1. |
New York
03:54
|
|||
|
Danny Cooley always told me
That the Irish could change the world
Said he’d come back one day to show me
Never heard another word
Some say he joined the army
KIA Afghanistan
Last seen alive in San Diego
In the company of a Fenian band
The demon rum is on the table
The bedpost queen is in my hand
Now the tiger’s just a fable
The saints are dying out in the sand
Chorus:
Back in ’23, they landed on the docks
Nearly two hundred years only made it twelve blocks
Or went up that Harlem line into the heart of the Bronx
You’re free as a bird New York
It was, Vinegar Hill down to Baltimore
We hit every joint, pissed in every bar
In that black sedan with the plates expired
Singin’ Homeward Bound until the rising sun
I hear the cold rain lash the window
Drowning sorrows in the square
I think I’ll head on down to Pittsburgh
I heard a rumour Danny’s there
Chorus
Were buried with the rosary when the big canals were dug
Or fought hard on the fields with Meagher to the Argonne
Shouting “Clear the Way”, our time will come
You’re free as a bird New York
|
||||
2. |
Bastard of the Bunch
03:15
|
|||
|
I was a brawler, black was the colour
Red was the blood we shed
Down in the old town, just near the tunnel
Where the old grey men were fed
St. Michael defends me, our lady mends me
I’m up with the union noise
I’ll hear your confession, down on the docks
With the cops and the factory boys
The words of the men on the block rang out
And this is what they said:
Chorus:
It’s not an Irish wedding til someone throws a punch
Or the Peelers do arrive man alive more than once
Bless ye Missus Monaghan and thank ye for the lunch
I hit yer son in law Jimmy he’s the Bastard of the Bunch
Memories of his life down on the West Side
Time on the killing floor
Angelic chaos, where the true state of grace was
The Lincoln with the suicide doors
Respected and tested rarely was bested
When the bare knuckle boys came by
Born with a good chin, Irish American
When he gave up the ghost we cried
The words of the men on the block rang out
And this is what they said:
Chorus
Where have you been and where’d you go?
Who did you love? Who did you bury along the road?
And I’ll gut this life from stem to stern
Turn the lights out when I go
Grieve for the heroes, men from the boroughs
Legends of the emigrant breed
They followed the old man, they humped some hose
With yer Paddy out on Ladder 3
It’s been a long night of whiskey and bagpipes
Sounds of a slow, slow air
No more a rover, the battle is over
Hope the road rose to meet you there
The words of the men on the block rang out
And this is what they said:
Chorus
|
||||
3. |
The Black Eye Blonde
04:34
|
|||
|
The moon will rise up o’er the town
And they’ll wait for the woman of the faery mound
In the hallway and by the stove
In a shotgun house by the garden grove
She says, curse the wound that strikes me down
Take me now without a sound
Bury me in my wedding veil
Before I hear the banshee wail
Tim Farrelly swears he saw the bridge
That spans the length of the darkest ridge
That you cross when you die and you don’t come back
Like two pairs black sitting on the jack
She says, curse the wound that strikes me down
Take me now without a sound
Bury me in my wedding veil
Before I hear the banshee wail
Chorus:
Fare thee well my black eye blonde
Fare thee well my love so true
Fare thee well my black eye blonde
For the wind will rise and carry you
There’s a ghost that haunts this dusty lane
See her frosted breath on the window pane
And she comes in the night with a desperate plea
Sayin’ “I’ll haunt your days til you marry me”
She says curse the wound that strikes me down
And take me now without a sound
Bury me in my wedding veil
Before I hear the banshee wail
Chorus x2
For the wind will rise and bury you…
|
||||
4. |
Going Down Swingin'
03:51
|
|||
|
What if Johnny Horton sang a song about my life?
He’d say I got to ramblin’ with my head high tryin’
Down and broken hearted and it’s all because of you
I put my tears upon the shelf sure what’s a man to do?
Lady luck has left me, my spirit’s just a wreck
All my friends are dealing from the bottom of the deck
Faith is in the pawn shop, I’ve got my cross to bear
I might be on the ropes, but I ain’t goin’ anywhere
Chorus:
And if I’m going down, then I’m going down swingin’
On the canvas of life with the bastards singin’
Toora loora loo, there’s nothing I can do
But go down swingin’ to be back home with you
The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of a train
But I left the track long ago trying to dig my grave
She left me in the station with a deep demented kiss
I’m ten pints into a binge and it’s all because of this
(Pre-Chorus & Chorus)
I am the barroom clown, in any old haunt, in any old town
No money but a million gals to see
Oh what a beautiful sight, the way you look in that dress tonight
Things were better than they’d ever been
What if every one of us was judged by our mistakes
Taken to the cleaners, sent home in disgrace
The road to hell is paved with good intentions someone wrote
But the Rocky Road to Dublin is the only one I know!
(Pre-Chorus & Chorus)
|
||||
5. |
The Dark Path
03:45
|
|||
|
Oh the angel of mercy has he forgot
Or will he he just wait on the shore?
I’m sailing out for the Spanish coast
And I’m sure to go rovin’ no more
By the girls of Madrid I was given life
But the sidra taketh away
Lo siento I’m headin’ for the light
In the company of saints I will pray
Chorus:
And the devil is draggin’ me down
To a chorus of wind and bells
Would you walk with me on the dark path?
Winter is cold at the river mouth
Where the curlews cry in the mist
St. Brendan he’s out on the lash
Unaware that I even exist
And Father McCann’s got the parish locked
So there’ll be no shelter today
No salty fish for a brawling lout
No promise of whiskey or tea
Chorus
I live and I breathe to the salty roar
From Faro to the Pacific Rim
I was jailed and abused in El Salvador
For boasting of evil and sin
And when I am gone and there’s no more being
In Limerick they’ll weep and they’ll grieve
Hope they bury me high on an ocean cliff
For a rover “needs sight of the sea”
Chorus x 2
|
||||
6. |
Five Roses
03:35
|
|||
|
When Seany kicked me in the balls
He was high on Peruvian chemicals
I didn’t feel no pain at all
But when the rye wore off I cried
Nights with Molly and alcohol
They scrawled one-o-one on the Metro wall
Went uptown and we had a ball
I see the Mountain when I close my eyes
Chorus:
I’m the straw that stirs the drink
Bound for glory or the clink
I’m all sideburns and tattoo ink
And on these streets I’ll die
Down in the valley of the tavern son
Where the pay is good, but it ain’t no fun
“Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun”
While singin’ about a White Riot
Winter comes with its midnight mass
From the point to Notre Dame de Grace
The Griffintown ghost she’s a headless lass
And I wonder how she died?
Chorus
It’s summer neon on the main
The dancers wait out in the rain
For a taxi home to numb the pain
While John the Baptist sighs
I love this city and her seraphic whores
Her one way streets and her lexicon wars
In the City of Saints and perfect pours
But the kids are not alright
I remember when we watched the ‘spos
And Gary the Kid hit a couple o’ those
Homers took the bloom off the rose
Why can’t we go back in time?
Chorus x2
|
||||
7. |
Beggars, Rats, & Boozers
05:34
|
|||
|
I’ve the captains and kings, of madness and things
To thank for my dreadful condition
Lord help my poor soul, black as the coal
That kindles the hearth of addiction
The city’s alive, but the old girl is dying
She’s abandoned like ships with the losers
And the beggars, rats, & boozers
Southside Dublin 8, breathe the hops from the Gate
As a young man I worked on the railway
And feeling no pain, down on Marrowbone Lane
I was thinking bout heading for the Broadway
The city’s alive, but the old girl is dying
Like the prisoner who’ll face his accuser
With the beggars, rats, & boozers
Lost his sweet Virginia
Found the bottle and fell in love
And he spent all his days, in a newlywed haze
Conspiring on a stool down the pub
In the temples of intemperance
In the halls of reverie
Wrap me up in my country’s flag
And bury me out at sea
I tattooed my arse with “F yez all”
In the Palace of the Fiend
You can count the bottles piled high
From Detroit to New Orleans
Some days are for healing
My darling gra mo chroi
And some days are for sailing out
Through the dark and stormy seas
The city’s alive, and the old girl is mine
I spent my days trying to seduce her
Ya the city’s alive, but she’s cold and she’s hiding
The bastards that beat and abused her
All those beggars, rats, & boozers...
|
||||
8. |
A1A FLA
02:18
|
|||
|
Left behind the solitudes with courage from MacLennan
Headed south with Van-a-White we’re on the trail of Brendan
Doyle says, “the wind is strong but it cannot break my will,
Ta hell with fecking Charlie, never closed we never will”
Chorus:
It’s Paddy’s Day on the A1A
Tiernan’s Pub to “Save the Ray”
On the road and far away
We’re going on a tear-o!
We went down to Venice town to cause a dirty riot
A drink to old Seminoles and De Valera’s island
Me llamo San Patricio at the bottom of a bottle
I fell into the ocean and I bathed in holy water
Chorus
Mine eyes have seen the glory of a dive on the Atlantic
So we burned across the 904 where the Sligo house was frantic
We guzzled crippling pints of brew with Rogers, Mick, and
Culchie
Until my aching guts were liberated from my body!
Chorus x2
Need a week to rest our bones
Swear we’re done no more to roam
First we roll on down the road
And swim the gulf to Mexico!
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
Chorus:
In the mornin’ the mornin’ see you in the mornin’
Meet you up the boreen where the cold north winds blow
In the mornin’ the mornin’ see you in the mornin’
We ask for port and whiskey but they still say no
Farewell to clean and sober mate
Tonight we’re tearing down the place
Kiss me Kate we’ll celebrate
Before the bloom is gone
We’ll punish all the taps in here
A tribute to the disappeared
Like Miss O’Malley’s buccaneers
Until we see the dawn
The barman threw his hands up in the air
I heard him shout, “Paddy’s out!”
But I don’t care
Chorus
And while the skins were looting
The coppers got polluted
In our suits and booted
We queued up for a dance
Tossin’ back pints and jars
Of whiskey chased with roofing tar
Joe is on the jukebox
“See it gets to Jimmy Jazz”
The barman threw his hands up in the air
I heard him shout, “Paddy’s out!”
But I don’t care
Chorus
The inn became a brothel
The sods began to grovel
Michael Ryan flipped the footy on
The Paddy’s and the Poles
While Ziggy cheered the boys in green
I met that fucker drink for drink
I passed out in the toilet
And missed all the fucking goals
I dreamt I shared a bottle
With Finn and Katie McConnell
The devil hit the throttle
And we ended up in France
Reeling through the Champ de Mars
Looking for an open bar
We called for Whelan’s motor car
To bring our arses back
The barman threw his hands up in the air
“She can send a man to heaven boys,
But hell is waiting there”
Chorus x2
|
||||
10. |
||||
|
I’m off to kill the devil and look him in the eye
To banish all the fear and doubt and tears he left behind
To break his back with broken glass and drown him in the night
To take a swing at temperance when there’s no one left to fight
Chorus:
In Kill Devil Hills you can hear the Furies moan
You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t
Bury me near the ocean boys, there’s rum in the dunes
They’ll kick the shite out of ya while the fiddler plays a tune
I love to feel the liquor slide into my veins
Get slowly paralytic just to rise above the pain
The gargle is the gospel till the spirit calls my name
“It’s calling, calling, calling, come and get aboard the train”
Chorus
Most say he rose again and wrote this on the wall
The light that killed the darkness wasn’t any light at all
A single drop of poison it’s the rise before the fall
And down in Carolina you can hear the sailor’s call
Chorus x3
|
||||
11. |
Stand Down Cleary
04:24
|
|||
|
He once worked the mines around Ballingarry
Til he learned how to throw a right hook
Then he decked big Tim Barnes and a couple of frenchies
They dropped to the floor where they stood
The old men said son you can rise up from want
There’s no bogey or tally for you
It’s off to New York and the Grand Central Station
The land of the red, white, and blue
He smashed every Joe, from St. John’s to Boston
Then turned left and headed out west
He took any fight to the smoke of Des Moines
A legend wherever he went
He warmed up in bars, from Utah to Frisco
Cause the Yanks never lasted a round
Slow horses, fast women, opiate addiction
The curse that the devil cast down
Chorus:
Before Philly Jack and the Great White Hope
Before Jack Dempsey too
There was Stand Down Cleary from the County Tipperary
The toughest Mick that we ever knew
Our father I repent
For this awful life I’ve spent
But the fist anoints what the bottle can’t mend
My friend
He once worked the mines around Ballingarry
He once walked the rivers and glens
But there’s no going home for a straight right in Portland
Brought him to his end
On American soil he was laid to rest
With a ten count church bell grace
His eulogy was given by unanimous decision
And they threw his buckled arse into a grave
Chorus x2
|
||||
12. |
Company of Saints
04:11
|
|||
|
In the company of the saints
In the wild afternoon
I walked down on the ol’ Irish Channel
Beneath a wandering moon
In the summer that I loved
In the Paris of the south
We walked hand in hand
While a funeral band played loud and slow
On a barrel I did float
From the Wreck of the U & I
Hiding in bars, sleeping in cars
And saying goodbye
But I never forgot your face
Unbroken in my soul
You can lose your own way
When you’re shamed in a haze of alcohol
Now the factory’s closing down
As the evening shadows fall
The plans that we had, brilliant and mad
I still can recall
But it’s autumn in the glen
And I’m on the Crooked Road
Where the tender wave broke
And washed away all I’ve ever known
May the strains
Of music and laughter
Fill your days
From the cradle to the great ever after
Should your nights
Be cold and dark
Keep me there
In your heart
In the company of the Saints
You’ll roam the streets of gold
Reborn on that breeze, blowin’ up from the Keys
You will never grow old
And I’ll see you once again
And we’ll both recall the tune
We’ll meet on the bank
Where your spirit broke rank, ‘neath the wandering moon
|
||||
13. |
Cunnla (for Ger)
05:46
|
|||
The Peelers Montreal, Québec
Now based in Montreal, The Peelers were formed in 1999 in North Glengarry. They immersed themselves in a hotbed of Gaelic culture that smashed head on into a love of whiskey, poetry, footy, debauchery, ska and punk. They don’t just bend the rules of tradition with their blend of aggro & trad Irish - these long ball merchants tear it to pieces. ... more
The Peelers recommends:
Punk, country, Irish drinking songs, chainsaws and raccoons. What's not to like?? Our label mates and the best people!!
go to album
Into The North
by The Dreadnoughts
Nick is a fantastic songwriter we've known for years. This is the real deal, batten down the hatches for the best Celtic polka punk klezmer mayhem!
go to album
The Emerald City
by The Tossers
Love this band, always have. One of the absolute best in our genre, with outstanding musicianship and brilliant songs.
go to albumIf you like The Peelers, you may also like:
featured on Bandcamp Radio Sep 1, 2023
go to album
Sidewalkin'
by the cigarette bums
An album of garage punk stompers that will stick in your ears like bubblegum to your shoes.
go to album
Normal Never Was - Revelations - The Remix Compilation
by Crass
The legendary Crass made the stems from their debut available for remixing; the result is this excellent, mind-melting 40-track collection.
go to album
