Bard of Tara

O Shane McGowan we’ll miss you, You were the greatest of them all, When you sang that famous Christmas song, With Kirsty Mac Coll. About love and life and jail and drink, That we play each Christmas day, ‘… and the boys from the new York police choir, Were singing Galway Bay’. You had songs with our greatest singersSinéad and Ronnie DrewShane you are a legendAnd we’ll always remember you

With tearful eyes I listenedAs you sang The Foggy DewAnd that song that really says it allNothing compares to you Your magic voice enchants usAnd brings us all great joyLike when you were on the late lateAnd you sang O Danny Boy Continue reading Untitled

Re Slane Bypass decision March 2012 Do we blame the CouncilBertie, or Brian CowenFor allowing those HGVsWreak Havok in this town Slane people are tormentedAnd are now clutching at strawsAnd we hear now of incompetenceAnd oh so many flaws Continue reading Untitled

No work todayIt is a disgraceAnd poverty’s nowStaring us in the face It’s hard to feelUnemployed and poorReminds us of that songBy Christy Moore Continue reading Untitled

Aslan were magnificent.And you did reach the top.We loved your songs so much.We said ‘please don’t stop’. Your music is fantastic.Your songs are a delight.working class heroDon’t make me cry again.And also ‘shine a light’. Well sometimes it did ‘rain man’.And you sang ‘here comes the sun’.That would ‘shine a light.On you and everyone. Your words taught us all that.‘ love is all you need’.And…

Nine men were taken from a cellAnd marched off in a lineThem all tidy in a circleAround a big land mine Paddy Daly was in chargePaddy Delany the fuse did lightAnd blew them into smithereensOn a lonely Road that night He crawled into a riverAnd there he had to stayUntil at last the coast was clearAnd then Steven crawled away So one man did survive the blastOf the nine men taken from jailAnd…

I was happy she came into my lifeI said ‘l’m glad that I met youYou’re the answer to my problemsMy pretty lady in blue I lived in poverty all my lifeI had nothing that was newI only knew the girl next doorWho wore red and white and blue (more…) “”

Your songs will live forever And we say 'Christy - Please Don't Stop'

Aslan are magnificentAnd you have reached the topYour songs will live foreverAnd we say ‘Christy – Please Don’t Stop‘ Your music is fantasticYour songs are a delightWorking Class HeroDont Make me Cry AgainAnd also Shine a Light Continue reading Untitled

I’ve been informed lately, And I cannot understand, Why someone who lives in England, Wants to put me off my land! So I gotta write about it, And put it in a poem, Why should that English person want, To evict me from my home? (more…)

……… Ooh ah ……..

These girls could sure play soccerThey had skill and they had styleWhen they came to play ScotlandThey all came from the Emerald Isle They played for 72 minutesAnd there was no score yetThen Amber Barrett got the ballAnd she ‘stuck it in the net’ Later in the changing roomsYes they were all in ‘Heaven’And sang that Celtic Symphony songFrom nineteen eighty seven Ooh Ah up the RaOoh Ah up the…

The New St. John’s Well?

St. John’s Well has been destroyedAnd now we all have thisAnd I ask “Are you serious?”Or are you “Taking the piss?” Yes this sacred monument was destroyedAnd it’s hard to understandHow we’ve now got a new ‘piss stop’That cost us ‘a hundred grand’ (more…)

Grief and pain and sufferingAnd then time to say goodbyeI rode the dark horse with youWhen it was your time to die Death can come so quicklyLike in the night a thiefAnd it takes a lot of timeTo cry and express grief And to release the pain and sufferingUntil the burden it is lightAnd then again get on with lifeWhen at last the time is right Well, people must be left aloneWhen their grief they…

I’m at an empty fireplaceWith my faithful cat and dogBecause I’m not allowed to cut my turfDown in Kilronan bog I cannot cook me stiraboutBecause I got no heatI can’t take off me welliesAnd warm me frozen feet I’ve got no electricityBecause I couldn’t pay the billAnd not even a drop of poitínBecause I couldn’t use my still I’m now atin’ a big sangwichOf brown bread and cold beansAnd I rue the…

I’ve ticked off my wishesOn my old list ‘ to do ‘Now my teenage ambitionsHave all now come true I don’t go to work andI don’t go to schoolSo now I am cleverAnd I am no fool I am on ‘ top of the world ‘Yes I’ve reached the peakAnd I get an allowanceAt the end of each week I can go into barsAnd shops that sell wineAnd afford fine hotelsWhere I like to dine (more…)

Last night I saw it in a dreamOf what life it can beI saw a whole new forestSo I planted a small tree Life was dark and gloomyAnd now I have clear sightI held a burning candleAnd then I saw the light That everyone is importantSo it is really worthwhileTo say hello to everyoneAnd greet them with a smile (more…)

Once upon a time in Crosakiel May 1st 2011

It was a fine day in CrosakielAnd as the summer sun beat downThe gallant RMT bandThey marched around the town Our country was in a bad stateAnd our fortune it looked grimBut we all came to rememberA local man called Jim David Hopper he spoke firstHe said he understandsThat coal miner’s kids are dyingIn wars in distant lands He said that these foreign warsShould all be stopped for goodThe…