Get all 18 Alison O'Donnell releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Alison O'Donnell & Gayle Brogan Double A-Side Single, Hark The Voice That Sings For All: new songs in an ancient tradition, Christmas 2011 unreleased tracks Bajik, The Travels of Janus, Spread Your Sailing Angels Over Me (50 years of song): a compilation, Five Forests by Head South By Weaving & Alison O'Donnell, Exotic Masks and Sensible Shoes, Climb Sheer The Fields Of Peace, and 10 more.
1. |
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Oh they call me Wily Will
I love me a tankard of cider
I can turn my hand to farming
But I want to see the world wider
I plays an old melodeon
But I sing with a voice that’s finer
Travel up to London town
On the bumpy roads and lanes
Past the blurring sheep on a fancy train
Designed by a man with a brain
And the grandest of names
Clatter on the cobbles
I am wailing about daft Dan
Battering Mary the milkmaid
Till down to the ground she fell
Or a tale about a lad waylaid
On his way to ring the church bell
Travel up to London town
Far away from the tossing sea
I will doff my cap to every milady
And never disagree
I’ll catch me shuteye at a boarding-house
For the work is hard and me limbs do ache
Them bawdy tales in the alehouse
Will keep me oh so wide awake
And though I’m too canny for the jailhouse
I’ll likely be singing of heartbreak
I miss the folks at the farmhouse
And me bit of bacon and fruitcake
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2. |
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Motoring hard on a long and dusty route
Stones and dust kicked up for many miles
Snakes coil in hope of pursuit
Idling and lazy in a state of bile
Stripes and patches go flashing by
Animals you would see in a city zoo
Roam this landlocked, scorched drive-by
As far as the eye a glorious view
Travel far to usher in a hopeful dawn
Shout and cheer until our heads spin
Something better is being born
Out with the old while the new rolls in
Shake our limbs with a multitude
Love the circus of celebration
The new leader sets a euphoric mood
Gone the colonial nation
But soon the farms are lying fallow
And power has blinded both his eyes
The public coffers have little to show
And twenty thousand die
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3. |
Cosmic Harlequin
03:32
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Hey ho, lo and behold the cosmic harlequin
Entertain us to our disdain, comic harlequin
Some kind of costume is all you need you jester man
Call me charlatan, call me a king, each way I win
Many like me hold sway over you and other poor clowns
Your red nose glows and your big mouth turns down
We will run you out of every city, village and town
Here is another like you and he is wearing a gown
Bounce your balloon over to me and I will make it burst
If there’s a chance to skip the queue then I am the first
But you stood right up to me and showed me a better face
You clung to your flag of dignity at the top of the hill
You are the righteous winner in this particular race
Of pushing and shoving I have had my fill
Transformation beckons, rehabilitation
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4. |
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When I could climb the highest rocks and iron my flowing hair
You had an infant on your hip while we breathed the London air
A boy with magic fingers is playing all the hours
His quest for perfection very similar to ours
We went back to our rented rooms with walls of every hue
Orange and a khaki green and the sheets were far from new
The kitchen was a cavern in a house in Belsize Park
You never knew who might be making toast there in the dark
On the smutty ceiling the grease of many fries
Cigarettes and other things burning up our eyes
Him and her were squealing like pigs within a pen
So I crept upstairs and stared at those confusing walls again
We talked of the inspiring sounds we recently had heard
Who had a brilliant record sleeve and who wrote a clever word
That world was full of shapely clouds in a sky that was benign
Our old mugs of steaming tea, too skint for drinking wine
We’ve been to too many wakes in the intervening years
But you still sparkle and survive despite the usual fears
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5. |
My Lady's Dompe (Live)
05:17
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6. |
Child of Knife and Fist
03:50
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Marching to a dictatorial tune the child of knife and fist
Ruled with pen and sharpened sword
Fostering nationalism
And sweeping militarism
Spreading fear and ever violent extremism
Met his end open-mouthed in the piazza
And then a woman of her own accord
Shot him dead again with five bullets for each son
She was never going to miss
Strutting his stuff to middle age forged a peacock so proud
He approved of women who knew their place
But one widow jumped and drew a gun
From her Irish black veil
Fired a bullet which grazed his face
Onwards then unholy Roman Empire
Gathering supersonic momentum
Trumpets blaring loud
Democracy was eaten
Protestors sorely beaten
The worst of those as yet unborn
Stand on the very same platform
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7. |
Shining Crystal Meadow
03:08
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8. |
A Cyclical Thing
03:14
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Summer solstice draws ever near
But demons still swoop from the sky
Arcadian trip to a standing stone ring
Might bring to the fore the reason why
She visits the darkness every year
Is it merely a cyclical thing?
She leaves behind the city noise
The fumes and babble around her head
Infernal thoughts clash in the air
Especially those that she misread
The damned ones are what she destroys
She wants to kill them stony dead
Weaving through the yonder sphere
Her black beasts fight each other above
They reel and dive and dart and dash
World-weary war or labour of love
Now the landscape of her mind is clear
Those villains burn and then they crash
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9. |
Rocks on the Beaten Path
03:47
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Clawing a path up the mountainside
Hairpin bends and steep incline
Nowhere to shelter or hide
Boulder after boulder in a line
I did not commit the sins of Sisyphus
Who rolls a boulder for all eternity
His misdeeds utterly treasonous
Whereas mine were far too small to see
Push that prickly gorse out of the way
I know I will reach my goal in the end
It might take many nights and many days
To the crown of the peak I will ascend
Snow covers all the mountain top
But a sign of life wriggles at my feet
Breathtaking views just never stop
They make my weary heart skip a beat
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10. |
Frozen Warnings (Live)
08:00
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Alison O'Donnell Dublin, Ireland
Singer, musician, writer of songs & soundscapes. Collaborator in a number of bands across folk, trad, alternative & cross
genres. Long career going back to Mellow Candle as a teenager. Student of United Bible Studies. Songs are meaningful and frequently pastoral and poetic, sung with passion and heart.
alisonodonnell.com
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