The Waterboys started
out, as my friend Jon once called them, a "U2-MeToo" Irish
rock group, but with songs like "Gala" and "Red Army
Blues" you always got a sense that they had more depth to them
than that. Then suddenly, with their fourth album, "Fisherman's
Blues", they hit their stride and found a way to make old traditional
Celtic-style music young again. More or less, they've been keeping it
that way ever since.
"When Ye Go Away"
by The Waterboys
Now he's
brought down the rain and the Indian Summer shines through
In the mornin' you'll be followin' your trail again, dear
lady you...
You ain't callin' me to join you, and I'm spoken for anyway
But I will cry, when ye go away. I will cry, when ye go
away.
Your
beauty is familiar and your voice is like a key
It opens up my soul and torches up a fire inside of me.
Your coat is made of magic, and around your table angels
play
And I will cry, when ye go away. I will cry, when ye go
away.
Somebody's
left his whisky and the night is very young
I've something to say, and I've more to tell and the words
will soon be spillin' from my tongue.
I will rave and I will ramble, I'll do everything but make
you stay...
And I will cry, when ye go away. I will cry when ye go away.
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Here are a couple of other Waterboys songs with lyrics I really
enjoy. These guys really have a talent for telling a story in
only a few short lyrics:
"Song from the End of the
World" by The Waterboys
Here's
the smell of seafood pie,
A broken tower on an open sky
A chain of islands rolling West
In sight of the house where we are guests.
A ramblin' old river twists through the fields
Ancient names encrypted on shields
Gifts arrive for a baby girl
Born a queen at the end of the world.
Furious music from an open door
The sound of feet beatin' on a stone floor
Always the wind, always the form
Of an elder God, hooved and horned...
The head of the mountains lost in a cloud
A country woman, soft and proud
Into the bay the horses swirl
For we come to the sea at the end of the world.
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"Gala" by The Waterboys
Gala
hangs from the window frame dressed in black and white
Her face is colorless in the moonlight.
She turns around and her lips move, the words just drop
away.
She leans on the back of a chair and her arms begin to sway
She and I can hear voices talking in the room next door
Saying things we used to say that we can't believe in anymore!
We've seen too many castles crumble, made to many innocent
mistakes
Who could have known that one house would hold so much heartbreak?
And then the clock bell rings, the wind blows in
Gala makes for the door
Her eyes blaze, her hands are shaking
She opens her mouth and ROARS
"GALA DOESN'T WANT, GALA DOESN'T NEED!"
She claws her face with her nails 'til it bleeds
She runs down the stairs in her poor bare feet
She's too woman to cry or go down on her knees
And then her mother is there, and her voice is soft as she
pulls Gala close
She soothes Gala's cuts and gently chides and Gala knows
That Gala shouldn't worry, no she needn't be afraid
For there are sailors on the seas tonight in ships that
God made
Look they cast out the line with a "heave-two-three-four"
And they sing as they pull our lost souls aboard...
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These songs are copyright by The Waterboys. No ownership
or permission is expressed or implied. The accompanying audio clip is
for your "review purposes",
in other words, I am explicitly hoping that this sample inspires you to
go out and buy the song. And thereby avoid having The Waterboys sue me.
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