If I Should Fall From Grace With God

I am francisco vasquez garcia
I am welcome to almeria
We have sin gas and con leche
We have fiesta and feria
We have the song of the cochona
We have brandy and half corona
And leonardo and his accordione
And kalamari and macaroni

Come all you rambling boys of pleasure
And ladies of easy leisure
We must say adios! until we see
Almeria once again

There is a minstrel, there you see,
And he stoppeth one in three
He whispers in this one's ear
"will you kindly kill that doll for me"
Now he has won cochona in the bingo
All the town has watched this crazy gringo
As he pulls off the dolls head laughing
And miraldo! throws its body in the sea

El veinticinco de agosto
Abrio sus ojos jaime fearnley
Para el bebe cinquante cincampari
Y se tendio para cerrarlos
Y costello el rey del america
Y suntuosa cait o'riordan
Nor vompere mis calliones
Los gritos fuera de las casas

The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that crawl in are lean and thin
The ones that crawl out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout

Be merry my friends
Be merry

If i should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If i'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me

Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

This land was always ours
Was the proud land of our fathers
It belongs to us and them
Not to any of the others

Let them go, boys
Let them go, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

Bury me at sea
Where no murdered ghost can haunt me
If i rock upon the waves
Then no corpse can lie upon me

It's coming up threes, boys
Keeps coming up threes, boys
Let them go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

If i should fall from grace with god
Where no doctor can relieve me
If i'm buried 'neath the sod
But the angels won't receive me

Let me go, boys
Let me go, boys
Let me go down in the mud
Where the rivers all run dry

I come old friend from hell tonight
Across the rotting sea
Nor the nails of the cross
Nor the blood of christ
Can bring you help this eve
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee
They stand outside your door
Four score and three
Did you keep a watch for the dead man's wind
Did you see the woman with the comb in her hand
Wailing away on the wall on the strand
As you danced to the turkish song of the damned

You remember when the ship went down
You left me on the deck
The captain's corpse jumped up
And threw his arms around my neck
For all these years i've had him on my back
This debt cannot be paid with all your jack

And as i sit and talk to you i see your face go white
This shadow hanging over me
Is no trick of the light
The spectre on my back will soon be free
The dead have come to claim a debt from thee

The island it is silent now
But the ghosts still haunt the waves
And the torch lights up a famished man
Who fortune could not save

Did you work upon the railroad
Did you rid the streets of crime
Were your dollars from the white house
Were they from the five and dime

Did the old songs taunt or cheer you
And did they still make you cry
Did you count the months and years
Or did your teardrops quickly dry

Ah, no, says he, 'twas not to be
On a coffin ship i came here
And i never even got so far
That they could change my name

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
Fortune prevailing
Across the western ocean
Their bellies full
Their spirits free
They'll break the chains of poverty
And they'll dance

In manhattan's desert twilight
In the death of afternoon
We stepped hand in hand on broadway
Like the first man on the moon

And "the blackbird" broke the silence
As you whistled it so sweet
And in brendan behan's footsteps
I danced up and down the street

Then we said goodnight to broadway
Giving it our best regards
Tipped our hats to mister cohen
Dear old times square's favorite bard

Then we raised a glass to jfk
And a dozen more besides
When i got back to my empty room
I suppose i must have cried

Thousands are sailing
Again across the ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Postcards we're mailing
Of sky-blue skies and oceans
From rooms the daylight never sees
Where lights don't glow on christmas trees
But we dance to the music
And we dance

Thousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
Where the hand of opportunity
Draws tickets in a lottery
Where e'er we go, we celebrate
The land that makes us refugees
From fear of priests with empty plates
From guilt and weeping effigies
And we dance

The last time i saw you was down at the greeks
There was whiskey on sunday and tears on our cheeks
You sang me a song as pure as the breeze
Blowing up the road to glenaveigh
I sat for a while at the cross at finnoe
Where young lovers would meet when the flowers were in bloom
Heard the men coming home from the fair at shinrone
Their hearts in tipperary wherever they go

Take my hand, and dry your tears babe
Take my hand, forget your fears babe
There's no pain, there's no more sorrow
They're all gone, gone in the years babe

I sat for a while by the gap in the wall
Found a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
Heard the cards being dealt, and the rosary called
And a fiddle playing sean dun na ngall
And the next time i see you we'll be down at the greeks
There'll be whiskey on sunday and tears on our cheeks
For it's stupid to laugh and it's useless to bawl
About a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball

So i walked as day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
By the broad majestic shannon

[recruiting sergeant]
-----------------------------------


As i was walking down the road
A feeling fine and larky oh
A recruiting sergeant came up to me
Says he, you'd look fine in khaki oh
For the king he is in need of men
Come read this proclamation oh
A life in flanders for you then
Would be a fine vacation oh

That may be so says i to him
But tell me sergeant dearie-oh
If i had a pack stuck upon my back
Would i look fine and cheerie oh
For they'd have you train and drill until
They had you one of the frenchies oh
It may be warm in flanders
But it's draughty in the trenches oh

The sergeant smiled and winked his eye
His smile was most provoking oh
He twiddled and twirled his wee mustache
Says he, i know you're only joking oh
For the sandbags are so warm and high
The wind you won't feel blowing oh
Well i winked at a cailin passing by
Says i, what if it's snowing oh

Come rain or hail or wind or snow
I'm not going out to flanders oh
There's fighting in dublin to be done
Let your sergeants and your commanders go
Let englishmen fight english wars
It's nearly time they started oh
I saluted the sergeant a very good night
And there and then we parted oh



[the rocky road to dublin
------------------------------------------

(instrumental)]



[galway races]
----------------------------------

As i went down to galway town
To seek for recreation
On the seventeenth of august
Me mind being elevated
There were passengers assembled
With their tickets at the station
And me eyes began to dazzle
And they off to see the races

With me wack fol the do fol
The diddle idle day

There were passengers from limerick
And passengers from nenagh
The boys of connemara
And the clare unmarried maiden
There were people from cork city
Who were loyal, true and faithful
Who brought home the fenian prisoners
From dying in foreign nations

And it's there you'll see the pipers
And the fiddlers competing
And the sporting wheel of fortune
And the four and twenty quarters
And there's others without scruple
Pelting wattles at poor maggie
And her father well contented
And he gazing at his daughter

And it's there you'll see the jockeys
And they mounted on so stably
The pink, the blue, the orange, and green
The colors of our nation
The time it came for starting
All the horses seemed impatient
Their feet they hardly touched the ground
The speed was so amazing!

There was half a million people there
Of all denominations
The catholic, the protestant, the jew, the presbyterian
Yet there was no animosity
No matter what persuasion
But failte hospitality
Inducing fresh acquaintance