Danny Boy

Back about 1918, my father, Ray Cash was in the army in France
Along about armistice day he was one of the proud men to stand inspection by general John J. Pershing
Less than a year later my dad was back on a cotton farm in south-west Arkansas
And, you know, the way of life didn't change very fast back home
He rode a horse about ten miles every Sunday to see Miss Carrie Rivers
In those days, when everyone in a country either rode a horse or wagon or walked
You were probably a stranger if you were five miles from home, or less maybe
Sometimes life was pretty tough so some of the people were tough too
That's why my dad had a Colt .45 stuck in his belt every Sunday
The first thing he always did was to lay his pistol on the manilow of the fireplace at grandpa Rivers

When my parents got married, my mother, Carrie Rivers was 16
After that, it wasn't long 'til daddy wasn't considered a stranger
So he made friends with 'most everybody around
Daddy tells about an Irish immigrant on a railroad where he worked, the Cotton Belt line
Who never stopped talkin' about going back to Dublin
One of the first stories I ever remember my dad tellin' was one that an Irish immigrant told him
And according to that particular source of information
There was this boy, name Daniel McKinney, workin' on the fields one mornin'
And across the fields came his sweetheart Rosa Lee, she came cryin' with tears in her eyes
Later someone put down into a song some of the things that Rosa Lee told Daniel
She said, "Daniel, there's a bloody war outraging and I've come to tell you that they are wantein' you to fight
Go fight for Ireland but come back to me, Daniel, I'll be waitin'"
Oh, Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen and down the mountainside
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling
It's you, it's you must go, and I must bide

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
I'll be here in sunshine or in shadows
I'll be here, oh Danny boy, I'll miss you so

But if you fall as all the flowers are fallin'
And if you're dead, as dead you well may be
I'll come and find the place where you are lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for thee

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
I'll be here in sunshine or in shadows
Oh, Danny boy, oh, Danny boy, I love you so