Category: songs

Davey Dodds 1970s

Windborne: https://windborne.bandcamp.com/track/i-can-hew

Chorus:
I can hew boys, I can hack it out
I can hew the coal, I can dance and shout.
I can hew boys, coal that’s black and fine,
I’m a collier lad, working down the mine.

On Saint Monday’s day, it’s well I do admire,
When I sit at home by my own coal fire.
Then it’s off to the pub, for a glass or two
For to work on a Monday, that would never do.

Well I like my whiskey and I like my beer.
I’ll drink fourteen pints and I’ll still feel queer.
I can hold my liquor good as any man.
And I’ll dance and sing as long as I can.

Well my boy’s fourteen, he’s a strappin’ lad
And he’ll go to the pits soon, just like his dad.
And when Friday comes, we’ll pick up our pay.
And we’ll drink together, to round out the day.

And its when I’m dead, oh I know full well,
I’ll not go to heaven, I am bound for hell.
And my pick and shovel, old Nick he will admire,
And he’ll set me hewin’ coal for his own hell fire. 

Laurie Tupper & Micah Walter 2023

"This song draws on biblical and traditional apocalyptic song imagery. It was written during the time of the record-breaking California wildfires in 2020."

Dawn Watch (Tupper & Walter): https://dawnwatch.bandcamp.com/track/i-can-see-the-troubled-time

I don’t need a wonder or a sign (x2)
Lord, Lord, I can see the troubled time

Chorus:
I can see the troubled, troubled time (x2)
Lord, Lord, I can see the troubled time

I need no darkened, darkened sun (x2)
Lord, Lord, I can see what we have done

I don’t need no moon turned red (x2)
Lord, Lord, When the sky’s on fire instead

I don’t need no boiling boiling sea (x2)
Lord, Lord, This one’s warm enough for me

I don’t need no falling falling star (x2)
Lord, Lord, We are fallen where we are 

Sarah Pirtle 1988?

Are the cows in the field? No no no
The snow is high and it’s ten below
And where the fence runs I don’t know
I can’t wait for spring

Chorus:
I can’t wait for spring to come
For the ice to melt, for the brook to run
Fiddleheads growin’ in the noonday sun
I can’t wait for spring

Is the robin back? Look and see
It’s just the wren and the chickadee
And the old woodpecker in the hollow tree
I can’t wait for spring

When spring is come, here’s what
I’ll do Put on my hat, take off my shoes
And dance dance dance now the winter’s through
I can’t wait for spring 

trad 

Bert Lloyd wrote for the Watersons' 1981 recording: "This song is sung pretty well everywhere on account of the simple comedy of the often repeated word 'cock'. Perhaps for the same reason it's scarce in print." It is apparently the origin of Old Macdonald Had a Farm. Steve Roud wrote about the latter "It is not clear quite why MacDonald comes into the picture, but the farm only gets his name in the early 20th century, and the reason why this particular version became the dominant one is that it was in fashion when sound recording was invented."

I went to market to buy a cock,
My cock did very well please me,
And every time I fed my cock,
I fed him all under a tree,
And my cock went cock-a-cock-a-cock-a-cock-a-doodle doo,
And after every farmer’s cock did my cock crow.

Arrowsmiths: (cow, sheep, pig, duck, donkey, monkey, lion)
Watersons: (hen, duck, goose, pig, sheep, cow) 

Nick Cope 2016

Cope lives in Oxfordshire and was the lead singer in Britpop band the Candyskins in the 1990s.

Chorus:
I’m a little lizard, standing on a rock,
standing on a rock because the sand is too hot
The sand is too hot, so I’m standing on a rock,
I’m a little lizard, and I’m standing on a rock
I’m a little lizard, and I’m standing on a rock

Now you have to understand, if you’re walking on the sand
That’s not a good plan, to go walking on the sand
You’re walking on the sand and the sand gets hot
You’re much better off standing on a rock

Now if your rock is getting hot you know you better jump
Yes you better jump if your rock is getting hot
If you don’t jump up you better find another rock
You better find another rock, a rock that’s not too hot

Now if you spot another rock you think is not too hot
You won’t know if it’s hot until you hop on top
And if you hop on top of the rock that’s not hot
You may find the rock you spotted is the hottest of the lot 

Phil Ochs 1966

Oh, I am just a student, sir, and only want to learn
But it’s hard to read through the rising smoke From the books that you like to burn
So I’d like to make a promise and I’d like to make a vow
That when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

Oh, you’ve given me a number and you’ve taken off my name
To get around this campus, why you almost need a plane
And you’re supporting Chiang Kai-Shek while I’m supporting Mao
So when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

I wish that you’d make up your mind, I wish that you’d decide
That I should live as freely as those who live outside
‘Cause we also are entitled to the rights to be endowed
And when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

Ooh, you’d like to be my father, you’d like to be my dad
And give me kisses when I’m good and spank me when I’m bad
But since I left my parents I’ve forgotten how to bow
So when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

And things they might be different if I was here alone
But I’ve got a friend or two who no longer live at home
And we’ll respect our elders just as long as they allow
That when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

I’ve read of other countries where the students take a stand
They’ve even helped to overthrow the leaders of the land
Now I wouldn’t go so far to say we’re also learning how
But when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now

So keep right on a-talking and tell us what to do
But if nobody listens my apologies to you
And I know that you were younger once ’cause you sure are older now
And when I’ve got something to say, sir, I’m gonna say it now 

Lyle Lovett 1987

Chorus:
And if I had a boat I’d go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony I’d ride him on my boat
And we could all together Go out on the ocean
I said me upon my pony on my boat

If I were Roy Rogers I’d sure enough be single
I couldn’t bring myself to marrying an old Dale
Well, it’d just be me and Trigger We’d go riding through them movies
Then we’d buy a boat and on the sea we’d sail

The mystery masked man was smart He got himself a Tonto
‘Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free
But Tonto he was smarter And one day said kemo sabe
Well, kiss my ass, I bought a boat I’m going out to sea

And if I were like lightning I wouldn’t need no sneakers
I’d come and go wherever I would please
And I’d scare ’em by the shade tree And I’d scare ’em by the light pole
But I would not scare my pony on my boat out on the sea 

Tom Chapin 1994

If only, if only fair were everywhere
We’d breathe it in like air
And everyone would share.
If only, if only fair were everywhere.

If only, if only we’d learn to share our bread
The whole world could be fed,
There’s plenty here to spare,
If only, if only fair were everywhere.

Bridge 1:
Plenty of food, not enough share.
Plenty of hurt, not enough care.
Plenty of you, plenty of me,
Not enough we. No, not enough we.

If only, if only life was like a game
And the rules were just the same
For maid or millionaire,
If only, if only fair were everywhere.

Bridge 2:
The world is so big, we’re pretty small.
Hard to imagine changing it all.
But let us begin; let us agree:
I’ll do unto you. You’ll do unto me.

And someday, some someday
Fair will be everywhere.
We’ll breathe it in like air
And everyone will share
Oh, someday, some someday
When fair is everywhere, fair is everywhere. 

Robert W. Service 

Set to music by David Parry 1993. Poem date unknown; Service was actively writing 1905-1955; published in Later Collected Verses 1965 so probably written later in his life

Finest Kind: https://ianrobb1.bandcamp.com/track/in-praise-of-alcohol

Of vintage wine I am a lover;
To drink deep would be my delight;
If ’twere not for the bleak hangover
I’d get me loaded every night;
I’d whoop it up with song and laughter
If ’twere not for the morning after.

For though to soberness
I’m given It is a thought I’ve often thunk:
The nearest that is Earth to Heaven
Is to get sublimely drunk;
Is to achieve divine elation
By means of generous libation.

Alas, the wine-cups claim their payment
And as the price if often pain,
If we could sense what morning grey meant
We never would get soused again;
Rather than buy a hob-nailed liver
I’m sure that we’d abstain for ever.

Yet how I love the glow of liquor,
As joyfully I drink it up!
Hoping that unto life’s last flicker
With praise I’ll raise the ruby cup;
And let me like a jolly monk
Proceed to get sublimely drunk. 

Julie Rhodes 2016

Julie Rhodes: https://julierhodes.bandcamp.com/track/in-your-garden

Chorus:
Go on and leave me like another weed in your garden
Nothing I can stay is gonna make you stay
Don’t call me when you know the flowers are gone and
Your skies are cloudy and gray

It ain’t wrong to want a little more sunshine
I ain’t ashamed to want a little more rain
I ain’t gonna beg no I ain’t gonna plead no more
You ain’t never given one good thing to thank for

I’m so tired of all your messin’ ’round
Nothing’s gonna grow between you and I
I gotta go, honey, and leave this town
Find someplace where my roots grow right

It’s a long way from here to New York City
It’s a long way from here to Shanghai
I don’t care anymore, I’ve heard it all before
Everything you say is a lie, lie, lie