Big Dog (1996)
01. Under The Milky Way
02. Crooked Jack
03. The Mountains of Pomeroy/Garret Barry's/Snug In A
Basket/Iain's Jig/Clumsy Lover/Itchy Fingers
04. Finish Line
05. Our Day Will Come
06. Johnny Cope/Fermoy
Lasses/Jerusalem Rap
07. Blackleg Miner/Mairi Anne MacInnes
08. The Selling of Waternish
09. Big Dog/Trip To Pakistan
10. Finish Line (Reprise)
Under The Milky Way
(Written by Kilbey/Jansson)
Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty
The sound of the breath fades with the light
I think about the loveless fascination
Under the Milky Way tonight
Lower the curtain down in Memphis
Lower the curtain down all right
I've got no time for private consultation
Under the Milky Way tonight
Wish I knew what you were looking for
Might have known what you would find
And it's something quite peculiar
Something that's shimmering and white
That leads you here despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight
Crooked Jack
(Traditional; arranged by Seven Nations)
Come on Irishmen both young and old
With adventure in your soul
There are better ways to spend your days
Then by working down a hole
I was tall and true all of 6 foot 2
Til they broke me across my back
By a name I'm known that is not my own
For they call me crooked Jack
And I curse the day I went away
To work on those hydro dams
All our sweat and tears our hopes and fears
Bound up with shuttering jams
For I've seen men old before their time
Their faces worn and gray
But I never thought that I myself
Would soon be the self same way
And they say that honest toil is good
For the body and the soul
But I'll tell you boys it's for sweat and blood
That they want you down the hole
Slow Air, Jigs, and Hornpipes
The Mountains of Pomeroy (Martin Hughes)
Garret Barry's (Traditional; arranged by Neil Anderson)
Snug In A Blanket (Traditional; arranged by Neil Anderson)
Iain's Jig (Iain MacInnes)
Clumsy Lover (Neil Dickie)
Itchy Fingers (unknown)
Finish Line
(Kirk McLeod)
People used to walk these hills
People used to walk these streets
Around this town
And they used to feel complete
That was until they were replaced by sheep
What were they thinking?
What were they feeling?
Anything at all
At all...
I will walk upon these hills
I will hold my hands up to my face and look for miles around
And I still won't see a soul
Sometimes I swear I still can hear their cries and smell the smoke
I hear them crying
Where's compassion?
Anywhere at all?
At all....
Another time
Another place to be
Another people waiting
On that finish line
Another time
Another place to be
Another people waiting
On that finish line
See that we have picked up the pieces and you
Know that we are living well and feeling fine
But although we may have
Forgotten for awhile
You can look across the ocean now
And see that we remember
You can see we're feeling happy
And you know we're feeling strong
Since we were forced to leave you
What the hell did we do wrong
You can see we're feeling happy
And you know we're doing fine
Since we were forced to leave you
And cross that finish line
Our Day Will Come
(Kirk McLeod)
Come on down
Where the air
Meets the sea
In such great wonderful beauty
And where
Without light
You can see
Way down and deep in your soul
I hope you will realize
That this is where you belong
I hope you will come alive
And will welcome your freedom
That will welcome you home
So take me down to the river
Take me down to the sea
To the land of healing
Wings of love will carry me
I want to feel your arms around me
Of each moment that I breathe
Let your love surround me
Bless my soul to sleep at ease
I see scenes
From a day
When our world
Is staged with love and with laughter
And when
From the sky
Comes a light
To shine on streets of white gold
And if your heart still holds on to the pain
You can always return now
But there's no need to give in to the strain
You've just got to believe
Our day will come
To break these chains and fly away
Johnny Cope
(Traditional, arranged by Kirk McLeod)
Cope sent a message from Dunbar
Saying Charlie meet me if you dare
And I'll learn you the art of war
If you'll meet me in the morning
Hey, now Johnny are you wailin' yet
And are your drums a beatin' yet
If you're walkin' I would wait
You're goin' to the coals in the morning
When Charlie looked the letter upon
He drew his sword his scabbard from
Follow me my merry men
And we'll meet Johnny Cope in the morning
Hey, now Johnny are you wailin' yet
And are your drums a beatin' yet
If you're walkin' I would wait
You're goin' to the coals in the morning
When Johnny Cope he heard of this
He thought it wouldn't be amiss
To have a horse in readiness
To flee far away in the morning
Go no Johnny get up and run
The highland 'pipes are making a din
It's better to sleep in a hail skin
It will be a bloody morning
When Johnny Cope to Dunbar came
He asked of him, "where's all your men?"
They'll confound me again and again
For I left them all in the morning
Hey now Johnny you weren't too late
To come with news of your own defeat
And leave your men in such a state
So early in the morning.
Reel: Fermoy Lasses
(Traditional, arranged by Seven Nations)
Jerusalem Rap
(Joe Dolan, arranged by Seven Nations)
I'm a stranger here from Ireland's shore
I've been on the road six months or me
Hikin', workin', travelin' in style
I'm a vagabond from Ireland's isle.
Me sunburned thumb stuck up in the air
Many's the lift from here to there
Cars, buses, vans and trains
In the punishin' heat, the snow and the rain
Whack fol the diddle fol the dire ro day
Whack fol the diddle fol the der oh
Mrs. Dolan
Yer son he isn't workin
I came from Dublin to Jerusalem town
Had a drink or two on the journey down
At a railway station called Gare du Nord
Missed my train through gargling hard
Three days later in Napoli on a Turkish boat
I sailed to see, kept in a hot hole down below
Travelin' tourist class you know
When the Promised Land came into sight
The customs man gave me a fright
"How much money have you got with you Joe?"
I bluffed and said "50 pounds or so"
He said "Shalom!" I said "Good day!"
Grabbed my 'pipes and got fast away
Down to the desert then I went
Diggin' up history and livin' in a tent
It was in the gulf of Acaba
I met some paddies and we had a fleadh
Danced through the streets of Eilat town
Sang Sean South of Garryowen
I been travelin' I don't know
Pack your gear, ya ruck & go
Ya leave the craic for another bout
Could damn well do with a pint of stout
Blackleg Miner
(Traditional, arranged by Seven Nations)
It's in the evening after dark
When the blackleg miner creeps to work
In his moleskin pants and his dirty shirt
There goes the blackleg miner
He grabs his duds and down he goes
To hew the coal that lies below
There's not a woman in this whole town row
Who'll look at the blackleg miner
Dellaville is a terrible place
Where they rub wet clay in the blackleg's face
Round the heaps they run a foot race
To catch the blackleg miner
And on his way to his filthy mine
Across his path they stretch a line
To cut the throat and break the spine
Of the dirty blackleg miner
They grab his duds and his picks as well
Throw him down to the pit of hell
Down you go and fare thee well
You dirty blackleg miner
So join the union if you may
Don't wait 'til your dying day because
That might not be far away
Reel: Mairi Anne MacInnes
(Iain MacInnes)
The Selling of Waternish
(Kirk McLeod)
Big Dog
(Words and music by Kirk McLeod, arranged by Seven Nations)
Maybe we're the ones to blame
And maybe we're the ones who are insane
Well I stole a line for God
When I said set this house on fire
Get me out of here
Because man I'm growing tired
Of seeing all these faces disappear
I don't know and I don't care
But something's got to change
Something's got to change
Something's got to change around here
Listen for the sound of falling leaves
And pray for the air at night too thick to breathe
If a tree should fall at night
And there's no one there to hear
Will it make a sound?
Will it disappear?
There's no more need to fight
Because we've all been kicked around
No more to need to steal
So put the big dog down
Reel: Trip to Pakistan
(Niall Kenney)
Finish Line: Reprise
(Kirk McLeod)
Another time
Another place to be
Another people waiting
On that finish line
Another time
Another place to be
Another people waiting
On that finish line
But you see that we have picked up the pieces
And you, you know that we are living well and feeling fine
But although we may have forgotten for awhile
You can look across the ocean now and see that we remember
Living in America
