work’s too bloody hard
travailler c'est trop dur
et voler c'est pas beau
d'mander la charité
c'est qu'que chose j'peux pas faire
chaque jour que moi je vis
on m' demande de quoi je vis
j' dis que j' vis sur l'amour
et j'espère de viv' vieux
work’s too bloody hard
stealing isn’t pretty
getting by on handouts
means getting by on pity
every day of my life
someone asks how i’ll get by
i say i’ll live on love
and i hope to never die
i’ll pick up this old box
run my fingers down the row
i’ll play a tune or two
let the dancers come and go
for this life’s too sweet and short
to leave it sad my friend
there’s no time for tears and sorrow
let’s go dancing to our end
if i end up playing gigs
every night and every day
any pub or any club
that will let me sing away
i might think to myself
is this what i want to do
but i think i know the answer
when i sing and i look at you
trad cajun,translated/adapted by gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
tune: crombie’s two-step,gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
whiskey asylum
there’s shade from the sun there’s warmth in the cold,
there’s relief from your sorrow there’s someone to hold,
it’s the ship in the bottle when i’m growing old,
sailing to whiskey asylum
if i once had a dream and i let it slip by
the anodyne cream takes the tears from your eye
and whatever may haunt me,the riders pass by
when i’m snug in my whiskey asylum
under ben bulben on top of the heap
on the path in between where i started to creep
the road of the righteous was thorny and steep
and i sank to the ground and i drifted to sleep
do you laugh as you pass, do you just hurry by
do you kindly stoop down with that look in your eye
do you know that it’s you just as much as it’s i
that’s a dream in this whiskey asylum
but i wish you could hear and i wish i could say
the thought that still runs through my head on this day,
is a love that has vanished just hidden away
could i fall to my knee,could i search, could i pray
gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
tune: vances’ waltz, gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
austin tunes
jim and mary’s /
book-a-boat box /
louisiana lady
gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
camera
i saw you walk by on the street
it was just a mad illusion
a thing of dreams and days gone by
a moment of confusion
just an unfamiliar face
i knew you’d gone, and long ago
saw this stranger in your place
it wasn’t you i know
not you i know
not you i know
not you i know
i heard you laugh that funny laugh
just the other day
misty rain through the window pane
watch it fade away
disappear in a passing hum
quiet like an echoed call
lost in the sound that’s all around
and never you at all
i thought i saw you look at me
from a passing subway car
the flash of light in the tunnel’s night
the rumble from afar
i called to you, you didn’t hear
there was no way that you could
and of course i knew it wasn’t you
from the platform where i stood
close my eyes and float above
the revelry below
within this dream this thought of love
remembered ebb and flow
and as i lie and dream of you
i know that you’re not here
but – know that you’re within my eye
you whisper in my ear
this you i know
gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
liverpool pandora
so fare thee well, my own true love,
when i return united we will be
it’s not the leaving of liverpool that grieves me
my darling when i think on thee
so fare thee well my own true love
i cross the raging main
it might well be a bloody long time
before i come again
the wind is in the beer halls
the tinkling bar bells say
come back you pickled paddy
come back, demand a lay
i traveled near, i traveled far
i stood in mansions fine
dreamt about oases
where the water turned to wine
and if in dream or if in life
my dreams should all come true
the first one that i’d call to life
is the one i had of you
and if i ask what have i done
does anybody know
questions last forever
or else they start to grow
can i shove them in a box
stuff them in the ground
plug them with a nickel
to stifle fury’s sound
i sometimes thought i should go mad
from thoughts inside my brain
too little brains or too much thought
or maybe it’s the same
i took the wise precaution
of airing out my head
threw out the old obsessions
and i bought new ones instead
i watered them with whiskey
i watched them start to sprout
when nicely germinated
i start to shout them out
the wisdom i’m imparting
mere mortals cannot tell
the knowledge of the salmon
and a solomon from hell
but if i’m feeling lonely
and the voices turning sad
or start to reminisce
upon a joy that i once had
i’ll spin them into silence
i’ll bottle them anew
with the dream i had of heaven
the thought i had of you
leaving of liverpool, trad arr.
liverpool pandora, gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
the jail of cluan meala
how hard is my fortune,how vain my repining.
the strong rope of fate for my young neck is twining.
my strength is departed,my cheeks sunk and sallow
while i languish in chains in the jail of cluan meala.
no lad in the village was ever yet milder.
i could sport with a child and my sport be no wilder.
i could dance without tiring from morning till evening
and my goal ball i'd strike to the lightning of heaven.
at my bed foot decaying my hurley is lying.
through the lads of the village my goal ball is flying.
my horse 'mong the neighbors neglected may fallow.
while this heart young and gay lies cold in cluan meala.
next sunday the pattern at home will be keeping.
the lads of the village the fields will be sweeping.
and the dance of fair maidens the evening will hallow.
while this heart young and gay lies cold in cluan meala.
príosún chluain meala,trans. jeremiah john callanan (1795 – 1829)
trad arr. gregory grene,©34th street music ascap
nancy brown
in the hills of west virginia lived a girl named nancy brown
there never was a finer lass in village or in town
now nancy and the deacon climbed the mountainside one noon
they had barely reached the summit when then very very soon
they came rolling down the mountain, rolling down the mountain
they came rolling down the mountain past the dam
for she wouldn’t give that deacon anything that he was seekin’
she remained as pure as west virginia ham
then there came the local trapper with his phrases soft and fine
took nancy up the mountain but as soon as she read his mind
she came rolling down the mountain past the shack
she remained as i have stated, not the least contaminated
she remained as pure as pappy’s apple jack
then there came a city slicker with his hundred-dollar bills
took nancy in his packard and they drove up in the hills
and they stayed up in the mountains all that night
she came down in the morning early, more a woman than a girly
and her father chased the hussy out of sight
now she’s living in the city mighty swell
she’s drinking beer and skittles, and eating fancy victuals,
and the west virginia hills can go to hell
trad arr. gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
tune: ballygarvy gallop,gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
liverpool lou
when i go a-walking, i hear people talking
schoolchildren playing, i know what they're saying
they're saying you'll grieve me, that you will deceive me
some morning you'll leave me all packed up and gone
oh liverpool lou,lovely liverpool lou
why don't you behave,love, like the other girls do?
why must my poor heart keep following you
stay home and love me,my liverpool lou
the sound from the river keep telling me ever
that i should forget you like i'd never met you
tell me their song, love,was never more wrong love
say i belong love to my liverpool lou
and all that they said,love, those voices long dead, love
with the waters have fled,love, whether baseless or true,
and i see you today, love,and i hear a voice say, love
maybe some dreams need stay,love, as free as were you
by dominic behan,
adaptation by gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
paper and pins
i will give you paper and pins, for that’s the way that love begins,
if you will marry, marry,marry, marry,
if you marry me.
i don’t want your paper and pins, if that’s the way that love begins,
and i’ll not marry, marry,marry, marry,
i’ll not marry you.
i will give you a rocking chair, to sit in the garden and take fresh air
i will give you a silver spoon, to feed the baby in the afternoon
i will give you a golden ball, to bounce from the kitchen to the hall
i will give you the keys to the press, and all of the money that i possess
if you give me the keys to the press, and all of the money that you possess,
then i will marry you.
ha-ha-ha, now i see, you love my money, but you don’t love me,
and i’ll not marry you.
trad arr. gregory grene
tune: kerry polka, trad arr.gregory grene
emily
i lost emily in san francisco
now she won’t even talk tome
when i first knew her
i really couldn’t stop her
she’s silent now and she won’t talk to me
we were driving through the little lanes of napa
dreaming of the wine we’d have to share
she told me go this way
she told me go that way
i drove on like i simply didn’t care
and then she fell silent and said nothing
i thought that it would wear off later on
but i was wrong
i was oh so wrong
her silence wore on and on and on
i suppose i never said i loved her
i suppose i never really held her tight
i just took her for granted
thought she knew she was wanted
now i know i really wasn’t right
emily come back to me i love you
emily come back to me i beg
after all you said
now your voice is dead
i just watch your face and read your lips instead
gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
tune: fotherick’s flutter,gregory grene, ©34th street music ascap
andi’s tunes
andi’s tune /
alexander macandrew
gregory grene, ©34thstreet music ascap
musicians on the album:
gregory grene, vocals and accordion
with
john doyle, guitar, mandola,backing vocals
ed kollar, bass guitar
darren maloney, banjo
joanie madden, tin whistle,low whistle, flute
mattie mancuso, fiddle
chris higginbottom, drums,cajon
tony cedras, trumpet, guitar
mario grigorov, piano
cillian vallely, low whistle
anna culliton, bodhran
daniel chaudin, percussion
