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Iron and Wood EP

1. West

2. Oh My Love

3. Boats

4. With You I Ride

5. Iron and Wood

I

Irish Boys EP

1. Irish Boys

2. Saro Jane

3. Sail Away

West

 

West I will go.

These bricks and mortar don't carry me no water

No, no rest have I found

Where my feet will carry my body down...

 

Turning in it's 6am, I done worn out the night again,

Guessing I might need a friend, to wake me in the morning.

The radio reports a final showdown of the forces int he east,

It don't sound like the end to me but I guess it might be.

 

West I will go.

These bricks and mortar don't carry me no water

No, no rest have I found

Where my feet will carry my body down...

 

Walking down the quays with Anna-Lee, she's as pretty as can be,

Smart and sharp and she was awful kind to me this summer.

I left her by the moon and stars, for banjo strings and old guitars and,

I don't wanna break her heart but I'm gonna.

 

West I will go.

These bricks and mortar don't carry me no water

No, no rest have I found

Where my feet will carry my body down...

 

Won't you lie your boots beside my feet they're bruised and battered?

Won't you let me rest an evening in this strange abode?

When morning comes without delay, I'm bound to make my getaway,

I'd rather be the rider than the road. 

 

West I will go.

These bricks and mortar don't carry me no water

No, no rest have I found

Where my feet will carry my body down...

 

*Won't you tell the world, when all my bones lie whitening,

After the years of tears and toil and sighing...

That I was once one in whose bones ran lightening,

Oh praise break from my lips when I'm dying!

 

West I will go!

These bricks and mortar don't carry me no water

No, no rest have I found

Where my feet will carry my body down.

 

*Some words in this verse are re-worked from a James Clarence Mangan poem, The Nameless One.

 

Oh My Love

You and I, we should get married,

Wild flowers I will carry.

All this time, no way to travel - 

Many miles, kicking gravel.

 

We will lie and press our bodies,

Start a little fire when it gets cold.

When evening comes to hold us tighter,

Like the reins of a rider.

 

Too wild to hold,

Where would you go?

I am told -

I would follow and never weary...

 

You sing a little sweeter with your morning dress on,

You sing a little sweeter when the witness is sworn,

You sing a little sweeter when the chorus is gone,

My love.

 

Ain't no protection, from fears and sorrow,

There's a song we can borrow.

Fallen timbers, turn to cinders,

But you know dust does turn to gold.

 

We'd drink the wine, you been saving,

Drink it down - drink it down.

A storyline close behind us,

You could write and never find us.

 

Too wild to hold,

Where would you go?

I am told -

I would follow and never weary...

 

You sing a little sweeter with your morning dress on,

You sing a little sweeter when the witness is sworn,

You sing a little sweeter when the chorus is gone,

My love,

Oh my love.

 

You and I, we should get married,

Wild flowers, I will carry.

Till evening comes, to hold us tighter,

Like the reins of a rider.

 

Boats

 

With You I Ride

 

I been ridin' long as I can recall,

I been ridin' longest of them all,

Take me back in time, 

Pull me out alive,

For with you I ride.

 

West of Mississippi I lost my way,

And I'll stand down, hands out, for my judgement day.

I left my soul in with the lonely one,

Headed out to where the blues come from,

Where I will remain.

 

Motorcycle Michelle done me good,

And drove me crazy like I hoped she would,

Until my eyes ran dry,

She left me by the roadside,

And there I stood. 

 

Few years later in an old Mobile motel,

Like my design in line I spied Michelle,

That needle in my stack,

Turned a dagger in her back,

And that woman fell.

 

Judge and Jury cut me down to size,

But no witnesses were found, no sign of my knife,

As I walked into the sun,

Seemed like my work was done,

And I almost cried.

 

Tie me down and leave me on the track,

Strike a hundred lashes across my back,

As I looked on down the line,

Seen that old soul of mine,

Just a looking back.

 

Iron and Wood

 

Iron and wood, I'm gonna get you good,

Turn you into telephone lines.

Under a redhot sun, looking for coal and diamonds,

Oh it's just a little at a time...

 

Oh from the mountain line

Oh from the mountain line

 

Leave the wheel in spin, save the shape I'm in,

Bib and tucker on a mannequin.

Just about insane, trying to shave the rain,

Feast until you grow up thin...

 

Oh save the shape I'm in

Oh in the chase again

 

I was on the other side, I was caught running for my life,

Now I just can't seem to find the time.

I been bought and sold, no place left to go,

I'm living on a fault line.

 

Oh it's a goldmine -

Oh this mountain line

 

Brother brother - a little at a time 

Sister, sister - I'm living on a goldmine

Mother, mother - a little a time

Mister, mister - ohhhh

 

Brother brother - a little at a time 

Sister, sister - I'm living on a fault line

Mother, mother - a little a time

Mister, mister - ohhhh from the mountain line.

 

 

Irish Boys

 

Thomas Nash was killed while sleeping,

They said he sided with the union,

Here's a rise and hear it coming,

From Charleston down to Richmond.

 

Irish boys pushed the steel,

When all of those around them,

Cried yippee-tai-ai-ay,

While coming down the mountain.

 

They would meet down at that county store,

Boots for two and forty,

Holding to a notion

That the rain woud stop a-falling.

 

And laying frames before the midday,

A railroad for a living,

They left their bodies on the workline,

For just the change that they were given.

 

Irish boys pushed the steel,

When all of those around them,

Cried yippee-tai-ai-ay,

While coming down the mountain.

 

From Connaght where it started,

To Virginia where old Tommy met his end,

Where all the great Departed,

Came time and time and time again.

 

Irish boys pushed the steel,

When all of those around them,

Cried yippee-tai-ai-ay,

While coming down the mountain.

 

Yippee-tai-ai-ay.

 

Saro Jane

My Saro Jane, 

Come and sit down,

won't you tell me?

Won't you lay, 

lay it on me?

Why you left, you let me be...

 

My Saro Jane,

with a heavy load to bear, 

But softly she treads there.

 

Come the morning,

After the wild wind,

I must wait for an answer.

For my time, 

my peace of mind,

And now she stirs.

 

My Saro Jane,

Her daddy's daughter, 

Came in by the breakwater.

 

And you come home,

Dressed up in oak,

Not a trouble on her brow nor load to toat.

And by my hand,

Into this sand,

Now down she goes.

 

My Saro Jane,

All covered in snow,

I loved her so.

 

My Saro Jane, 

All covered in snow,

I loved her so.

 

Sail Away

 

Tire blowed out, on a windy day,

It's alright ma, gonna sail away, gonna sail away.

Waiting in line, trying to get myself paid,

It's alright ma, gonna sail away, gonna sail away.

Many's a time, I been mislead,

Waiting for a sign, waiting for a better place,

When I get up to the pearly gates,

It's alright ma, gonna sail away, gonna sail away.

 

Ain't got no bible, ain't got no gun,

Ain't got no title, no battle lost, none won -

I got sun, on my shoulder,

Man I was young, but I've been older.

 

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

Don't want for noone - see how she blows.

 

On Ellis and Leavenworth and I'm falling down before you,

Shouting in time to a smoking pipe, you hear me when I call you.

I could say, you left me be.

Man, I could say - I'll wait and see.

 

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

Don't want for noone - see how she blows.

 

Under the redwoods in sunny Caliornia,

Sun is beating down a light from here and to the border.

I could say, you were there with me,

Man I could say, but I wait and see.

 

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

This boat's my home - see how she blows!

This boat's mey home - see how she blows!

 

Tire blowed out, on a windy day,

It's alright ma, gonna sail away, gonna sail away.

Waiting in line, trying to get myself paid,

It's alright ma, gonna sail away, gonna sail away.

It's alright ma, gonna sail away.

 

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