We are happy to offer some special notes on all of the songs on the LIVE CD. Some of the text will be identical to that found on the CD, while there are special comments and further information added--and, of course, lyrics so that you can sing along!. We hope you will enjoy this companion to your CD purchase.
liner notes
And, as if to get all of the songs about relatives in one spot, Mick is followed by My Brother Sylveste, which was actually a Canadian marching tune that found it's way to Ireland before World War II. We have a unique way of singing this tune, or rather, making the audience sing it, that is aided immensely by having song books. It's one of the most popular numbers in any performance.
My Brother Sylveste
My Brother Sylveste
Have you heard about the big strong man?
He lived in a caravan
Have you heard about the Johnson fight?
Oh, Lord, what a hell of a fight!
You can take all the heavyweights you got
We got a lad who can beat the whole lot
He used to ring the bells in the belfry
Now he's gonna fight Jack Dempsey.
Chorus:
He was me brother Sylveste--
What's he got?
Got a row of forty medals on his chest--
Big chest!
He killed fifty bad men in the West,
he knows no rest!
Think o'the man--hell's fire!
Don't push, just shove!
Plenty o' room for you and me!
He's got an arm like a leg (ladies say: Ladies leg!)
And a punch that would sink a battle ship
Big ship!
It takes all the army and the navy
To put the wind up Sylveste!
Well he thought he'd take a trip to Italy--
To see the Pope!
And he thought he'd take the trip by sea--
Not a hope!
He jumped out the harbor in New York,
And he swam like a man made o' cork
Well he saw the Lusitania in distress--
What'd he do?
He picked it up and put it on his chest--
Big chest!
He drank all the water in the sea,
And then he walked all the way to Italy!
Chorus
Well, he thought he'd take a trip to old Japan--
Ah, so!
He brought out the big brass band--
Did he, oh!
He played every instrument they'd got now,
What a lad now he played the whole lot
Oh, the old church bells would ring--
Hell's bells!
And the old church choir would sing
Hell's fire!
They all turned out to say farewell,
To my big brother Sylveste!
Chorus
