If you take a look around you
to see what’s goin’ on
but before you look too far
you know there’s something goin’ wrong
don’t you bend
If you look out of your window
to see what’s goin’ down
but you find that what you see
just makes you turn around
don’t you bend
There’s a tramp in the alley
who drinks until he’s gone
standing in the shadows
singing out a song
all night long
And if you’ve lost your lover
then there’s not much I can say
to ease the pain you feel
it happens everyday
but don’t you bend
You can rise as far
as you can fall
when you start to wonder
if it’s worth it all
don’t you bend
You passed the nights in wonder and the days without a care
You could still reach out and with your fingers touch her hair
Now every day you think about that she is no longer there
You see her face in the crowd and soon you’re back to where
That cold wind blows
A second makes the difference in the spinning of the wheel
When you come in close contact with a ton of speeding steel
And just when it looks like it could be your last day
You defy the reaper one more time, get up and walk away
You never know
Don’t be late the game is on make sure that you are in
You’ve got to be the early bird if you want to win
How much you really gain or loose you don’t find ‘til the end
But you try because you don’t know if you’ll be back here again
To see the show
Can you lend me what I need if I
say it won’t be for long
just enough to stop me from goin’
back to where I am coming from
I’ll do it for you
if you should turn one day
and ask if I’ve been that way
You know the dark side
where it gets hard to keep track
and you go missing for so long
but you always make it back
so tell me how
and I won’t ask again
every traveller needs a friend
Do you hear me from so far away
hear me singing through the smoke again
trying all day to get in touch with you
but it’s a long way to make it through
Living beyond reach with no lover’s touch
when you’ve lost somebody, feels you don’t have much
wherever I go you know I’ll be thinking of you
you’ll hear me sing through the smoke to you
I just got in when I heard the news
They said you wouldn’t make it through
I hoped that you would break the rules
Though all the odds were down on you
Hey Dad, don’t leave me here
Did you take the long road out of here
Did you turn around and see us there
Or hear the cries in the night
So many hearts must be right
Hey Dad, don’t leave me here
When you feel no doubt you’ve hit that glide
And your eyes can see it isn’t wide
A perfect target easily
To put that birdie home in three
Hey Dad, don’t leave me here
Baby where’ve you been so long
I’ve been down since you’ve been gone
won’t you take me home
I get sad here all alone
Maybe I did not treat you like I should
or tell you all the things I could
about the special things you are
now the winter makes me hard
Lately it seems I’m sinking down
I feel the darkness gather ‘round
since you’ve been gone
I stay awake too long
When first you hear the magic tune
it hits you quick and takes you soon
takes you down, down below
along old ways where few now go
then changing quick and soaring high
the story grows and passes by
the picture fades the lights come on
the memory stays, the tune is gone
If I could catch the magic tune
I’d play from midnight ‘til noon
from the farm to the town
and watch the crowd gather ‘round,
a song that’s charmed to make them dance
so all who’d hear would have no chance
because the movement in their shoes
would shake the cares they’d like to loose
Searching for the magic tune
with just the light from the moon
places change, scenes dissolve
then it’s time to move, moving on
time to leave and get out of town
see what’s left when night comes ‘round
but when you look you start to learn
there’s no way back there’s no return
I wear my fingers to the bone
In these places where I go
And it gets late when I get home
A crazy way to try to come
To far back where it all begun
To even think to turn around
At midnight when it all begins
you walk the line you know it’s thin
But to miss the starry night would be a sin
And when at last the night is through
I’m on the road the sky is blue
To pass the time I think of you
One more time into the night
alone again it won’t feel right
without you
Far away from you somewhere
I find myself but I still care
about you
It’s hard to hide it if you’re low
even though it may not show
I’m missing you
I could travel to China
but I know that where I go
I’ll still be missing you
I think of you dearly
I wish that you were
nearer to me now
One more time into the night
alone again, it won’t feel right
without you
There are no tears, though the times may have flown
And none can see, the things I call my own
Everyday, working my way back home
Into the market place, where everyone must stray
With the simple tools, that they call their trade
The daily bread, keeps hunger instead delayed
The crowds pour in, when the night has grown
The singer sings, but the song’s unknown
Playing it clear, for those who can hear the tones
But you can laugh though fate, would leave you on your own
When you’d do the same, even if you’d known
The price you pay, to go on your own way home
Don’t cry my love
don’t you go letting the world pass you by
You’ve got to try
like I know you can
Don’t you stop moving
when suddenly everything is down on you
you will pull through
you always do
Don’t keep me waiting
let me know that you’re still goin’ strong
I need to know
that you my love is well
Take it when you get it
it’s not often that you do
Give it while you have it
no one can ask more of you
There are times when it seems like
nothing ever could go wrong
but when it does it can shake you
when you’re finding out she’s gone
I remember every time we had
can’t forget it anymore
sleepless nights waiting for
your gentle tap upon my door
hey don’t you know me anymore
you know I’d never do you wrong
but when it gets close like that
then it’s so hard moving on
Take it when you get it
no one can ask more of you
give it while you have it
‘til it’s coming back to you
it’s hard to find and when you think you have
it’s not often that it’s true
but when it happens to you
then nothing else could ever do
As if you’d always known
but now it’s comin’ home
you feel it in your bones
hits you like cold stone
still sometimes you wake
late in the night
the situation might
then the dream takes flight.
Living with the past,
so close behind
creeping back again,
like a shadow in your mind
waiting every time to
catch you on your own
there’s nowhere you can turn
from those memories that still burn
You reach before moving on
as far as you can
you touch and hold for long.
You watch the children play
and see the days go by
the summer’s almost gone
you know it won’t be long
Every time I turn, they’re coming for miles
They’ve watched their bridges burn, they no longer smile
They say away down south, the land’s turned to sand
Food is getting scarce and war is at hand.
You can feel it in the air, the climate has changed
The ice is melting quick, the seasons are strange
The Wilderness retreats, more every year
Trees burnt to soil that soon disappears.
It’s hard to believe, the damage that’s done
To what nature built up, since the earth was still young
As they try to find out, how long it can last
The rape still goes on and the buck just gets passed
Dónal Donohoe – Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar & Vocal
Jeffrey Daniel Jensen – Drums & Bodhrán
Christian Dawids – Bass
Tony Uter - Percussion
Produced by Dónal Donohoe & Jeffrey D. Jensen
Recorded in Copenhagen Sound Studio, engineering by P. H. Juul
All tracks mixed in Copenhagen Sound Studio except tracks 2, 5, 8, 11 and 15 mixed in Future Force Audio, Århus. Engineering by Kasper Voerbæk
Mastered in Trend Studio, Dublin. Engineering by Mary Kettle
Photography by Frank Murphy, Baltinglass
Cover Design by Snap Printing
All songs written and composed by Dónal Donohoe except ‘Can’t keep from crying’ by Blind Willie Johnson.
Special thanks to Jeff, Christian & Tony for all their music and friendship.
© 2004 Donal Donohoe
