top of page

Popular
IRISH & CELTIC Tunes
P - S

PEGGY GORDON

 

(1st VERSE & CHORUS)

Oh, Peggy Gordon, you are my darling
Come sit you down upon my knee
Come tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee

 

I'm so in love, I can't deny it
My heart lies smothered in my breast
It's not for you to let the world know it
A troubled mind can know no rest

----

I did put my head - to a cask of brandy
It was my fancy I do declare
For when I'm drinking I am thinking
And wishing Peggy Gordon was here

 

CHORUS

 

I wish I was - away in Ingo
Far across the briny sea
Sailing o'er the deepest ocean
Where love nor care ever bother me

----

I wish I was - in some lonesome valley
Where womankind cannot be found

Where the pretty small birds
Do change their voices
And ev'ry moment a diff'rent sound

 

CHORUS

 

***

​SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

By Cliff Hanley   Copyright: 1951

 

Hark when the night is falling
Hear! hear the pipes are calling,
Loudly and proudly calling - Down thro' the glen.
There where the hills are sleeping,
Now feel the blood a-leaping,
High as the spirits - of the old Highland men.


Chorus
Towering in gallant fame,
Scotland my mountain hame,
High may your proud
standard gloriously wave,
Land of my high endeavour,
Land of the shining rivers,
Land of my heart for ever, Scotland the brave.

High in the misty Highlands,
Out by the purple islands,

Brave are the hearts that beat -

beneath Scottish skies.
Wild are the winds to meet you,
Staunch are the friends that greet you,
Kind as the love that shines - from fair maidens' eyes.


Chorus

Far off in sunlit places - Sad are the Scottish faces,
Yearning to feel the kiss

of sweet Scottish rain.
Where tropic skies are beaming,
Love sets the heart a-dreaming,
Longing and dreaming - for the homeland again.

Chorus

 

***

SOME SAY THE DEVIL IS DEAD

 

CHORUS  (AND FIRST VERSE)
Some say the devil is dead,

the devil is dead, the devil is dead,
Some say the devil is dead

and buried in Killarney.
More say he rose again,

more say he rose again,

more say he rose again,
And joined the British army.

Feed the pigs and milk the cow,

milk the cow, milk the cow,
Feed the pigs and milk the cow,

so early in the morning.


Tuck your leg up, Paddy, dear.

Paddy, dear, I'm over here!

Tuck your leg up, Paddy dear,

It's time to stop your yawning.

 

CHORUS


Katie, she is tall and thin,

tall and thin, tall and thin.
Katie, she is tall and thin.

She likes a drop of brandy.


Drinks it in the bed at night,

drinks it in the bed at night,

drinks it in the bed at night.
It makes her nice and randy.

​

CHORUS

 

My man is six foot tall,

six foot tall, six foot tall,
My man is six foot tall,

he likes his sugar candy.


Goes to bed at six o'clock,

goes to bed at six o'clock,

goes to bed at six o'clock.
He's lazy, fat and dandy.

 

CHORUS

My wife, she has a hairy thing,

a hairy thing, a hairy thing.
My wife, she has a hairy thing,

she showed it to me Sunday.


She bought it in the furrier shop,

bought it in the furrier shop,

bought it in the furrier shop.
It's going back on Monday.

 

CHORUS

 

***

RED RED ROSE

     By Robert Burns

​

My Love is like a red red rose
That's newly sprung in June
Oh my love is like a melody
That's sweetly played in tune


As fair thou art my bonnie lass
so deep in love am I
and I will love thee still my dear
Till all the seas gone dry

Till all the seas gone dry my dear
And the rocks melt with the sun
And I will Love thee still my love
While the sands of life shall run

And fare thee well my only love
and fare thee well a while
And I will come again my love
Though 't'were ten thousand miles

 

***

SONNY’S DREAM

      By Ron Hynes

​

Sonny lives on a farm on a wide open space
Kick off your shoes son, stay out of the race
lay down your head by the soft river bed
Sonny still can remember

the words his Mama said


CHORUS
Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone.
Your daddy's the sailor - never comes home
The nights get so long, and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

Sonny works on the land -

though he's barely a man
not much to do, he does just what he can

Sits by the window in his room by the stairs
watches the waves gently wash on the pier

 

CHORUS


And it's a hundred miles to town,

Sonny's never been there.
And he goes to the highway -

and stands there and stares.
And the mail comes at four -

and the mailman is old,
Oh, but he still dreams his dreams -

full of silver and gold.

 

CHORUS

Sonny's dreams can't be real,

they're just stories he's read.
They're just stars in his eyes,

they're just dreams in his head.
And he's hungry inside -

for the wide world outside.
And I know I can't hold him -

though I've tried and I've tried.

CHORUS

Many years have passed on -

Sonny's old and alone
His daddy the sailor never came home.
Sometimes he wonders -

what his life would have been,
but from the grave - Mama still haunts his dreams

CHORUS

 

***

STREETS OF LONDON

By Ralph McTell

 

Have you seen the old man - in the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper, with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride - And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

 

CHORUS
So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and

lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something
to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl - who walks the streets of London

Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?

She's no time for talking - she just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.
Chorus

In the all night cafe at a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own.
Looking at the world over the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour - then he wanders home alone
Chorus

And have you seen the old man - outside the seaman's mission
memory fading with - the medal ribbons that he wears.
In our winter city, the rain cries a little pity
for one more forgotten hero - and a world that doesn't care

Chorus

 

***

bottom of page