Amerikana Arkana

'for those who seek shall find '

He was the last American hobo

At the end of his line

Crossing the Lucinda river

To leave this world behind

There is a way to negotiate

The transportation  of your soul

When someone asked him what it meant He said ,

You may look…….. You may find it…………….

And when you find it  you will know

The towns and country fairs

He'd avoid them if he could

With people ready to do him evil

In the name of doing good

You share tables with unknown enemies

In the places where you go

You’ll need to find protection

You may look…….. You may find it ……………

And when you find it  you will know

When he was a young man. ..,

The world unrolled before his eyes

In the Golden Rush Hotels

He was so handsome women cried

In the Father Redcap and Hercules

Good fortune was denied

And in In the Hazards of Balthasar

He found loss that never died

He travelled through the lines and laces

Printed on his face

That had to Say upon reflection

‘you should have found another place’

When these woods were young

That’s the Peace you want to know

when your mother and father were alive in time

You may look ,   you may find it

And when you find it  you will know

He was the last American hobo

At the end of his line

Crossing the Lucinda river

To leave this world behind

Oliver Curtis Perry Parts 1 and 2

(Sweeney - Holder)

Oliver Curtis Perry was an outlaw to himself

He went to rob a train one night , with nobody’s help

He put on a scarlet hood and wore an iron vest

He carried a pistol and an Indian charm to aid him in his quest

Chorus

He saw, he saw the light come shining

Shining all around,

He saw, he saw the light come shining

When that train came round

He leapt upon the mail train as it left the yard

He broke in through the boxcar door and stood before the guard

He said 'open up the safe so the gold reflects upon my face

He left the boxcar with the gold , disappeared without a trace

Curtis Perry left the train that night, the guard then told his tale

Since no one can rob a train alone, they put the guard in jail

Only two months later Curtis tried it once again

He didn’t take the gold this time , he only stole the train

The Pinkertons and Railroad men finally tracked him down

They put him in the prison close at Dannemora Town

He could not escape that jail despite his many tries

Protesting his conditions there he drove nails into his eyes.

He remained in prison, he never was released

Till all the men who put him there, were forgotten or deceased

The treated him so badly, they were so unkind

They only broke his body , but not his spirit nor his mind

22

(Sweeney - Holder)

I get in my car and drive that quarter mile

When I choose my groceries, you greet me with a smile

I say hello to you and put the money in your hand

you talk about the times of day, you’re such a handsome man

Chorus

Was it you, was it you . she would have been 22

Was it you, was it you , she would have been twenty two

I see you at the weekend on a sunday morn

You always have that wave for me as you cut your lawn

I see you at the church, you address the people there

Talking about jesus and the redeeming power of prayer

Chorus

two hunters came across her just when the evening shadows fall

they thought it was a mannequin lay down bside the wall

they went and called the police, to investigate the crime

they couldn’t recognize her she’d been there a long long time

Chorus

Was it some one else ,……….. or was it…………. both of you

You know it oh so well

I know you'll never tell

But I'll see you burn in Hell

Because it was you

Cousins War    

A summers day, a yellow dress,  she wore violets in her hair

She was to marry her own true love, with a love only they could share

But her brother took a hunting knife, He hurt her love full sore

And he is dead by her brother’s hand, that led a family into war

Go dig a hole in the meadow, dig a hole in the cold cold ground

Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow, to lay her true love down

The harvest moon it waxed and waned, the future filled with  dread

She threw her wedding ring away, the gold turned into lead

Her tears were like a river wild, her cries as loud as a storm

Her child was born when the spring had come , and her love she will ever mourn

So dig a hole in the meadow, dig a hole in the cold cold ground

Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow, to lay her true love down

The war went on for many more years, where many more young men die

Great houses fell on burning hills, with pale horses riding by

Riding through fields of iron and blood, sowing the seeds of death and pain,

Reaping the sons of the hydras teeth, fodder from the devils grain

So dig a hole in the meadow, dig a hole in the cold cold ground

Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow, to lay all those young men down

Unwelcome Guest

i ran with you from town to town, selling  The King of Pain

You left me on a lonesome road , but I came through the wind and rain

All through all the times we had I was fooled by your caress

But I’m back to multiply your sorrows  and add to your regrets

because you treated my love for you , like a poor unwelcome guest

its true I left you one bright morning  with no words of farewell

I left you to find the mysteries  to which our fates  befell

But ever since that fateful day, ive been under your spell 

You've come back to take away my happiness and add to my regrets

But I didn’t treat your love that way , like a poor unwelcome guest

Its been seven years or more, since I left your loving arms

you followed me through the factories, the orchards and the farms

1 see you on a street one day, with your family in Sunlight

1 will look you in the eye, and make you wither in my sight

ill put you down, and you wont get up again, ill put you in distress

and I will multiply your sorrows, and add to your regrets

For taking my love to be a poor unwelcome guest

but I didn’t take your love  to be , like a poor unwelcome guest

The Life and Death of Michael Collins

His name was Michael Collins, he was born in County Cork

Even from an early age revolution he would talk

He spent some time in England not many people know

But he came back to help his comrades fight from inside the GPO

They tried , his name was Micheal Collins ,

but they couldn’t track him down

They tried , and it took another Irishman

To put him in the ground.

After Easter 1916, he got away with his life

The British brought the troubles, but he would bring them strife 

With his careful planning, his country he would seize

In the process he could bring the British Empire to its knees

The Empire sent assasins, they were called the Cairo gang

They would have to shoot him down,  if they couldn’t make him hang

But Collins had 12 apostles whom he gathered all round

They came out one Sunday morning, and took those killers down

Collins signed a treaty, to help make his country free

There were other forces, who didn’t all agree

One day Collins went back to his home town

And it was one of his own countrymen who put him in the ground

It will soon be Christmas Day

The coldest of Decembers, we can all remember

Our faces lit by candlelight

Its the time for bestowing , with heart a glowing

Anticipating silent night

You’ve waited all year, through the laughter and the tears

You can see in the streets where the snow’s coming down

Hear the bells ringing all over town

We can say, Santa’s coming on his sleigh

There’s nothing in his way, it will soon be Christmas day

Above a star is rising , on the dark horizon

You’ve waited for this night to fall

Beyond you bedroom window , you can hear the wind blow

Or do you hear a reindeer’s call  

Let your spirit sing with the gifts that wise men bring

You can see in the streets where the snow’s coming down

Hear the bells ringing all over town

We can say, Santa’s coming on his sleigh

There’s nothing in his way, it will soon be Christmas day

We’ll meet under mistletoe, when the lights are low

But what’s that flying over the roof tops. Look at that reindeer go

But Spare a thought for absent friends, one day you’ll meet again

You can see in the streets where the snow’s coming down

Hear the bells ringing all over town

We can say, Santa’s coming on his sleigh

There’s nothing in his way  , it will soon be Christmas day

You're Right we've gone wrong

(but it's so wrong that you're right) 

I receivedyour letter yesterday

I was surprised that you would write to me this way

But i knew something was wrong

But it was just too far from sight

You're right we've gone wrong

But it's  so wrong that your right 

I could have gave my life to loving you

When we met it wqas just like, a dream had come true

We have all our dreams in darkness

But we are distant in the light. 

You're right we've gone wrong

But it's  so wrong that your right 

I thought that we could last for years my love

I should have given time , for things to end in tears

But all road reach their end 

And the the end is now in sight.

Our life is covered by a long black veil

Once our love was all the colours of a peacocks tail

No I dont see nothing

Its all just dark as night

You're right we've gone wrong

But it's  so wrong that your right 

Love me Love my Ford

Love me love my ford

It’s a car that you can afford

That’s what I was I was about to say

I wished I hadn’t looked the other way

I thought it wouldn’t happen today

I thought it wouldnt happen this way 

Mother forgive me when you see me this way 

I'm just another  wreck on a life’s highway

She was making some kind of  point

The world just seems out of joint

Nothing happens when you turn the page

And they call this living in this day and age

I thought it wouldn’t happen today

I thought it wouldnt happen this way 

Mother forgive me when you see me this way 

I'm just another  wreck on a life’s highway

I had a dream the other night everything was quiet and and still 

You were running through a cornfield

and i was high upon a hill

My pride came before your fall   

I heard my dead sister call

'We got a live one' , he did shout   

But I knew they wouldn’t get me out

I thought it wouldn’t happen today

I thought it wouldnt happen this way 

Mother forgive me when you see me this way 

I'm just another  wreck on a life’s highway

And I didn’t hear anyone pray

Looking down on  the road  where I lay

And I wish it was still yesterday

I'm just another  wreck on a life’s highway

I wont live to see another day

of my life as its slipping away

But its all I have left is to say

at the end of the road i must  pay   

A Prayer for Hope and Happy Times

(Sweeney - Holder)

We walk the streets, in rotten shoes,

Through a haze , of iceberg blues

We walk through lives, that look real fine,

But that lives not yours, and its not mine

And we age, at the speed of light,

we don’t sleep well , through endless nights

We have our friends, we have our times

But those friends aren’t yours, and those times aren’t mine.

I think about, another day, when good luck, will come our way

But today, its just another time, when luck’s not yours, and its not mine

One day I hope, if I should dare, to find a god. who’ll take a prayer

A prayer for hope, and happy times

But that god’s not yours,and its not mine

But I still hope for better times.

A Funnel Cloud in Albuquerque

(Sweeney - Holder)

The day began like any other, They had said ther prayers for rain

No rain had come in 40 days. They thought they prayed in vain

It was later in the evening, we were choosing red or green?

And the first drops hit the ground outside the rattlesnake museum

A funnel cloud in Albuquerque, With a white hot lightning spark

The golden number five on red would be our Noah's ark

Then an ocean fell upon the old town, with water getting high

The fish swam down san felipe street and the roadrunner had to fly

Was it the tears of the virgin in the tree, the way she showed her pain

But all the saints in Santisima, they could not stop that rain

A funnel cloud in Albuquerque, With a white hot lightning spark

The golden number five on red would be our Noah's ark

We thought what kind of saints these were, who could make a wind so ill

Then the power went down from the saucer house to the quesadilla grille

The people were getting restless, there was no plan in mind

So we went with Susie to the basement, and left our cars behind

A funnel cloud in Albuquerque, With a white hot lightning spark

The golden number five on red would be our Noah's ark

A funnel cloud in Albuquerque, were not finished yet

So careful what you pray for, for it might be what you get

Black dog Following Me   

There’s a black dog, following me

He’s there in the distance, but his features I can see

He’ll soon be, at my shoulder

Coming down throughout the years, as life gets colder

Darkness grows and the cold wind blows ,

Through the people in this town

Where the Age of Aquarius, met its killing ground

But I won’t let my house fall down

There’s  black dog , waiting at my gate

The streets are uneven , when my whiskey’s straight

Straight ahead now  Straight to nowhere,

Where I don’t know who I am and probably don’t care

Darkness grows and the cold wind blows ,

Through the people in this town

Where the Age of Aquarius, met its killing ground

But I won’t let my house fall down

Fall Down

There’s a black dog, walking in my head

Darkness grows and the cold wind blows

Through the people in this town

Through the streets of regret, and fields of dread

When the  Age of Aquarius, met its killing ground

But I won’t let my house fall down