Song Lyrics
CALEDONIA
(Dougie MacLean)
I don't know if you can see the changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away
So I've been telling old stories, singing songs that make me think about where I came from
And that's the reason why I seem so far away today
Chorus:
Oh, but let me tell you that I love you that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Now I have moved and I've kept on moving proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing found others on the way
I have kissed the ladies and left them crying stolen dreams, yes there's no denying
I have traveled hard with coattails flying somewhere in the wind
Chorus:
Oh, but let me tell you that I love you that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
Now I'm sitting here before the fire the empty room, the forest choir
The flames that could not get any higher they've withered now they've gone
But I'm steady thinking my way is clear and I know what I will do tomorrow
When the hands are shaken and the kisses flow then I will disappear
Chorus:
Oh, but let me tell you that I love you that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything I've ever had
CAM' YE BY ATHOL
(James Hogg/Neil Gow Jnr.)
Cam ye by Athol O' lad wi' the philageg,
Down by the tummel or the banks of the Garry?
And saw ye the lads, wi' their bonnets and white cockades
Leaving their mountains to follow Prince Charlie
Chorus:
Follow thee, follow thee, wha wad-na follow thee
Lang hast thou lo'ed and trusted us fairly
Charlie, Charlie, wha wad-na follow thee,
King O' the highland heart Bonnie Prince Charlie.
I ha'e but ae son, my gallant young Donald,
But if I had ten, they should follow Glengarry;
Health to McDonald, and gallant Clan-Ronald,
For these are the men that will die for their Charlie.
Chorus
I'll to Lochiel and Appin, and kneel to them,
Down by Lord Murray and Roy ol Kildarlie;
Brave Mackintosh he shall fly to the field wi' them;
These are the lads I can trust wi' my Charlie.
Chorus
Down thro' the Lowlands, down wi' the Whipmore,
Loyal true Highlanders, down wi' them rarely!
Ronald and Donald, drive on we' the braid claymore,
Over the necks of the foes o' Prince Charlie!
Chorus
CAMPFIRE IN THE DARK
(P. Houlahan)
Me father rises early and he makes his cup of tay
He lights the kitchen stove and then he calls me
His days are often empty he's nothing much to do
So he sits and tells me stories of the traveling life he knew
In the evening they will meet in lonely country lanes
A field away he'd hear a collie bark
And they'd pass the time away with talk about the days
Standing round the campfire in the dark
Standing round the campfire in the dark
Me mother likes the house the hot water and the rooms
It's warm in the winter and she's handy with the broom
Sometimes she makes colcannon more often brittle bread
There's a hunger deep inside her for her traveling life that's dead
In the evening she would lift the black pot from the coals
A bitter way she always would remark
There'd be vessels left to clean, while children could be seen
Playing round the campfire in the dark
Playing round the campfire in the dark
We go down to the pool halls to chat up the town whores
Sometimes at the discos we can't get pass the doors
We're still tinkers to them and it's thrown at our ears
We're still the awful strangers after all these years
And I think about my own life and the way it would be
An Escort van, a bit of dealing, a wife and a family
Now Thursday I collect the dole, Friday pitch and toss
Where on the sight I think about the traveler's ways we lost
And I wish that I would rise and wash the sleep out of my eyes
And listen to the sweet song of the lark
And I wish that could be in the camp company
With the sound of horses moving in the dark
With the sound of horses moving in the dark
With the sound of horses moving in the dark
CANCEL MARIE'S WEDDINGS
(Ian McCalman)
Her father died the land was sold Marie tried to keep a hold
Scottish law and foreign gold Cancel Marie's wedding
Chorus:
Sell we gaily on we go Down at heel so we must blow
Hills and Islands row on row all for the sake of money
All you need for stream and bend is Deutschmark, Guilder, Franc of Yen
Then . . . sell it on again For the sake of money
Chorus
Buy a castle buy a glen Sitting tenants "no problem"
Highland clearances again For the lack of money
Chorus
Plenty fish to fill the creels Plenty agents fixing deals
Lawyers dancing jigs and reels All it takes is money
Chorus
Other countries you will find It's not allowed but never mind
Here's our land for auld syne All it takes is money
Chorus
You think you're safe you spoke too soon they've seen the film they've hummed the tune
Braveheart meets Brigadoon All for the sake of money
Chorus
CAPTAIN KIDD
(Trad)
My name is Captain Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed
My name is Captain Kidd, as I sailed, as I sailed
My name is Captain Kidd, and God's laws I did forbid
And most wickedly I did, as I sailed, as I sailed
My father taught me well as I sailed, as I sailed
My father taught me well as I sailed, as I sailed
My father taught me well to shun the gates of hell
But against him I rebelled as I sailed, as I sailed
I murdered Willie More as I sailed, as I sailed
I murdered Willie More as I sailed, as I sailed
I murdered Willie More and I left him in his gore
He was dead for ever more as I sailed, as I sailed
I steered from sound to sound as I sailed, as I sailed
I steered from sound to sound as I sailed, as I sailed
I steered from sound to sound, ran many ships aground
And many more I burned as I sailed, as I sailed
With all men I had my will as I sailed, as I sailed
With all men I had my will as I sailed, as I sailed
With all men I had my will, and my gunner I did kill
And his precious blood did spill as I sailed, as I sailed
The King's ship captured me as I sailed, as I sailed
The King's ship captured me as I sailed, as I sailed
The King's ship captured me, no more of piracy
No more to roam the seas as I sailed, as I sailed
To the Execution Dock I must go I must go
To the Execution Dock I must go I must go
To the Execution Dock while the crowds around me flock
I'll be the hangman's lock as I go, as I go
A warning take by me, I must die I must die
A warning take by me, I must die I must die
A warning take by me and shun all bad company
Lest you come to hell with me as I die, as I die
CARLINGFORD BAY
There's an old winding road taking me to the mountains
And down to the sea far below
From the bloom on the bush comes the sound of the Thrush
Through the woodlands I left long ago
Chorus:
So keep those wheels a turning
Tell the folks I'm coming home to stay
Where I played as a child
With my heart free and wild
Down the loch shores near Carlingford Bay
I would sweep with my hur (sic) through the green growing meadows
And dance till the dawn of the day
I would stand on the deck of a staunch fishing Smack
While the girls wave good bye from the Quay
Chorus
What fools men can be when a strange land is calling
And oh how it makes young men blind
For the years slipped away as I toiled night and day
For a fortune I never did find
Chorus
Chorus
CARRICKFERGUS
I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
But only for nights in Ballygrand
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
I wish I had a handsome boatman
To ferry me over my love and I
Now in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stones there, as black as ink
With gold and sliver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink
I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
A handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I'm sick now my days are numbered
Come all you young men and lay me down
My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy days so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on like the melting snow
So I'll spend my days in endless roving,
Soft is the grass and my bed is free
Oh to be home now in Carrickfergus,
On the long road down on the salty sea
CELTIC SYMPHONY
(Brian Warfield)
It was far across the sea, when the divil got a hold of me
He wouldn't set me free, so he held me soul for ransom
NA NA NANANA NA, NA NA NANA NANA NA NA…
I'm a sailor man from Glasgow town, I've roamed this world around and 'round
He's the meanest thing that I have found in all me days of wanderin'
na na nana na na…….
And I could see his evil eyes, was den he took me by surprise
Take me to your paradise, I want to see the jungle
na na na nanana na………
CHORUS
Here we go again, we're on the road again
We're on the road again, we're on the way to Paradise
We love the jungle deep, that's where the Lion sleeps
For then those evil eyes, they have no place in Paradise
Graffitti on the wall,just as the sun was going down, I saw graffitti on the wall
For the Celts, For the Celts
Graffitti on the wall that says we're magic, we're magic
Graffitti on the wall,…..Graffitti on the wall
And it says,
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
Ooh ah up the RA, say Ooh ah up the RA
musical interlude
We went to its jungle deep, for the Paradise that we did seek
was no trip for the weak, there waltzin' wit the natives
na na nana na na……..
From the Amazon to Borneo, from Africa to Tokyo,
to the darkest jungles of the world but no where could I lose him.
na na nana na na …..
Around in circles every way, he turned to me and he did say
I t'ink you're leading me astray, I want your soul me boyo!!
na na nana na na…..
CHAMPION AT KEEPING THEM ROLLING
(Ewan McColl)
I am an old timer I travel the road
I sit in me wagon and lumber me load
Me motel is the jungle me camp me abode
And I'm well known to Blondie and Mary
Me liquor is diesel oil laced with strong tea
And the old highway code was me first ABC
I cut me eye teeth on an old AEC
and I'm champion at keeping them rolling
I've sat in the cabin and broiled in the sun
Been snowed up on Scaffs on the Manchester run
I've crawled through the fog with me twenty two ton
Of fish that was stinking like blazes
From London to Glasgow to the Newcastle quay
From Liverpool, Preston and Bristol City
The polons on the road give the thumb sign to me
But I'm champion at keeping rolling
You may sing of your soldiers and sailors so bold
But there's many and many a hero I'm untold
Who sits at the wheel in the heat and the cold
Day after day without sleeping
So watch out for cops and slow down at the bend
Check all your gauges and watch your big end
And zing with your lights when pass an old friend
You' be champion at keeping rolling
Yes watch out for cops and slow down at the bend
Check all your gauges and watch your big end
And zing with your lights when pass an old friend
You'll be champion at keeping rolling
THE CHEMICAL WORKERS SONG
(Ron Angel)
A process man am I and I'm telling you no lie
I work and breathe among the fumes that trail across the sky
There's thunder all around me there's poison in the air
There's a lousy smell that's smacks of Hell and dust all in my hair
Chorus:
And its go boys go they'll time your every breathe
And every day you're in the place you're two days nearer death
And ye go
I've worked among the spinners I've breathed in the oily smoke
I've shoveled up the gypsum and it nigh on makes you choke
I've stood knee deep in the cyanide got sick with caustic burn
Been working rough I've seen enough to make your stomach turn
Chorus
There's overtime and bonus, opportunities galore
All the young lads like the money so they all come back for more
But soon you're knocking on now look older than you should
And every bob earned on that Job is paid with flesh and blood
Chorus