1. It's Worth Believin' (Lightfoot)

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Davy: vocal, guitar
Jore: guitar, midi keyboard ("acoustic bass")

A song by Gordon Lightfoot. Nothing earth-shattering here but it’s a fine song --davy

2. There Is a Time (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Tarja: vocals
Jore: pc programming, guitars

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Tarja treats us for the last time. Rather sentimental I suppose - but she carries it off effortlessly. --davy

There is a time
When the sun pours down like honeyed dew,
And all the roses appear in their full bloom,
And that's the time
When my thoughts are often filled with you,
As I gaze out from the window of room.

Of all the happiness
Granted me through my life,
It's those brief days I remember most of all
And though there's silver
In the hair that once was gold,
I'm seventeen when our love I do recall.

There is a time
When the frosts of winter take their hold,
And all the world seems to settle down to sleep,
And that's the time
When my memories of you unfold,
And I think back on a love that was so deep.

Of all the happiness
Granted me through my life,
It's those brief days I remember most of all
And though there's silver
In the hair that once was gold,
I'm seventeen when our love I do recall.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2003

3. Alberta (Traditional)

Davy: vocal, guitar, slide guitar
Jore: guitar

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I heard this on the Clapton Unplugged CD at a party recently and it must have stuck with me. Sounds as if I might be singing the lyrics of Corrina Corrina! --davy

4. Alabama Rain (Croce)

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Tuomas: guitar, vocal, backing vocals, melodica
Davy: guitar, backing vocal
Jore: bozouki

Another Jim Croce number which Tuomas likes - and I think Jore and I like it too now. --davy

5. A Sailor's Life (Heikkilä - Mc Gowan)

Davy: vocals
Jore: accordion, mandolin, guitar. Sound effects used.

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A bit of a Somerset accent here - as we were watching ‘The Lord of the Rings’ ‘Mr Frodo’s’ Sam Gamgee was always in my mind. --davy

You should see how I "play" accordion. I think I needed 4 tracks for this one. One finger at the time on a button, waiting for the right chord to come... pathetic... Propably the melody will soon turn out to be made by someone else. I really can't say if it's mine or not. --jore

A sailor's life is the life for me,
With a pretty wench upon my knee,
And a pint of porter by my side,
And a girl at home to be my bride.

A sailor's life is the life I love,
With a "Haul away boys!" and the sky above,
Up the mizzen mast with the salt sea spray
Blowing in my face as we make our way.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2002

6. The Secret of Life (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Davy: bozouki, vocals
Tuomas: guitar, vocals
Jore: guitar, vocals

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A conundrum which Jore has put a lovely little melody too --davy

The secret of life
Is a secret we share,
And we carry the secret
With us everywhere.

The secret of life
Is a secret indeed,
And the more people know it
The less they will need.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2002

7. Don't (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Davy: vocals, backing vocals
Jore: guitar, backing vocals, midi keyboard ("pan flute","synth strings")

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Don’t read too much into this - and don’t expect too much from it - it’s simply a bit of fun. --davy

Don't tell lies that aren't true.
Don't get lost inside a zoo,
Don't give lions a friendly pat
Or microwave the neighbour's cat.

Don't be sulky, don't be cruel,
Don't eat potted meat or gruel,
Don't be bored, for life is short,
So don't be scared to pass the port.

Don't get mad or in a mood,
For that will do no one no good,
Don't be tempted to trust Fate
And don't just sit and wait and wait.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2005

8. Chicken In The Courthouse (Heikkilä)

Jore: banjo

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My attempt to fool someone to believe I could play a banjo. (Ha ha.) But I felt this collection might need some kind of a banjo solo. --jore

Jore’s banjo instrumental... I’m not sure how many years the judge gave the chicken... --davy

9. God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign (Carter)

Davy: vocal, backing vocals, guitar, jug, blues harp, washboard
Jore: guitar, mandolin
Tuomas: midi keyboard ("honky-tonk piano")

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I heard this on a CD that our good friend Karen Schwartz had sent me from Kentucky. I have to admit to writing one of the verses myself….shouldn’t be too hard to find. --davy

10. Solitude (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Jore: vocals, guitar, midi keyboard ("cello")

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Yet another example of how great Jore is at matching a melody to my words….and he sings it too! --davy

In being alone I am myself,
I crave for neither fame nor wealth.
In being myself I am alone,
In solitude my sins atone.

For when it all comes down to dust,
We stand alone, and stand we must,
In solitude we cannot hide,
The mirror shows us all inside.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2004

11. Wooden Soldiers (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Davy: vocals, snaps, guitar, slide guitar
Jore: guitar, shaker

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A bluesy little number which may or may not mean nothing at all! --davy

How many wooden soldiers
Fit inside a wooden horse?
Why I really wouldn't know,
Unless it's balsa wood of course,
Then the wood being light and airy
You could fit a thousand in,
But it wouldn't do no harm
To add some soldiers made of tin.

12. It Hurts To Say Goodbye (Gold/Goland)

Tuomas: vocal, midi keyboard ("piano"), harmonium
Davy: rhythm guitar, drum, guitar solo

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Tuomas came up with this Alma Cogan song and expected me to play like Django Reinhardt after 5 minutes of showing me the chords - which had sharps, flats, flattened fifths and added thirteenths! Just because he’s a genius on the keyboard he thinks we should be able to play anything, anytime, anywhere! But I DO love my little Am roll right at the end to close the song. Finally I DO get to sound like Django! --davy

13. Western Train (Mc Gowan)

Davy: guitar, vocals, blues harp

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An uncomplicated country song - which may be geographically lacking! --davy

As I said before - Davy is a country boy! --jore

Well I've said goodbye to Mary Jane
I'm booked and bound to take that Western train
There's a restless feeling in my heart
I don't know if I'll see that girl again
Though she treated me so kind
I got ramblin' on my mind
And I'm wondering if I'll ever ease the pain
On that Western train

When the sun comes up in Louisville
I'm going to be a thousand miles away
All my friends in Pewee Valley
Will be wonderin' why I didn't want to stay
Well it's not that I don't find
All my friends to be so kind
It's just homeless bones that's got me once again
On that Western train

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2005

14. Kuusiston Repan ballaadi (The Ballad of Repa Kuusisto) (Heikkilä)

Jore: vocals, guitar, mandolin, midi keyboard ("drums","acoustic bass")
Davy: guitar, backing vocals, blues harp, drums

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It’s well known that ALL Finnish folk music is depressing. Every time I ask Jore what a Finnish folk song is about he says, ‘Very sad - many people die….’ The fact that this song of his ends up in a major chord is a major breakthrough! It means that at last there’s a happy ending…of sorts! --davy

I really don't concider myself as a lyricist, this may be 5th song or so I have made lyrics in my whole life! But then one day while driving a bus, these words started to come... next day I got some more and the day after that... in the end I had 23 bloody verses in my hand. Maybe I wanted to put this song into this collection to get another "different" kind of song but mostly to make sure we would have enough minutes. I guess I don't make the translation here but let's make the long story short: a guy loses both of his parents quite young, gets soon in troubles with police, girlfriend left... and his grandparents divorce and die...the first chorus goes like:
I have never actually met Santa /
I don't know if I own a pair of socks /
Can you spare a dime /
I won't drink it /
It's for buying flowers for my mother's grave.
Now you got the picture. But at the end he says: sorry, I fooled you, everything is ok, my parents are all alive and well, I just love to twist the truth. Police is nice, everything is nice, let's all be nice!! --jore

15. Peaches In Springtime (Shade)

Davy: vocals, mandolin, jug
Jore: banjo
Tuomas: midi keyboard ("honky Tonk piano")

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An old Memphis Jug Band number - trying to recreate their style. Impossible to do of course - but we had some fun trying! I play harmonica on this too. --davy

16. The Storm (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Jore: guitars, vocal, midi keyboard
Sound effects used.

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Jore sings yet again! Thunder and lightning are the instruments here! --davy

Jore sings because you two wouldn't! "Too difficult!" "Too strange for me!" Lazy bastards. -- jore

The rain claws at the window,
Dark clouds rush through the sky,
The wind howls through the keyhole,
In search of you or I.

The icy sleet now rattles
Upon the window pane,
And I never expect to see
Sun or blue sky again.

And here in fitful slumber,
I hear the moan and wail
Of wind and rain and icy sleet
And hard and frozen hail.

Safe in my bed I slumber on
But pity must be due
To any caught up in the storm,
I pray it isn't you.

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2004

17. Who'll Play The Fiddle (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Davy: vocals, bodhran, tablas
Jore: pc programming, midi keyboards ("marimba")

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A lyric I wrote last year to one of Jore’s tunes. We would have liked to have a real fiddle player on it - but you can’t have everything . We were happy enough with the way it ended up. --davy

Who'll play the fiddle in the middle, that's the riddle
Who'll play the fiddle in the middle of the room
Who'll play the fiddle in the middle, that's the riddle
Who'll play the fiddle in the middle of the tune

How can we dance, have the chance of a new romance
How can we sing till we hear the fiddle play
How can we sport, even court as we pass the port
Stand in a ring till the fiddle has its say

Dance to the tune and you'll soon see the silver moon
Time it'll fly when you hear the fiddle play
Draining your glass, then you pass by a bonnie lass
Grasping her waist as you hear the fiddle play

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2004

18. In The Town of Ballybay (Makem)

Davy: vocals, guitar, blues harp, bodhran, shaker
Jore: mandolin, midi keyboard ("acoustic bass")

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This is a song by Irish folk artist Tommy Makem. It appears on the ‘Makem and Clancy in Concert’ LP and I’ve always loved it. Surely we’re not the first to cover it? --davy

19. Dreams (Heikkilä - McGowan)

Tuomas: vocals, backing vocals, midi keyboard ("piano"), washboard
Jore: guitar, mandolin, shaker

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This is one of my favourites. It’s one of those moments where everything is just right - thanks to Tuomas. --davy

Do I have a dream?
Does a dream have me?
Is the sea sky blue?
Does the wind blow free?

Do I have a dream
When I take my rest
Or is all I see
Just a dream at best?

Do I have a dream
When I lay me down
As I walk the streets
Of an unknown town?

Do I have a dream?
Does a dream have me?
Are there truly lands
Across that sea?

(c) Davy Mc Gowan 2004

20. Encore (Heikkilä, McGowan)

Jore: vocal, guitar.
Davy: vocal. Lots of sound effects used. Thanks to Pete Seeger.

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Maybe we’ll do a 6 box CD next year - or maybe I’ll get out of the basement studio and do some sightseeing in Helsinki! --davy