sometimes look both ways
Remembering that unique man from those simpler days
When Mr Thomas Dudley with his loaded key
Came riding on his magic horse shootin’ you and me
When the last bus to Medicine Bow left the Liberties
Bang Bang held onto the bar, taking aim with his key
And with his pardner big John Wayne hit the trail for the West
Where time’s silver bullet laid him down to rest
© Des Wade 2021
AU-C2C-21-00072 T-061484771-0
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3. |
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Before the Hunger
Were my people younger before the hunger
Were we lighter in heart and soul
Did we fly in the dance and live the romance
And have faith in the stories of old
Oh how deep was the dread with so many dead
And no heroes to heed their cries
From the cradle of the brave none would come to save them
No champions would arise
There were songs for the new day a-dawnin’
And for the twilight’s endless glow
But none for the cold, empty mornings
Of a race without any hope
Tears and kisses and the last long embraces
The pause at the bend in the road
For one more look at the beloved faces
*Croí briste faoi bhrón, faoi bhrón
What can a nation do when their destiny is doom
And their future is a holocaust
While the living must leave the misery and ruin
To wander the world hollowed by loss
Shattered pride – broken lives
The blight that scars us yet
To starve in ditches while our harvest riches
Went to other mouths instead
There were songs for babies a-bornin’
And laments for the laying to rest
But none for the wake and the mournin’
Or the taking of all that was best
Were my people younger before the hunger
Were we lighter in heart and soul
Did we fly in the dance and live the romance
And have faith in the stories of old
* Translation – Brokenhearted with sorrow, with sorrow
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4. |
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Anna Livia, Anna Livia
Anna Livia, Anna Livia see you moving beneath me
Anna Livia, Anna Livia your secrets bequeath me
Anna Livia, Anna Livia my destiny seeks me
So marry me, carry me down to the sea
Once upon a time long gone when it was all before us
In those days with voices raised in a joyful, midnight chorus
We were singin’ Monto and Will Ye Go, Lassie Go
And the world of At-Swim-Two-Birds was home away from home
Ah but where is the dance after the dancer and the song when the singer’s away
I had the chance to tell ye the answer on the Ha’penny bridge that day
Oh but even as you kissed my soul and there was Whiskey in the Jar
You brought me your heart to hold mine sought another star
Like a beggar my love was wearing thin and tugging at my sleeve
And pointing to the barroom door saying, “I think it’s time to leave”
Anna Livia, Anna Livia see you moving beneath me
Anna Livia, Anna Livia your secrets bequeath me
Anna Livia, Anna Livia my destiny seeks me
So marry me, carry me down to the sea
Oh if we could only change the chart of the voyage our life has sailed
Do you believe within your heart there’d be better choices made
Still there was a time and it’s the truth when by power of songs and story
The compass rose of our youth was guiding us to glory
Ah but where is the dance after the dancer and the song when the singer’s away
How I’d love the chance to give you the answer on the Ha’penny bridge some day
Anna Livia, Anna Livia How could I betray you
Anna Livia, Anna Livia How could I say you
Anna Livia, Anna Livia mean nothing to me
And by forsaking thee indifference undo me
© Des Wade 2021
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5. |
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The wind has set fair for our landfall at daybreak
Sails gently breathing bring thoughts of the one
Who waits on the shore there where fisher folk gather
To celebrate under the Sign of the Claddagh
In long summer twilights we give thanks for the bounty
Of the ocean whose treasures are vast beyond counting
And for safe harbour home when by stormy winds scattered
All who sail under the Sign of the Claddagh
Hands held in friendship
Hearts held above
For loyalty eternally
Crowns our love
As I ride the high tide, I picture you there,
With the sea in your eyes and the moon in your hair
On this rolling road homeward it makes my soul glad that
We'll soon be alone, love, under the Sign of the Claddagh
© Des Wade 2021
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6. |
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Oró tír na nóg
There is an island like a jewel
Set in a silver sea
Where dwell the Clan De Danaan who will
Webs of wonder weave
With arcane charms and spells that tell
How to move the earth like the ocean swell
How to stay the moment as it pass
And hold time’s heartbeat in your grasp
Oró tír na nóg life is but a dream foretold
Oró tír na nóg all you desire is what the future holds
There is a kingdom like a gem
Set in hills of velvet green
And in faery fort and elven den
Live the children of the dream
And there they dance to the old romance
Of songs a-gathered from afar
And the tunes they brought
That they have caught
Between the waterfalling stars
Oró tír na nóg every wondrous dream foretold
Oró tír na nóg all you desire is what the future holds
There is a castle like a pearl
Set in a stony crown
Of mountain peaks from which unfurl
Clouds like a lacy gown
Of mist that seems to ebb and flow
In dark valleys deep below
Where síoga folk with flesh of smoke
Gather souls like flowers
In the witching hours
Oró tír na nóg
The spring of youth is never done
Sipped from the pale moon’s bowl
And the golden chalice of the sun
© Des Wade 2021
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7. |
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The Seduction of Oisin
Tá Oisín ag bringloid, ag bringloid, ag bringloid
San tír, ins an tír idir tá agus níl
Oisín is dreaming in the twilight of meeting
Golden haired Niamh where the land loves the sea
Oh Oisín is sleeping but Niamh is a-weaving
With de Danaan magic his dreams in a spell
Full of visions of lust that possess and enfold him
Calling him to her in his blood like a bell
He says, "Take me and taste me, I’m cupped in your hollows
On the rivers of love you call and I follow
While time's hanging helpless and our bones turn to air
The sky lies beneath us and we are everywhere"
She says, " Oisín, my Oisín, we flow in the same dream
We are borne on the same stream of silvery moonbeams
We are thoughts of the same mind
We are flames of the same fire
And our lives are entwined by my witches desire"
© Des Wade 2021
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8. |
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The Harp Unstrung
In some forgotten room there stands a mighty harp
Who once gave voice to the tales of a poet’s heart
With songs like shining children of the mother in the strings
Telling of the rose in bud and the wild swan on the wing
Between the promise of the sun and the mystery of the moon,
She would weave the chords that told his dreams in tunes
Calling from a forest deep where dwells the tree who holds
The secrets of an ancient people’s soul
Oceanic in her sadness – blood remembers blood
So alone in her silence - as wood remembers wood
Hark! she hears a song of the summer woods of home
Yes and hark! she hears a song of summer woods a-growin'
And the echoes of a long-lost time when the birds of heaven thronged
And adorned her sisters’ leafy hair with a glorious crown of song
How beautiful, those times, how beautiful the light
We were made of water, we were made of air
How beautiful the light
In some forgotten room there stands a mighty harp
Desolate and bereft by a cold, deserted hearth
For strings a spider’s web, spun lonely all the year
Upon whose silky threads moonbeam hands appear
To play a magic music no mortal ears can hear
© Des Wade 2021
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9. |
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Wings of Angels
Could I command the wings of angels
Order them to where you lie
To lift you up while you are sleeping
And lay you down by my side
If by my hand the winds of heaven
In cloudy arms transport the rain
To grace your days with rainbow ribbons
And by night wash clean your pain
Chorus
You are everything
Is tú damhsa órg an tsaol
You are everything to me
Is tú grá geal mo chroí*
Could I control the turning seasons
Place the seeds in nature’s room
From my heart the flowers of summer
Would all arise and for you bloom
Chorus
*English Translation:
You are everything
You are the golden dance of life
You are everything to me
You are the bright love of my heart
© Des Wade 202
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Sciatháin na nAingeal (Wings of Angels) (Des Wade/Dónal Dalton)
{Leagan Gaeilge [Irish version] - by Dónal Dalton – of the song Wings of Angels}
Dá mbeinnse i bhfeighil, (i) sciatháin na n-aingeal, chuig teach do luí, d'ordóinn iad
If I were tending the wings of the angels, to the house you lie in, I would order them
Is tú chun ardú, i do shuaimhneas, is tú sín(te) siar, i lár mo chroí
To raise you up, in your slumber and to lay you down in the centre of my heart
i gcoillte ‘s sléibhte, bheinn cadhan aonair, dá mbeinnse naofa, im Céli Dé
I would be an anchorite in woods and mountains, if I were a saintly Céli Dé
Sheolfainn lon chugat, ó dhrúcht na maidine, le ceoilín aoibhinn, [‘s a] bheith le d' thaobh
I would send to you a blackbird from the dewdrops of the morning with blissful music to keep you company
/ being by your side
Chorus
Is tú damhsa órg[a] an tsaoil, is tú grá geal mo chroí
You are the golden dance of life, you are the bright love of my life (Rpt)
Dá mbeinnse i seilbh, i gcas[adh] na séasúr, chuirfinn (na) síolta i ngarraí bán
If I were in possession of the turning of the seasons, I would sow the seeds in a small fallow field
‘s (agus) as mo chroí, (d’fhásfaí) torthaí an tsamhraidh ag sín[eadh] chun póg, béaldath do lá
And from my heart, (would grow) the fruits of summer stretching to kiss, the coloured lips/lipstick of your day.
© Des Wade/Dónal Dalton 2021
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This one is a fantasy that the great bard Usheen was seduced by a sorceress in his dreams. She was the daughter of the king of Tir na nOg (the Land of the Young) and, at her father’s behest, was trying to get Usheen to go with her to that magical kingdom by making him fall in love with her before they met. Usheen did go but when he returned to the world of the mortals the old ways had gone and he was many hundreds of years old. The words in Gaelic at the beginning translate as “Usheen is dreaming, is dreaming, is dreaming in the land, in the land between Yes and No”.
released October 16, 2021
