Category: songs

trad 

Earliest recording on Mainly Norfolk 1966 was "originally from a Gloucestershire set printed by Lucy Broadwood in her English County Songs published in 1893. Cecil Sharp found the song being sung in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire; the Hammond Brothers found it in Dorset and George Gardiner heard the song in Hampshire and Sussex. More recently, Gwilym Davies has recorded versions from singers in Devon, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire."

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/shepherds-song

We shepherds are the best of men that e’er trod English ground
When we come to an alehouse we value not one crown
We spends our money freely and we pay before we go
For there’s no ale on the wold where the stormy winds do blow

A man that is a shepherd does need a valiant heart
He must not be faint-hearted, but boldly play his part
He must not be faint-hearted, be it rain or frost or snow
With no ale on the wold where the stormy winds do blow

When I kept sheep on Blockley Hill it caused my heart to beat
To see the ewes hang out their tongues and hear the lambs to bleat
So I plucked up my courage, and o’er the hills did go
And penned them in, in the fold, where the stormy winds do blow

As soon as I had folded them I turned my back in haste
Unto some jovial company, good liquor for to taste
For drink and jovial company, they are my heart’s delight
While my sheep lie asleep all the fore-part of the night 

trad 

The Teacups wrote in 2020: "As far as we know, this shanty was only collected in one place: in 1886 by James Taft Hatfield on a crossing from Pensacola to Nice, aboard the Ahkera."

The Teacups: https://haystackrecords.bandcamp.com/track/shiney-o

Captain, captain, you are a dandy (Way-ay-ay-ay, shiny-o)
Captain, captain, you love your brandy (Way-ay-ay-ay, shiny-o)

Won’t you ferry me over to Dover / Queenstown to Dover’s a hundred miles or over

Captain, captain, how deep is the water? / It measures one inch, six feet and a quarter

Captain, captain, I love your daughter / Captain, captain, I love your daughter

Shiny-o is the captain’s daughter / For her I’m sailing across this water

Rivers, rivers, rivers are a-rolling / Rivers are a-rolling and I can’t get over

Nancy Kerr 2014

Nancy Kerr: https://nancykerr.bandcamp.com/track/sickle-and-harvest

Oh the trees they grew tall in my garden
Lush were the leaves so ambitiously springing
When the mistletoe fallen from heaven
Ushered in love so deliciously clinging

Chorus:
Sickle and harvest; fiddle and bow
Sing to my heart and play at your courting
Now look at me falling Freed like a miracle; seed
where I land I might never let go

How unwary the love that confesses
For morning undresses us sweet as a feather
But a melody never trangresses
And whiskey’s caresses might bring us together

Well all the bones in the clay are embracing
Facing eternity chasing each other
And all the trees with their branches unlacing
Bracing for mistletoe’s miracle lover

Oh for youth is a crow at the harvest
Beauty is bound to be fickle and flee us
Now the moon is a sickle in darkness
Kiss me whilst only true lovers might see us 

Fred Small 1991

Too many words too many sounds
Too many attractions turn me around
Too many miles in a chrome cocoon
I never get anywhere I can’t see the moon

Too many commercials too many lies
Too many celebrities I don’t recognize
Too many brand names too many magazines
I got so much sensation I can’t feel a thing

Chorus:
Simple living Got to get to simple living
Simple living Simple Simply living

Too many things we just throw away
If we put it in the garbage we’re gonna eat it someday
We turn on the lights and a river dies
We turn the TV on to see an eagle fly

Bridge:
Too much work with nothing to do
Too many dreams that never come true
Too much hurting without a second glance
Too much desperation they call romance

Gonna take this life pare it to the bone
Baby when you knock baby
I’ll be home I’ll make my breakfast sweep the floor
Open the window unlock the door

Gonna turn off the video the audio too
Open my eyes take in the view
See the divine in the veins of a leaf
In the hands of a beggar in the eyes of a thief 

Nic Jones 1978

Chorus and tune published by John Piersol McCaskey in 1892, attributed to Sir Walter Scott as Minstrel's Request.

Chorus (x2)
Dark the night and long till day, Do not bid us further stray.

Now the sun it doth decline,
Pour the beer and pour the wine;
Let us lead your thoughts astray
From the world and from the day.

We bring songs from history,
Love and war and mystery.
We can lead you from despair
Or can chill the darkening air.

You can choose to pass us by
With a cruel or scornful eye.
We will see the ending through;
Then we’ll turn and say to you 

Utah Phillips 2003

According to Mudcat, Phillips wrote it for the homeless shelter in Nevada City, and the tune is by Paul Kamm & Eleanor MacDonald.

Kirsty Bromley: https://kirstybromley.bandcamp.com/track/singing-through-the-hard-times

Sometimes our living gets so dark and lonesome,
It seems like there’s nothing we can do.
So we reach out to each other, and raise a song together,
And let our voices carry us through.

Chorus (x2)
We are singing through the hard times,
Singing through the hard times;
Working for the good times to come.

And when the war clouds gather, it’s so easy to get angry,
And just as hard not to be afraid;
But you know in your own heart, no matter what happens,
You just can’t turn your back and walk away.

So hand in hand together, we help each other carry
The light of peace within us every day;
If we can learn to live it, to walk and talk and give it,
That world of peace won’t be so far away. 

Pete Sutherland 2003?

Written for Keith Murphy & Becky Tracy's son, whose name was changed by Pete for the song to maintain his semi-anonymity.

Oh me name is Paddy Murphy and I’m but three years of age
I’ll tell you folks I’m passin’ through me toilet training stage
Me dad says, Dear, whene’er ye hear the call from down below
Set sail for the nearest bathroom and sink the cheerio

Chorus:
Sink the cheerio, me boys Sink the cheerio
Set sail for the nearest bathroom and sink the cheerio

Now the thing they call the cheerio, I’ve eaten ’em by the score
But to toss one in the toilet it grieves me heart full sore
But target practice bein’ me trade, me hunger I’ll lay low
And train me guns upon it and sink the cheerio

Well when first I went to pee, me boys, the place was quite a wreck
And many’s the time me poor old Mam would have to swab the deck
Indeed ’twas she did first decree the way that things should go
And bade me stand upon me stool and sink the cheerio

Now the sinkin’ of the cheerio is no an easy task
A bit of oat designed to float, so stubbornly does it bask
Like an arrow through a bullseye ye must direct your flow
Takes much coordination to sink the cheerio

Well when first unto the cereal aisle me folks and I did stray
I stepped up to a grocery boy and to him I did say
Avast, me gallant grocery boy, I’ll bet ye didn’t know
Ye now behold the sailor bold that sank the cheerio!

So come all me jolly playmates and listen unto me
Be proud of your pea-shooters as ever a lad should be
For someday when we’re big boys, to some tavern we will go
Fill up the bowl again, me boys, and sink the cheerio! 

trad 

Chorus:
Oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to? (x3)
All on that day

Run to the rock, rock he was a melting (x3) All on that day

Run to the sea, sea it was a boiling…

Run to the sun, sun, he was a-freezing…

Run to the moon, moon she was a-bleeding…

Run to the Lord, Lordy won’t you hide me?…

Oh sinner man, should have been a-praying…

Run to the devil, devil says come right in…

Peggy Seeger 1968

 2011?

First recorded on Seeger’s “Angry Muse” album from 1968 with Ewan MacColl, again with new lyrics by Seeger on her final “Teleology” album at the age of 90.

When the system leaves you out in the cold (sit down, sit down)
When you’ve lost your job and your life’s on hold (sit down, sit down)
When your pension’s gone and your wages cut (sit down, sit down)
And the bankers tell you they’re hard up (Sit down, sit down)

Chorus:
Sit down, just take a seat
Sit down and rest your feet
Sit down on the concrete
Sit down, sit down!

When the rich get richer and the poor stay poor
When there’s always cash for another war
When the NHS is up for sale
And the government’s spouting fairy tales

When public services get the axe
And corporations pay no tax
It’s a bank job, there is no doubt
They buy us up to sell us out

You’ll find us here, you’ll find us there
You’ll find us sitting down everywhere
Don’t get drunk, don’t get high
Get together and occupy

Alex Sturbaum 2024

The Edwardsville, IL Amazon warehouse collapsed December 2021.

Alex Sturbaum: https://countercurrentmusic.bandcamp.com/track/six-workers

They were stuck inside a warehouse on a cold midwinter’s eve
There were twister warnings screaming but they weren’t allowed to leave
The bosses had their quotas set by Bezos from on high
And bosses never give a damn if workers live or die

There were husbands, wives, and children waiting out the storm at home
But the workers couldn’t call them ’cause the bosses took their phones
So it wasn’t ’til the morning that the dreadful news come down
A storm rose in its fury and it tore the warehouse down

Chorus:
Six workers dead in Illinois and it just goes to show
The boss will either kill you fast or he will kill you slow
So join the union while you can before the chance is gone
If we don’t stand together then they’ll crush us one by one

Word came to Jeff soon after but he didn’t say a word
He was busy playing spaceman, didn’t want to be disturbed
His company was quicker and they said they’d think and pray
They gave the town a mill and hoped that it would go away

It took Jeff about five minutes time to get that million back
And other warehouse workers now are taking up the slack
So Amazon is doing fine, it seems they always will
It doesn’t seem to matter just how many folks they kill

You can sit and wait forever for the bosses to decide
That your life is worth more to them than the precious bottom line
You can hope that voting does the trick, hell it may yet somehow
But Congress’ wheels grind slowly and we need a change right now

Well the bosses they will threaten and they’ll bluster and they’ll lie
They’ll tell you how much worse it is for folks who organize
But we could get our dignity and freedom if we dare
And they wouldn’t try and bust the unions if they weren’t scared