Great Folk Songs/Songs from your Heritage

[therealUT]

Thought I would start a less abrasive topic. Being Irish, here are my two favorite songs.

Danny Boy
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

Parting Glass

Oh all the money that e'er I had, I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done, alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit to memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had, they are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had, they would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call good night and joy be with you all

If I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

My dearest dear, the time draws near when here no longer can I stay
There's not a comrade I leave behind, but is grieving for my going away
But since it has so ordered been what is once past can't be recalled
Now fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

If I had money for to spend, If I had time to waste away
There is a fair maid in this town, I feign would while her heart away
With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin, my heart she has beguiled awa'
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you a'

If I had money for to spend, I would spend it in her company
And all the harm that I have done, I hope it's pardoned I will be
And all I've done for want of it to memory I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ordered been by a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all

[The Dude]

Here are a couple of my favs..

Dylan-She Belongs To Me
Dylan-Girl From the North Country (Nashville Skyline version w/Johnny Cash, of course)

[therealUT]

Very good choices. There are few things in life more relaxing than sitting on the back porch, cigar and scotch in hand, listening to Dylan and/or Neil Young.

[The Dude]

Burn One Down Ben Harper

From the album "Fight For Your Mind (1995)"

Let us burn one from end to end,
And pass it over to me my friend.
Burn it long, we'll burn it slow,
To light me up before I go.

If you don't like my fire, then don't come around,
'cause I'm gonna burn one down.
Yes, I'm gonna burn one down.

My choice is what I choose to do,
And if I'm causing no harm, it shouldn't bother you.
Your choice is who you choose to be,
And if you're causin' no harm, then you're alright with me.

If you don't like my fire, then don't come around,
'cause I'm gonna burn one down.
Yes, I'm gonna burn one down.

Herb the gift from the earth,
And what's from the earth is of the greatest worth.
So before you knock it try it first,
Oh, you'll see it's a blessing and not a curse.

If you don't like my fire, then don't come around,
'cause I'm gonna burn one down.
Yes, I'm gonna burn one, oohhh.

[The Dude]

And for a modern song that could be called folkish:

I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie

Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark

[kptvol]

Amos Lee has some pretty good songs, to throw out a more contemporary artist. Also, Bob Dylan has some really good songs on his latest release, Modern Times. "Spirit on the Water" and "Working Man's Blues" are especially good.

[kptvol]

Originally Posted by therealUT

Very good choices. There are few things in life more relaxing than sitting on the back porch, cigar and scotch in hand, listening to Dylan and/or Neil Young.

You'd probably like the Dylan song "'Cross the Green Mountain." It's on the Gods and Generals soundtrack. In addition to be a top notch tune, it's about the Civil War.

[milohimself]

I don't know my heritage. My dad was adopted and my mom's family hasn't been able to trace their roots back to the old country. I would suspect German heritage, but I'm not sure.

Anyways, here's local flavor, then:

Kaddisfly - Eres Tremulent

We make the oceans sometimes, our sea
We're poised aloft every swell, blindly
We're in the same boat
And we all share the same oars
We still stake our claims at
Stern, bow, port or starboard

Just wait for others, holding offers
Make way for mothers, holding daughters
Make way for brothers, holding lovers

When all at once, burst from within
Waves of light in human skin
Arguing it's only life, we'll live again
Above the waves that tears have since formed
Unabridged, en masse

We capsize our minds sometimes, by thinking
And throw the world overboard, wondering
If our ship stays divided and don't fast together
We'll surely lay waste when there is inclemint weather

The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You

You got a great car
Yeah, what's wrong with it today?
I used to have one too,
Maybe I'll come and have a look.
I really love
Your hairdo, yeah
I'm glad you like mine too,
See what looking pretty cool will get ya?

So, what do you do?
Oh yeah, I wait tables too.
No, I haven't heard your band,
'Cause you guys are pretty new.
But if you dig on vegan food
Well come over to my work
I'll have them cook you
Something that you'll really love.

'Cause I like you yeah I like you
And I'm feeling so bohemian like you
Yeah I like you yeah I like you.
And I feel whoa ho woo
Ooh ooh ooh

Wait
Whose that guy
Just hanging at your pad
He's looking kinda bummed
Yeah, you broke up, thats too bad.
I guess it's fair if he always pays the rent
And he doesn't get bent
About sleeping on the couch when I'm there.

I'm getting wise and
I'm feeling so bohemian like you
It's you that I want, so please
Just a casual, casual easy thing
Is it? It is for me
And I like you yeah I like you
And I like you I like you I like you
I like you I like you I like you
I like you and I feel
Whoa ho woo!
Ooh ooh ooh

[Lexvol]

Great topic. Here are a couple from John Prine:

Paradise
When I was a child my family would travel
Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born
And there's a backwards old town that's often remembered
So many times that my memories are worn.

Chorus:
And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

Well, sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River
To the abandoned old prison down by Airdrie Hill
Where the air smelled like snakes and we'd shoot with our pistols
But empty pop bottles was all we would kill.

Repeat Chorus:

Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man.

Repeat Chorus:

When I die let my ashes float down the Green River
Let my soul roll on up to the Rochester dam
I'll be halfway to Heaven with Paradise waitin'
Just five miles away from wherever I am.

Repeat Chorus:


Sam Stone

Sam Stone came home,

To his wife and family

After serving in the conflict overseas.

And the time that he served,

Had shattered all his nerves,

And left a little shrapnel in his knee.

But the morphine eased the pain,

And the grass grew round his brain,

And gave him all the confidence he lacked,

With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.

Chorus:

There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,

Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.

Little pitchers have big ears,

Don't stop to count the years,

Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

Mmm....

Sam Stone's welcome home

Didn't last too long.

He went to work when he'd spent his last dime

And Sammy took to stealing

When he got that empty feeling

For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.

And the gold rolled through his veins

Like a thousand railroad trains,

And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,

While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...

Repeat Chorus:

Sam Stone was alone

When he popped his last balloon

Climbing walls while sitting in a chair

Well, he played his last request

While the room smelled just like death

With an overdose hovering in the air

But life had lost its fun

And there was nothing to be done

But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill

For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.

Repeat Chorus

[Lexvol]

One more from Prine that is dear to me:

Grandpa Was a Carpenter

Grandpa wore his suit to dinner
Nearly every day
No particular reason
He just dressed that way
Brown necktie and a matching vest
And both his wingtip shoes
He built a closet on our back porch
And put a penny in a burned out fuse.
Chorus:
Grandpa was a carpenter
He built houses stores and banks
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes
And hammered nails in planks
He was level on the level
And shaved even every door
And voted for Eisenhower
'Cause Lincoln won the war.

Well, he used to sing me
"Blood on the Saddle"
And rock me on his knee
And let me listen to radio
Before we got TV
Well, he'd drive to church on Sunday
And take me with him too!
Stained glass in every window
Hearing aids in every pew.
Repeat Chorus:
Now my grandma was a teacher
Went to school in Bowling Green
Traded in a milking cow
For a Singer sewing machine
She called her husband "Mister"
And walked real tall and pride
And used to buy me comic books
After grandpa died.
Repeat Chorus:

[VolunteerHillbilly]

Thought I had one and then realized it was about 100 years too late to be part of my ancestors' experiences.

[Vol Mania 21]

All my rowdy friends have settled down - hank jr.

[orange+white=heaven]

Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top
Down in the Tennessee hills
Aint' no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top
Half bear, other half cat
Wild as a mink,
but sweet as soda pop
I still dream about that.

Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee

[CSpindizzy]

Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

[vader]

Originally Posted by The Dude

Burn One Down Ben Harper

From the album "Fight For Your Mind (1995)"