LISDOONVARNA

   
How's it goin' there everybody,
From Cork, New York, Dundalk, Gortahork and Glenamaddy.
Here we are in the County Clare
It's a long, long way from here to there.
There's the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher,
And the Tulla and the Kilfenora,
Miko Russell, Doctor Bill,
Willy Clancy and Noel Hill.
Flutes and fiddles everywhere.
If it's music you want,
You should go to Clare.
   
CHORUS
G          C
      Oh, Lisdoonvarna
      G                                 C
      Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoonvarna!
Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain or jump in a lake.
Some head off to exotic places,
Others go to the Galway Races.
Mattie goes to the South of France,
Jim to the dogs, Peter to the dance.
A cousin of mine goes potholing,
A cousin of heres loves Joe Dolan.
Summer comes around each year,
We go there and they come here.
Some jet off to ... Frijiliana,
But I always go to Lisdoonvarna.
   
CHORUS
   
I always leave on a Thursday night,
With me tent and me groundsheet rolled up tight.
I like to hit Lisdoon,
In around Friday afternoon.
This gives me time to get me gear together,
I don't need to worry about the weather.
Ramble in for a pint of stout,
And you'd never know who'd be hangin' about!
There's a Dutchman playing a mandolin,
And a German looking for Liam Óg O'Floinn.
And there's Adam, Bono and Garrett Fitzgerald,
Gettin' their photos taken for the Sunday World.
Finbarr, Charlie and Jim Hand,
And they drinkin' pints to bate the band.
.. Ain't it grand?
   
CHORUS
   
The multitudes, they flocked and thronged,
To hear the music and the songs.
Motorbikes and Hi-ace vans,
With bottles - barrels - flagons - cans.
Mighty craic. Loads of frolics,
Pioneers and alcoholics,
PLAC, SPUC and the FCA,
Free Nicky Kelly and the IRA.
Hairy chests and milk-white thighs,
And mickey dodgers in disguise.
Mc Graths, O'Briens, Pippins, Coxs,
Massage parlours in horse boxes.
There's amhráns, bodhráns, amadáns,
Arab sheiks, Hindu Sikhs, Jesus freaks,
   RTE are makin' tapes, takin' breaks and throwin' shapes.
This is heaven, this is hell.
Who cares? Who can tell?
(Anyone for the last few Choc Ices, now?)
   
CHORUS
   
A 747 for Jackson Browne,
They had to build a special runway just to get him down.
Before the Chieftains could start to play,
Seven creamy pints came out on a tray.
Shergar was ridden by Lord Lucan,
Seán Cannon did the backstage cookin'.
Clannad were playin' "Harry's Game",
   Christy was singin' "Nancy Spain".
Mary O'Hara and Brush Shields,
Together singin' "The Four Green Fields".
Van the Man and Emmy Lou,
   Moving Hearts and Planxty too!
   
CHORUS
   
Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain or jump in a lake.
Sean Doherty goes to the Rose of Tralee,
Oliver J. Flanagan goes swimming in the Holy Sea.
But I like the music and the open air,
So every Summer I go to Clare.
Coz Woodstock, Knock nor the Feast of Cana,
Can hold a match to Lisdoonvarna.
   
CHORUS










I've Just Heard Willy Nelson / Encore



C                                                 F                C
   I just heard William Nelson - he was singin' of his hard life on the road
                                                     F                G
   And his lyrics set me thinkin' it's much the same no matter where you go,   
         F                                                                                             G
   Be it Tulsk or Bord Na Móna
       Dm          G                Dm             G
   I've received my education in the lounges of the nation;   
            Dm               G                  C
   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.

   CHORUS
F                                           C
      If I get an encore I go home feelin' like a king;
               d          G         d            G               C
      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.

   CHORUS
   
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.

   CHORUS
   
Christy Moore