In my Irish-Folk-Music Band we are playing some songs written by the Sands Family (Tommy, Colum...) and here are the lyrics to this songs:

BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Chorus: It's a brand new day for celebrating
It's a brand new day for music making
and we're on our way there's no more waiting
We're back on the road again

1)The winter it is raging the stormy winds do blow
Hiding in the corner there's nowhere left to go
But suddenly there's changing like a dawning in the sky
The sun is in the morning the light is in your eye

Chorus

2)You were always beautiful but I could never see
So come a little closer and dance along with me
We'll dance the Waves of Tory, we'll dance the Highland Fling
Awake the sound of laughter and make the rafters ring

Chorus

3)It's a rocky road to travel, a stormy hill to climb
But you and I together can make it side by side
For hope is in the morning and love is on the way
We're on the road together and we're ready for the day

2 times Chorus




BICYCLE SONG

1)The day was fine and the sun did shine
but now it's near the evening
and I was driving in my car
not far from near Rathfriland.
I just had paid the road tax
And fire and theft insurance,
When the petrol tank said:"That's all, Frank!"
And this is my conclusion:

Refrain:
I'm going back on my bicycle,
I just can't pay the bills,
I'm going back on the bicycle
Freewheel down the hills.

2)My aunt Jane she took me in
with her blarney and her lingo.
She said, that she would buy the juice
If I took her to the bingo.
But all she ever gives to me
Are lollipops and spangles.
If she wants to go tomorrow,
She can sit up on the handles.

3)You won't go far without a car!
Or so said all the Joneses,
And I went crawling to the bank:
"Would you please give me a loan, sir?"
Ah, curse the day, I made my way
Behind those windscreen wipers,
With oil sheiks and the petrol strikes,
I can't pay the piper.

4)Three thousand pounds I earn each year,
Two Thousand hours I'm striving,
And a thousand pounds I spend on fifteen
Thousand miles of driving.
Now, a ten-mile-drive takes an hour strive,
If you can get my meaning,
And ten miles an hour I could beat
On the bike freewheeling.

Children of the Dole

1)Pictures of the children hanging in the classroom wall,
Frankie Brown's in front of them flower among them all.
Working for the future with all his heart and soul,
Who's the one to tell him, he'll be signing on the dole

Refrain:
But you can't run away, no you can't run away.
No you can't run away from the children of the dole.

2)Pictures of depression in the mirror of the bar,
The dole checks on the counter boys that didn't go too far.
Another dream has ended, another job is gone
Another factory's closing, the boss is moving on.

Refrain

3)Pictures of the minister, appearing on TV,
Rehearsing all the reasons, why the crises has to be.
The arm's race is expensive, more we cannot give,
There's money for the killing, but there's nothing left to live.

Refrain

4)Pictures of the soldier, on the memory card,
He didn't want to fight, but he didn't had a job.
Fighting for the motherland, duty must be done,
The boy who threw the petrol bomb, looked just like his son

Refrain

5)Pictures of the children, hanging in the barracks wall
Frankie Brown's in front of them, the terror of them all.
Standing on the corner, nothing much to do,
First time he's been wanted and he's staring straight at you.

Ending:
But you can't run away, no you can't run away
No you can't run away from the children of the dole.
But you can't run away, no you can't run away.
No you can't run away from the children,
from the children, of the dole.





Your Daughters and Your Sons

They wouldn't hear your music and your paintings were pulled down
They wouldn't read your writing and they banned you from the town,
But they couldn't stop you dreaming and a victory you've won,
For you sowed the seeds of freedom in your daughters and your sons.

Refrain
In your daughters and your sons, in your daughters and your sons,
You sowed the seeds of freedom in your daughters and your sons.

2)Your weary smile it proudly hides the chain marks on your hands
Where you bravely strived to realize the rights of every one.
And though your body's bent and low, a victory you have won,
For you sowed the seeds of justice in your daughters and your sons.

Refrain

3)I don't know your religion but one day I heard you pray
For a world where every man can work and children they can play.
And though you never had your share of the fruits that you have won,
You sowed the seeds of equality in your daughters and your sons.

Refrain

4)They taunted you in Belfast and they tortured you in Spain,
And in the Warsaw ghetto where they tied you up in chains.
In Vietnam and Chile when they came with tanks and guns,
It's there you sowed the seeds of peace in your daughters and your sons.

Refrain

5)Now your music's playing and the writing's on the wall,
All the dreams you painted can be seen by one and all.
Now you've got them thinking and the future's just begun,
For you sowed the seeds of freedom in your daughters and your sons.

etc