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Tracks:

The Star Of The County Down

My Cavan Girl

The Lark In The Morning

Rare Ould Times

The Jolly Beggerman

The Maid In The Calico Dress

Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore

The Fields Of Athenry

The Spanish Lady

Song for Ireland

Credits:

Alex Beaton – vocals, guitar

Ron Eisenberg – bass

Bob Gothar – guitar

Robin Lorentz – fiddle

Eric Rigler – uillean pipes, whistles

Wayne Cook – piano

The Star Of The County Down

Traditional, arranged by Van Morrison / Paddy Moloney

In Banbridge Town in the County Down

One morning last July,

From a boreen green came a sweet colleen

And she smiled as she passed me by.

She looked so sweet fronn her two bare feet

To the sheen of her nut brown hair.

Such a coaxing elf, sure I shook myself

For to see I was really there.

Chorus:

From Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and

From Galway to Dublin Town,

No maid I've seen like the brown colleen

That I met in the County Down.

As she onward sped, sure I scratched my head,

And I looked with a feelin' rare,

And I say's, say's I, to a passer-by,

"Who’s the maid with the nut brown hair"?

He smiled at me and he says's, say's he,

"That's the gem of Ireland's crown.

It's Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,

She's the star of the County Down".

Chorus

At the Harvest Fair she'll be surely there

And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes,

With my shoes shone bright and my hat cocked

Right for a smile from my nut brown rose.

No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke

Till my plough turns rust coloured brown.

Till a smiling bride, by my own fireside

Sits the star of the County Down.

Chorus

My Cavan Girl

(Thomas L. Moore)

As I walk the road from Killashandra, weary I sit down.

For it's twelve long miles around the lake to get to Cavan town.

Though Oughter and the road I go once seemed beyond compare.

Now I curse the time it takes to reach my Cavan girl so fair.

The autumn shades are on the leaves, the trees will soon be bare,

Each red-gold leaf around me seems the colour of her hair.

My gaze retreats to find my feet and once again I sigh,

For the broken pools of sky remind the colour of her eye.

At the gathering Cross each Sunday morning there she can be found,

And she seems to have the eye of every boy in Cavan town.

If my luck will hold I'll have the golden summer of her smile,

And to break the hearts of Cavan men, she'll talk to me a while.

So next Sunday evening finds me homeward - Killashandra bound,

To work the week, till I return and court in Cavan town.

When asked if she would be my bride at least she'd not said "no",

So next Sunday morning, rouse myself, and back to her I'll go.

The Lark In The Morning

The lark in the morning she rises off her nest
She goes home in the ev'ning with the dew all on her breast.
And like the jolly ploughboy, she whistles and she sings
She goes home in the ev'ning with the dew all on her wings.

Roger the ploughboy, he is a dashing blade
He goes whistling and singing over yonder green glade
He met with pretty Susan, she's handsome I declare
She is far more enticing than the birds all in the air.

One ev'ning coming home from the rakes of the town
The meadows they were green and the grass had been cut down
"If I should chance to tumble all in the new-mown hay
For it's kiss me now or never, love," this bonny lass did say

When twenty long weeks they were over and were past
Her mammy chanced to notice how she thickened 'round the waist.
"It was the handsome ploughboy," the maiden she did say
"For he caused me for to tumble all in the new-mown hay."

Here's health to young ploughboys wherever you may be
That likes to have a bonny lass a-sitting on his knee
With a jug of good strong porter, you'll whistle and you'll sing,
For a ploughboy is as happy as a prince or a king.

Rare Ould Times

By Pete St. John

Raised on songs and stories, heroes of renown

The passing tales and glories that once was Dublin Town

The hallowed halls and houses, the haunting children's rhymes

That once was part of Dublin in the rare ould times

Chorus:

Ring a ring a rosey, as the light declines

I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

My name it is Sean Dempsey, as Dublin as can be

Born hard and late in Pimlico, in a house that ceased to be

By trade I was a cooper, lost out to redundancy

Like my house that fell to progress, my trade's a memory

And I courted Peggy Dignam, as pretty as you please

Oh, a rogue and child of Mary, from the rebel Liberties

I lost her to a student lad, with skin as black as coal

When he took her off to Birmingham, she took away my soul

Chorus

The years have made me bitter, the gargle dims me brain

Cause Dublin keeps on changing, and nothing seems the same

The Pillar and the Met have gone, the Royal long since pulled down

As the grey unyielding concrete, makes a city of my town

Chorus

Fare thee well sweet Anna Liffey, I can no longer stay

And watch the new glass cages, that spring up along the quay

My mind's too full of memories, too old to hear new chimes

I'm a part of what was Dublin, in the rare ould times

Chorus

I remember Dublin City in the rare ould times

The Maid In The Calico Dress

In flowery July up on Comraugh’s proud heights

As the plover birds sprung from the moorland

As southward the cuckoo was taking his pride

And the cornbreak lay deep in the grass

The swallow and swift were aloft in the air

And the starlings were feeding their young

The milkmaid was tending her cattle with care

And the haymakers cheerily sung

Chorus:

The lady’s of Dublin in satin or silk

Are pretty I clearly confess

But give me the maid who is neatly arrayed

In a beautiful calico dress

You may praise the Italian ladies in vain

Or the maidens of France or Peru

You may worship the languishing beauties of Spain

And the blushin’ Caucasians too

But she whom I love has eyes like the sloe

And her cheeks are like roses in June

So gracefully steps as she trips like the doe

And her ruby red lips are in tune

Chorus

Should friendship or courtship impel me to roam

Or a taste of her changes constrain

I’d still call the banks of old Munster me home

And I’d sing of her praises again

The gardens of roses and sweet shady bowers

May delight a poor soul to possess

But give me the Comraugh’s bedecked with wild flowers

And the maid in the calico dress

Chorus

Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore

From Derry quay we sailed away on the twenty-third of May
We were taken on board by a pleasant crew, bound for Amerikay
Fresh water then we did take on, five thousand gallons or more
In case we'd run short going to New York far away from the shamrock shore.

At twelve o'clock we came in sight of famous Mullin Head
And Innistrochlin to the right stood out on the ocean's bed.
A grander sight ne'er met my eyes than e'er I saw before
Than the sun going down 'twixt sea and sky far away from the shamrock shore.

We sailed three weeks, we were all seasick, not a man on board was free
We were all confined unto our bunks and no-one to pity poor me.
No father kind nor mother dear to lift up my head, which was sore
Which made me think more on the lassie I left on Paddy's green shamrock shore.

Then fare thee well, sweet Liza dear and likewise unto Derry town
And twice farewell to my comrades brave that dwell on that sainted ground
If fame or fortune shall favour me, and I to have money in store
I'll go back and I'll wed the wee lassie I left on Paddy's green shamrock shore.

We safely reached the other side after fifteen and twenty days,
We were taken as passengers by a man and led round in six different ways,
Then each of us drank a parting glass, in case we'd meet no more
And we drank a health to old Ireland and Paddy's green shamrock shore.

The Fields of Athenry, The

Pete St. John

By a lonely prison wall

I heard a young girl calling

Micheal they are taking you away

For you stole Trevelyn'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 matter Mary when your free,

Against the Famine and the Crown

I rebelled they ran me down

Now you must raise our child with dignity.

Chorus

By a lonely harbor wall

She watched the last star falling

As that 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

The Spanish Lady

As I went down to Dublin city,
At the hour of twelve at night,
Who should I see but a Spanish lady,
Washing her feet by candlelight.
First she washed them, then she dried them
Over a fire of amber coal,
In all my life I ne'er did see
A maid so sweet about the soul

Chorus:

Whack fol the toora, loora laddy
Whack fol the toora loora lay

As I came back through Dublin city
At the hour of half past eight
Who should I spy but the Spanish lady
Brushing her hair in the broad daylight.
First she tossed it, then she brushed it,
On her lap was a silver comb
In all my life I ne'er did see
A maid so fair since I did roam.

Chorus

As I went back through Dublin city
As the sun began to set
Who should I spy but the Spanish lady
Catching a moth in a golden net.
When she saw me then she fled me
Lifting her petticoat over her knee
In all my life I ne'er did see
A maid so shy as the Spanish lady.

Chorus