Tim O'Brien

People steal, they cheat and lie For wealth and what it can buy Don't they know on Judgment Day Gold and silver gonna melt away? I'd rather be in a deep, dark grave And know that my poor soul was saved Than to live in this world in a house of gold Deny my God...

My latest sun is sinkin fast My race is nearly run My strongest trials now are past My triumph has begun Chorus: Oh come angel band Come and around me stand Oh bear me away on your snowy wings To my immortal home Oh bear me away on your snowy wings To my immo...

This world is made with sweat and toil, pushing muscle and elbow oil We can't lie too long in the shade, cause every day must be remade Some days you fall some days you fly, but in the end we all must die Our rotting flesh and broken bone will feed the ground...

Made up my mind to go Some place so far away, I headed west Without a sad goodbye No hugs or tears that way, it's probably for the best Sent cards along the way Said I was looking for a brand new life I never settled down My wanderlust would always cut the tie...

There in the paper as plain as day I saw Your face was smilin' and lookin' my way it said You beat the odds in some game Five thousand dollars and fame I thought how you looked the same Can't lose the sight of you, can't lose the sound, it's just Like s...

I been climbin up a mountain since the day that I was born It's been so long of a journey and I'm feelin kinda tired and worn Tired and worn, tired and worn So long of a journey and I feel kinda tired and worn There's a picture in my memory like it's etched i...

I had an old hen she had a wooden leg Best old hen that never laid an egg Laid more eggs than any hen around the barn Another drink of whiskey wouldn't do me any harm [Chorus] Cluck old hen cluck and sing Ain't seen an egg since way last Spring Cluck old hen...

The blues the come and the blues they go Don't hold your breath, they'll be coming back Make you step outside that life you lead Feel the blues fade to black You watch yourself like in a dream You're standin' still, the world is screamin' past Sittin' in the...

You and me out in the dark lookin' for shadows Saturday night, a little too young to take good care A little too wild, a little too old to get lost in the woods A gravel road fadin' away back in the darkness Two tire tracks, just one thing on my mind Makin' m...

Well met, well met, my own true love Well met, well met, cried he I've just returned from the salt, salt sea And it's all for the sake of thee I've come for the vows that you promised me To be my partner in life She said my vows you must forgive For now I'm a...

Down in the willow garden Where me and my true love did meet It was there, we went a courting My love fell off to sleep I had a bottle of burgundy wine My true love, she did not know It was there, I murdered that dear little girl Down on the banks below I dr...

She had five hundred dollars that her grandma left She said for a rainy day A hundred more from the general store Where she stocked the shelves for pay She'd had enough of those country roads And the wind in the telephone wires Said a prayer for luck, started...

~~~♫♫♫~~~ Evenin', Each night you come and you find me, Why must you always come and remind me, That my gal is gone? Evenin', Can't you see I'm deep in your power, Each minute seems like an hour, Since my gal is gone. Shadows fall on the wall, That's...

Chorus Every day is a long time waiting Every night is alone and cryin? Your memory is a long time fadin? Every tear has a reason why, every tear has a reason why Echos are fillin? the hallways, bringin? back those better times The smell and the touch a...

Lady Margaret was standing in her own room door A comb in her long yellow hair When who did she spy but Sweet William and his bride As to the church yard they drew near The day passed away and night coming on Most of the men were asleep Lady Margaret appeared...

Family history, I don't know too much, family history, I don't keep in touch With my mother and father quite like I want to do There's some family history, I'd rather not go lookin' through Family history will repeat, look through your history, you're sure to...

We have our moods sometimes we might get out of synch We might even have a fight if we have to much to drink I guess she has her own shape and I know I must have mine But we make one happy shape, one big happy shape most of the time We were just two kids hand...

Few are chosen, few ever see the light of day Through the eye of the needle one or two will make their way We're all searching for the same thing, a little hope one single ray Few are chosen and few ever see the light of day Now the night shift is over, anoth...

At the end of the summer there's a couple of days Before the weather starts shiftin' and changin' it's ways The winds blow so gently on the things lovers do That was the season when I first met you We fell so deep in love, nothin' to fear It came to be our fa...

I live in five rooms, but they don't feel like home Since our dreams are shattered by two hearts made of stone Sittin' in the livin' room don't feel like livin' to me Drownin' in a flood of memories [Chorus] Five rooms, five rooms Full of hope when love bloom...

When I first came to Louisville, my fortune there to find There was a maiden there from Lexington, was pleasing to my mind Her rosy cheeks, her ruby lips like arrows pierced my breast And the name she bore was Flora, the lily of the west Well I courted lovely...

The seeds of this war were sewn in our father's time And every bomb will plant some more fear and hate Let's break this chain of history before it gets too late How many men will choose to run with the mad dog How many more will have to die at his bloody hand...

May God's bless and keep you always, May your wishes always come true, May you always do for others And let others do for you. May you build a ladder to the stars And climb on every rung, May you stay forever young. May you grow up to be righteous, May you gr...

Left the cold and rain behind, I drove out west to Memphis South across the Mississippi line, I rolled my window down Big river runnin' on my right, turtles on the banks a walkin' Don't know how far I'm gonna get tonight, forty-nine keep on talkin' [Chorus] S...

Well I wish I was in London Or some other seaport town I'd set my foot on a steamboat And sail the ocean round Chorus While sailin' around the ocean, sailin' around the sea I'm thinking of handsome Molly wherever she might be Remember oh dear Molly wh...

Hard Year Blues I tried to tell you that we?d make it through somehow You wouldn?t listen and I wouldn?t blame you now I ain?t got money but I sure got bills to pay I roll my cigarettes a little smaller every day Chorus: It?s been a long hard year Tha...

It?s not as if I didn?t know better, her innocent look and a scented letter It looked like love but it felt like a memory Sometimes a young girl wants a ticket out and a gambler on a roll looks good no doubt But if you think you?re winnin? you don?t even k...

I?m happy to raom, I can find my way through the mountains To the ocean foam But if I had a map to show me the way to your heart dear I?d follow it home I?m makin? my way through the dim lit streers of the old town Nowhere to go Wonderin? if the scenes...

he fiddles're squeekin' the guitars're speakin' the piano plays a jelly-roll The man on the drum is out from dumb and the bassman he plays from his soul The tables're quakin' and your nerves're shakin' but you keep on beggin' for more You keep a havin' your fu...

I begged her not to go, said I could not live without her She said don't be dramatic, you'll survive She drove away, the sky turned gray I cried all night about her I'm still breathin' but her leavin' hurts more Each day I'm alive If I can't live without her,...

So long she's been alone now her tears have dried No more she's thinkin' of him Her love has died Calling and reaching, lookin' through hungry eyes Scenes change and rearrange, lookin' through hungry eyes I knew the two of them When they were young She seeme...

I like the way you cook, the whole production How you serve it up, the whole seduction of the Color and the smell, the presentation of the Texture on the tongue, I get impatient To taste a little more, little more, little more, a little more I like to watch y...

Last night on the mountain, I gave my horn a blow Echos started comin' back from long, long ago A foggy cloud was risen, I felt you all around In the air that I was breathin', you sang in every sound [Chorus] I'm not gonna forget you, I'm always gonna know yo...

Born in the mountains, many years ago Climbed these hills and valleys through the rain and snow I've seen the lightning flashin', heard the thunder roll I've endured, I've endured, how long must one endure Barefoot in the summer, on into the fall Too many mo...

Lay down, Your sweet and weary head. Night is falling. You have come to journey?s end. Sleep now, and dream Of the ones who came before. They are calling, From across a distant shore. Why do you weep? What are these tears upon your face? Soon you will see. A...

John Riley came from Galway town in the years of the Irish hunger And he sailed away to America when the country was much younger Now the place was strange and work was scarce And all he knew was farming So he followed his other Irish friends to a job in the U...

God sent Jonah down to Ninevah land To preach the gospel to the wicked men And to repent his wicked ways I'm gonna overthrow the city in forty days' Chorus God moved in the wind storm, he rose in the wind storm He troubled everybody in mind So Jonah went dow...

I have a friend lives up in Portland, I stayed there with him one time He had a new a pair of high-top sneakers, didn't fit him but they fit me fine I laced up his Converse sneakers, we drove down the California line After we played a little gig in Chico, he h...

I had to leave her when I done her wrong Figured I can come back before too long And too soon as I moved out, you started comin' around Just like an old friend to kick me when I'm down Seems you got the story on the rumor mill She had a billionaire uncle, she...

I try to travel around with less and less Tried them all and the simple way is the way that's best I save a lot of time not havin' to choose What color shirt I wear or which pair of shoes I don't need the guitar to sing my song Wherever I land, I'll always get...

I can only tell you what I see, two lonely people you and me Both want out and both want in, neither knows where to begin You can draw a line there in the dirt, stay on your side you won't get hurt But if you're not afraid to fall, you can take a chance, maybe...

There was a time when we?d be the last to leave Watching the sun come up while everyone fell asleep The music was always loud and I?d smoke and drink too much Until I?d fall in your arms and into your lovin? touch Now as the years roll by, time has reeled...

Went out one night to make a little round, I met little Sadie and I shot her down Went back home and I got into bed Forty four smokeless under my head Woke up the next morning bout half past nine The hacks and the buggies all standin in line The gents and the...

Now the stars are fading in the morning light And you?re warm beside me in the early bright You?re the one I wanted, you?re the one I need And I feel so safe here and I feel so free I?d like to freeze this moment, I want to take this time I want to keep...

~~~♫♫♫ ~~~ Ten years ago on a cold dark night A man was killed 'neath the town hall light There were few at the scene but they all agreed That the slayer who ran, looked a lot like me The judge said, "Son what is your alibi? If you were somewhere else maybe...

It's the middle of the night and I should be sleepin' My eyelids are heavy but there's something keepin' them open wide Since I kissed you at the gate just two days past I've been flyin' towards the sun in a jet plane fast across the ocean tide There's a touc...

Where are my mama and daddy? They came a long time before me Now, we've come on the steamship Atlantic From our home far across the stormy sea I have their letter in my pocket They said, we would meet on the pier But the day it is now, almost over And the dar...

Across the county line, in a cheap motel Lyin' next to her, there's a new day wakin' Never felt this sure of anything before No question in his mind about the chance he's takin' Don't know where they're goin' but they know just what they're after In each othe...

Oh love is pleasin, love is teasin And love's a pleasure when first it's new But as love grows older, at length grows colder And fades away like the mornin dew I left my father, I left my mother I left my brother and sister too I left my home and kind relatio...

Baby you put my love on hold You gave me a peek at the pot of gold Now you?re givin? me the run around You gave a taste to a hungry heart One day together and a month apart Babe you put my love on hold Chorus Holdin? on to a ray of hope To the end of...

I ain't gonna' work on Maggie's farm no more I ain't gonna' work on Maggie's farm no more Well i wake up in the morning, put my hands and pray for rain, I got a head full of ideas, and they're drivin' me insane, it's a shame the way she makes me scrub the flo...

Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago He saw an animal that liked to growl Big furry paws and he liked to howl Great big furry back and furry hair Ah, thi...

Come you masters of war You that build the big guns You that build the death planes You that build all the bombs You that hide behind walls You that hide behind desks I just want you to know I can see through your masks. You that never done nothin' But build...

Me and Dirk took a little trip Across the sea on a big air ship Riley Baugus came along Helped us play our banjo songs Prettiest place that I've ever seen Entirely covered in emerald green [Chorus] Ate a lotta hog Drank a lotta grog Stepped in a bog Came back...

Whistles don't get lonesome, I guess no one told Hank You never know that might have been the reason why he drank What was Willie smokin' when he wrote Â?Hello Walls' Where'd Bob find that cowtown? Did it really have big balls? There's no regular combination o...

Well my name is Mick Ryan, I'm lyin still In a lonely spot near where I was killed By a red man defending his native land In the place that they call Little Big Horn And I swear I did not see the irony When I rode with the Seventh Cavalry I thought that we fo...

Wish I was a mole in the ground Wish I was a mole in the ground Mole in the ground, I'd root that mountain down Wish I was a mole in the ground Wish I was a lizard in the spring Wish I was a lizard in the spring A lizard in the spring, I'd hear my true love si...

I'm so close to you baby but I'm so far away There's a silence between us And there's so much to say You're my strength, you're my weakness You're my faith, you're my doubt We gotta meet in the middle To work this thing out More love, I can hear our hearts c...

Motherless children have a hard time when your mother is gone When she's gone on home, when your mother is gone Motherless children have a hard time when the mother is gone When she's gone on home, when mother is gone Motherless children have a hard time All t...

You close the door in front of me, I wait patiently outside But as the minutes tick away I feel the anger rise Who's the object of this rage, who's not being fair Is it you for your indifference or me for just standing there [Chorus] In my mind the room beyon...

One rain drop fallin' down on Some hilltop all alone it Finds another and together They roll on down One mornin' then another Discovering one another Exploring, addin' on To the love we found And the river is wide And our love, it runs deep Comin' down from...

In a room just like so many Knives and forks and glasses clatter He sat behind a microphone In a corner where it didn't matter For honest pay an honest player Sang for tips and vacant stares On a nowhere night like any other In a nowhere place where no one car...

You?re leadin? me down a one way, a one way You?re leadin? me down a one way street Is it a game that you play, that you play Here I?ve been thinkin? that you?re so sweet I do the givin? and you take All of my lovin? and you make Promises that you don?t...

Out in the darkness, out in the night I see you standing there I want to guide you into the light Show you I really care It's hard to show the way I feel On this side of the line How can I show you my love is real It you can't see the sign [Chorus] A little...

Out on the rollin' sea Jesus speaks to me Out on the rollin' sea when she rolls Out on the rollin' sea Jesus speaks to me Out on the rollin' sea when she rolls Out on the rollin' sea, just the fish and the gulls and me As far as I can see it's just green and...

Oxford Town, Oxford Town Ev'rybody's got their hats bowed down The sun don't shine above the ground Ain't a-goin' down to Oxford Town. He went down to Oxford Town Guns and clubs followed him down All because his face was brown Better get away from Oxford Town...

I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow Cast out in this wide world to roam My brothers and sisters won't own me They say that I'm weak and I'm poor But Jesus father the almighty Has bade me to enter the door [Chorus] Sometimes I'm almost driven 'Till I know not where...

Once I lived like a traveler standing at the crossraads of his life Who knows not where to turn, wonders if he?ll ever reach his home I was lost, tired, and waiting, didn?t have a reason to go on Days were always dark and at night I felt so all alone Chor...

Chorus: Raleigh and Spencer was burning down There ain't no liquor in this town There ain't no liquor in this town I'll pawn you my shoes for a little bottle of booze I'll drink it down and lay right down and die I'm gonna drink it and I'll lay right down and...

The sweetest songs belong to lovers in the gloaming The sweetest days were the days that used to be The saddest words I ever heard were words of parting When you said Sweetheart remember me Remember me when the candle lights are gleaming Remember me at the cl...

Restless spirit, wandering, come on home again Tell me about your days of old, wander back again You won't admit your life is taken, to your death not yet awakened Restless spirit wandering, come on home again Oglethorpe was around this place some hundred fif...

The land I live in, it has no borders It's under my feet wherever I go Around the world in every corner There's always a family or a friend I know I've seen myself in all their faces I hear my voice when they sing a song The path I walk is nothin' but a trace...

Like a rock in my shoe, under my toe I think about you, I can't let go It's dug in deep, it still peeks through Tried shakin' it out, it won't come loose Like a rock in my shoe I've searched these rooms a hundred times For anything you left behind There's not...

Now I make a living from a circuit I made Out of trial and error and gigs that I've played It might be the money or the town that it's in But mostly it's people make you come back again There was one little place that I played every year It's outside of Pitts...

Romance is a slow dance To a sound as sweet as rain It?s a new song you never heard before Unfolding to you both the same It takes time but you can get that step Because lovin? isn?t like a race Romance is a slow dance And your feet seem to fall in pla...

Run mountain, chuck a little hill Run mountain, chuck a little hill Run mountain, chuck a little hill There you'll get your fill Many miles from my home Roosters crow for day Me upstairs with another man's wife Better be getting away [chorus] Way up on the...

My world turns from shadows to light From blindness to sight Sober to tight You're makin' me feel like a king and a pawn When you're here and you're gone Turnin' me off and on Chorus: I'm never sure if you're lettin' me go or if you're really mine I need you...

When you look out your window and see her runnin' away You start addin' things up, how you let her down Now she's makin' you pay, by runnin' away It's just like some movie, one you've already seen You're playin' the part of the guy all alone up there on the s...

Cornbread and beans And those good old collard greens Keep your skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time Skillet good and greasy all the time If you say so I'll never moonshine no more I'll chop down that still And go home, home, home I'll chop down m...

It was over a hundred years ago in eighteen sixty-one It was in the town of St. Louis that old Stagger Lee was born Stagger Lee was a gambler and everybody knew his name He made his living singing high low jack and a game It was in the month of December on a...

Johnny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine I'm on the pavement Thinking about the government The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off Look out kid It's somethin' you did God knows when Bu...

A while ago I chanced to roam to the place my great grandad called home It wasn't that much I saw that day, but I learned I whole lot along the way I was goin' to Ireland retracing my family footsteps diggin' up roots You could call 'em tubers The closer to t...

I like a woman who is crazy about me I like a woman who can live without me too That's what I like about you I like a woman who will lay down beside me I like a woman who will stand up to me too That's what I like about you Don't want a woman to be my twin U...

Chorus: High on a hillside the old church steeple calls The bells are a ringin', a singin' to one and all Of the joys and the sorrows the laughter and the pain The heartbeat of the whole town is heard within that strain It called for my brother when he made h...

Well there was an old man who lived by the mill If he ain't moved away he's a livin' there still Singing Fie diddle-eye diddle-eye dye, diddle-eye diddle-eye day Well the devil he came to the field one day Said it's your old woman I'm a gonna take away Singin...

Now when I was a bachelor I lived all alone I worked the weaver's trade The only, only thing I ever did that was wrong Was to woo a fair young maid I wooed her in the wintertime And part of the summer too The only, only thing I ever did that was wrong W...

Up on the high road lookin? down Thinking how you let me down And deep in my heart I hear the sound Of the song that carried me away We would come here years ago And the stars would shine and the wind would blow You?d look in my eyes and I would know T...

[Chorus] Let's go down to the holy well Down among the heather Hear the water make a gentle sound We'll heal our souls together Where the water flows from a deeper place And it starts it's life anew We'll plant our wishes there with love Let our dreams come t...

I won't say it'll work for you but I know it did for me When I found myself a special place where I'm happy with all I see Now I make each day to go my way with a slow and steady speed With a jeweler's eye I've chipped away at the things that I don't need Sta...

It's the early bird that catches the worm But it's the second mouse that gets the cheese And you know what that means 

I walk into a corner bar, it says Lynch above the door I had just arrived in Miltown to frolic there once more I see a Cavan man expatriot who now resides in old Oslo And he's holdin' to an old friend's hand as his mate sings loud and slow When they're done w...

Think about last night, think about the choices you made Everything you have, you tried to throw it all away And your reckless life, left you on the street alone last night Think about last night Think about today, think about the way you feel See through the...

The hand is cold that once held mine I can't believe you've really left this world behind I can wait and I can hope, I'll get over this in time It takes time to learn when someone's gone for good They're not comin' back like you wish they would In the empty h...

To see you coming 'round the bend I just can't think of anything that could make me smile like you can When you're coming 'round the bend, noooo I've been in love a time or two before And all of that experience allows me to be sure That you're the one Sure as...

The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course The city fathers they're trying to endorse The reincarnation of Paul Revere's horse But the town has no need to be nervous The ghost of Belle Starr she hands down her wits To Jezebel the nun she violently knits...

We are but travelers on a road without end Searching for signs that the spirit may send There are few answers in this life I'm afraid Only more questions from this world that he made South of the city where the olive trees grow In the space between moments my...

December nights come early, wait a while to see the light again A question left unanswered, sent out on the evening wind If winter is a stranger, maybe spring will be my friend Seasons change, turn the page again Summer days are longer, I'm still waiting for...

From where you sit you cannot see it No one watches anyway No one stops to listen for it Covered by the sounds of day But we each play our own part in it Nothing that you need to learn Every breath from birth to dying We all help the world to turn CHORUS: Tu...

Ils sont partis do pays pour faire un grande voyage Ils ont traverse la mer avec juste leur courage Mas pfres ont laisse tout pour la liberte Il why avait pas un roi qui pouvait les enchainer They left their land behind to make a great journey With nothing bu...

The heart is the fortune of all women kind They're always controlled, they're always confined Controlled by their parents until they are wives Then slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives I am a poor girl, my fortune is sad I've always been courted b...

Put one foot in front of the other Steppin' into the here and now I'm not sure just where I'm goin' But I will get there anyhow I got this far with no direction Followed my nose to where I stand My heart's still strong, I know I'll make it Sit right down in t...

My pathway leads into the west They say it never really ends These legs of mine weren't made to rest I let them take me where they send me wandering As long as I remember I've been wandering January to December I go wandering No one asks the wind to blow No...

I am a poor wayfarin stranger While travelin through this world below There's no sickness toil or danger In the fair land to which I go I'm goin there to see my mother I'm goin there no more to roam I am just goin over Jordan I am just goin over home I know da...

Where is my sailor boy? Where is my sailor boy? He sleeps at the bottom of the deep blue sea And he can't come back to me I stand on the beach alone and gaze at the misty blue Deep sea, as you hold him to your breast Does he mention my name to you? What does...

Because I believe and have found salvation (bass-when I die) (lead and tenor- when I die) I'll live again That I may take part in the jubilation (tenor-when I die) (lead and bass-when I die) I'll live again Chorus: (bass-When I die) (lead and tenor-when I die...

This is a song that nobody knows I couldn't begin to describe how it goes But it makes me cry or laugh right out loud It's a song that I sing when there's no one around This is the man that nobody sees He wears my old clothes and he looks just like me If he l...

You got to leave me now, you got to go alone You got to chase the dream, one that's all your own Before it slips away When you're flyin' high, take my heart along I'll be the harmony to every lonely song That you learn to play When you're soarin' through the...