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Sweeney the Fiddler

from The Note that Lingers On by Colum Sands

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lyrics

Sweeney the Fiddler
Words & Music : Colum Sands © Elm Grove Music

I walked the length of Hill Street but no hill could I see,
Time levels out the great and small in a game it plays with glee,
But somewhere in the distance, I heard a fiddle call,
And I thought about Frank Sweeney, the man who taught us all.

Frank loved to play the fiddle, he knew that from the start,
But the chemist’s shop he ran as well it nearly broke his heart,
And when a tune came to his head, he’d take the fiddle down
And customers above themselves were soon brought to the ground.

Chorus
"And of all the shops in Newry, did you have to come to mine?
Can’t you see I’m playing the fiddle and I haven’t got the time
For trying to read prescriptions, for ills you haven’t got,
And time will cure you anyway, sure the dogs in the street know that!"

His place was near the pawnshop where dreams are bought and sold,
Frank traded in a different coin from the heart to the common cold,
From bunions, corns and chilblains to the pimple on the crown,
But the cure that Sweeney favoured most was to take the fiddle down.

Magic bottles lined the shelves - the blue, the green, the brown,
When sun came through the window the light would play around,
And through the door the fiddlers came as word got round the town
And the music flowed like medicine as the bows went up and down.

Now plastic bottles line the shelves, the coloured glass is gone,
The fiddler sleeps but memory keeps a tune that lingers on,
And somewhere deep inside the heart it’s waiting for the call,
Frank found a way to play his tune and so he taught us all.

credits

from The Note that Lingers On, released June 1, 2003
Colum Sands : vocals, guitar & double bass
Brendan Monaghan : percussion
Karen Tweed : accordion
Ben Sands : backing vocals
John Sheahan : fiddles

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Colum Sands Newry, UK

Colum Sands is a universal storyteller who draws on a long Irish tradition of poetic musicality to weave songs for the world.
Drawing on countless performances, Sands uses humour and shrewd observation to celebrate what unites rather than what separates. His latest album “Song Bridge” includes many of the songs written for his extensive environmental campaigning over the past two years. ... more

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