Lyr ADD: Directions (Colum Sands)

Subject: SANDS FAMILY:Lost in Northern Ireland
From:
Date: 13 May 97 - 02:50 PM

Hi

I'm looking for the the title, and preferably the lyrics of a song sung by, and to the best of my knowledge written by the Sands Family of Ulster. It regards a man ("I") trying, rather unsuccessfully, to find his way to some little village in NI by asking directions.

Håvard

Subject: RE: SANDS FAMILY:Lost in Northern Ireland
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 15 May 97 - 08:30 AM

I have all the Sands Family recordings on EMI, and tonight I will find your song. Look tomorrow for it. :-)

Subject: RE: SANDS FAMILY:Lost in Northern Ireland
From: Alison
Date: 21 May 97 - 08:20 AM

The song you are looking for involves a man trying to get a train (I think), to the town of Morrow, which leads to a lot of confusion along the lines of "I want to get to Morrow today, and come home tomorrow night." Sorry I don't have any more of the words, hopefully it'll jog someone elses memory. Alison

Subject: RE: SANDS FAMILY:Lost in Northern Ireland
From: GUEST,roseanne
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 05:53 PM

I hope you got the answer to your question, hopefully, because this is an old post. I would like to know. I saw on a site that Bobby had a son named Gerald and that he was married. The child is probably on his own now and they probably just want to be left alone. I fell in love with Bobby when I was 12 and he was dying.There was something Dickensian about the whole thing, poor lad, I remember being very frustrated for him and his loved ones. I wish them peace. If you find the answer could you email me at [e-mail]. Thanks

Subject: RE: SANDS FAMILY:Lost in Northern Ireland
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 06:31 PM

I believe Directions (written by Colum Sands and recorded on 'All My Winding Journeys') is what Håvard was looking for. Are you still out there, Håvard?

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Thread #50981   Message #775794
Posted By: Stewart
02-Sep-02 - 05:58 PM
Thread Name: BS: Dublin Gridlock??
Subject: Lyr Add: DIRECTIONS (Colum Sands)

Here in Seattle that bit of news on NPR gave us some relief that there was a place with worse traffic than here! In Dublin last year I had no trouble since I was on foot. But in Co. Donegal a few months ago driving a rental car, my wife and I had lot's of fun figuring out where we were and how to get to where we wanted to be. Our map had road numbers, but the road signs didn't and often it was a puzzle figuring out just which way they were pointing.

Anyway, this song I heard Colum Sands sing in Derry last year tells all about getting directions in Ireland.

DIRECTIONS - by Colum Sands

If you're not sure where you're going, but you know you've lost your way:

I hope you'll stop and listen now to what I'm going to say,
For I lost my way to Ballymastray on a day I'll not forget.
And I had to ask directions from everyone I met.
Well my trouble really started at the crossroads I suppose,
When I asked a man coming out of a shop with smoke coming out of his nose.
He leaned in through my window, like a man with time to spare,
And through the smoke I heard him say, "Now you're a stranger here.

But do you see that road in front of you that's forking to the right,
Whatever you do, don't take that road or you'll drive about all night,
No just keep on going, til you see a pub called Pat's,
Drive straight on round the corner and ask anyone after that."
Well around the bend I drove myself and I didn't see a soul,
Til I met a man with a bicycle he was wheeling a bag of coal,
His face was slightly swollen and his back wheel slightly flat,
But I knew I'd have to ask him, I was lost and that was that.

"Could you tell me the way to Ballymastray?" - "Could you give us the price of a beer?"
I handed him over a couple of bob for I thought that the deal was fair,
Til his pickled words of wisdom were whispered in my ear,
"If I was going to Ballymastray, I wouldn't start from here."
A woman tied to a little dog next heard my appeal
As she leaned through my window, her dog leaned on my wheel,
"O Ballymastray's a lovely place, sure it's even in a song,
But do you know what I'm going to tell you though, you couldn't be further wrong!

You see, you came across the river, and you really had no call,
In fact you shouldn't have crossed that bridge at all at all at all.."
Her dog had reached my fourth wheel as I put the car in gear,
Says I, "I'm getting out of here before he finds the spare."
It was just outside a joke shop, I met a man with a gun,
Black polish painted on his face and he wore a uniform,
I asked for the way to Ballymastray, says he, "I'm not from here"
He asked me where I was coming from, says I "I've no idea!"

Ah, never ask a couple, unless you want a fight,
One will send you to the left and the other to the right,
I left a pair of loggerheads and then my blood ran cold,
For wheeling round the corner came the man with the bag of coal,
"Ah now you're really lost my boy, and there's just yourself to blame,
For you drove away the minute I was trying to explain.
But I'll tell you now for nothing, if you take me and my load,
I'll show you the way to Ballymastray and it won't be off your road."

It was half an hour later, we reached his granny's lane,
And there we left his bag of coal and headed on again,
He left me with directions an hour after that,
At a petrol pump with a pub attached and the name of the pub was Pat's.
When I reached my destination, I was a broken man,
But the lesson that I learned that day, I'll share it if I can,
If you're going to Ballyshannon, Ballymastray or Ballylap,
If you're going to Bally anywhere, would you buy a bally map.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

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Alison, on the other hand, was referring to Tomorrow.