Christy Moore
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I just heard William Nelson – he was singin’ of his hard life on the road
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And his lyrics set me thinkin’ it’s much the same no matter where you go,
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Be it Tulsk or Bord Na Móna
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I’ve received my education in the lounges of the nation;
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After twenty years I’m still goin’ fairly well.
I’ve played every lounge in Ireland from Dingle right up to Donegal,
I’ve done ‘Nancy Spain’ on stages where no other ballad singers go at all,
From the Rising Sun in Brownstown to the Unyoke Inn just outside Wexford Town,
Ballymurphy and the Bogside, Ballinamore and even once in Ballinasloe.
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If I get an encore I go home feelin’ like a king;
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It’s a two way situation – I get a lot of pleasure when I sing.
When I first heard Tommy Makem and the Clancys my future it was sealed,
I was bitten by the music bug and the wound it never healed.
When I got my first guitar my fingers bled until I learnt a chord or two;
I pulled on my Aran sweater, wrote me Ma a goodbye letter
And started singin’ in O’Donoghue’s.
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I was playin’ in the Meeting Place when half the Special Branch came through the door.
They were lookin’ for McGlinchey but they never found who they were lookin’ for.
They started listenin’ to my gig and hung around till after the show,
So if I ever need a taxi-plate or a massage at the special rate
The Special Branch they told me where to go.
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