Quest for Liberty 2024 is number two in a trilogy of journeys.
The Journey of the Ulster Muse has been presented as a stage show in theatres in Northern Ireland in 2023. It traces the origins and the journey of the Muse - from ancient times, through history to the present day and beyond.
Journey number three is an exploration in the understanding of life in the natural world – beyond the mundane of the material world - Beyond The Moss and Beyond the Mountain. This will be released during 2024.
All three journeys are interconnected and will come together in the old-fashioned hard-copy book - along with music, songs and poems on CD format. The music will not be available to download digitally, via Spotify, or any other global outfit connected to the global corporate music industry.
My personal quest for freedom began at birth, as it does for everybody. By the time I was in my mid teens it became evident to me that my main purpose for being on this planet was to follow the road to freedom, The education system failed to teach me what I wanted to learn. I have been on a voyage of discovery ever since. Everyone who has embarked on their personal road to freedom will be aware of the many difficulties, challenges and pitfalls that are inevitable along the way. The powers-that-be don't want the pesky people traversing roads they don't have control over.
In our lifetimes we may never get to experience the ultimate true freedom we seek to find. That journey though – that quest for freedom, is a marvel in itself. I am so glad to still be on that road – especially in these times when an attempt is being made to turn our planet into a prison.
There are 20 tracks on the Quest For Liberty 2024 Album - some created and recorded since the Lockdowns of March 2020, along with earlier creations and recordings that have much relevance to the current state of affairs. Some have been recorded in a professional studio with professional recording engineer, David McClean, and some have been solo efforts recorded at home. I must say a big thank you to band members and fellow musicians who have contributed to this project.
Much of the content of this album addresses the issues currently attacking our freedoms and human rights due to globalist control over governments, wars, money, information, education, food, energy, and property. Each track has a story of introduction which is included in written form along with the CD disc. For me, the story is just as important as the music.
Music however is more important now than ever as music allow us to escape their new world order of things. Music and creative expression has always allowed us to do this.- right back to ancient times' In the 21st Century it still offers hope of escape back to the free world.
At this time it is crucial that we remain hopeful - that we each consider how we can use our personal skills to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. I have also been been busy developing a vegetable garden for the past three years.
With access to information so seriously restricted, mainstream media's delivery of their news so distorted, surveillance so intense and travel made increasingly difficult – it is now crucially important for like-minded people to get together to exchange ideas and discuss how skills and services can best be shared within communities. The sharing of music and all the other creative art forms can be a significant addition to such gatherings. This is one of my main objectives for this album. I have several musician friends and artistic colleagues who are with me on this and I hope this album will inspire others to get their artistic creations out there and on to the road towards freedom and liberty.
Those of us who understand have arrived via various means. The bible, dystopian novels, naturally inquisitive minds that question authority, or perhaps just events since March 2020, have encouraged us to research and ponder. I have a wee bit of all of that - so no hope for me of ever waking up some morning and discovering it was all just a bad dream.
There are those who remain totally oblivious – as well as those who do fully understand and are very happy to remain obedient and compliant as they reap benefits of wealth, security and enhanced position in the System.
There also those so busy making ends meet, who have no easy access to alternative information and news, who's gut instincts tell them something is not right. It is my hope that my wee effort in this album will encourage at least a few of these people to seek and pursue alternative information.
I also hope that this album will offer some comfort to those who are wise to what's happening - but are without empathy and support from family, friends or colleagues, and feel they are on their own.
We are at a time when dystopian novels and biblical prophecy are coming to fruition - a time when those who speak out against global authority are silenced, cancelled, ostracized and worse.
No promises of global gold or other wordly benefits will ever change my stance. No amount of silencing, cancelling, coercion, threat of imprisonment or threat of violence could cause me to capitulate and comply.
Where Have All The Rockers Gone?
In the initial version of this song I also inquired where others have gone to as well. But as the answer was always the same I decided to keep the recording brief. Included were rebels who rebelled the whole system, all things orthodox and all things inside the box – hippies who stood against corporate greed and Earth destruction - and bandits who once robbed the banks and now work for the big banks instead.
It is perhaps unfair to mention only those listed above as people in all walks of life, in all work sectors have been bought, conditioned, compromised, seduced and/or coerced into the System. When most journalists, musicians and creative writers across the planet, however, can no longer see the trees for the forest, then surely that tells us the people of this planet are in big bother? They were once-upon-a-time renowned for being initiators of social and political change.
Where have all the rockers gone
Where have they all gone?
In the free world of Rock n Roll
They swore they'd never sell their soul
Rock n Roll was revolution
Their Rockin in the free world big solution
But most got bought by government
By Big Bank Establishment
By big global corporation
The ones who own and run our nation.
Where have all the journalists gone
Where have they all gone?
They once had independent views
They might even challenge global news
They would probe and investigate
And initiate free debate.
No Whiskey In The Jar [Moonshine In The Jar]
When trying to figure out how and why our world is currently in the state it is in, it is best to first examine the root cause – the money. Everything is related to those who control the money – the fiat money, the phoney money.
This song was originally written around the time of the global economic crash of 2008. It was also relevant around the time of the EU Referendum. It is even more relevant right now.
As I was going over life's great big scary mountain
I met the fat-cat bankers, all their money they were countin'
With their friends in the media and their corporate advisors
I said stand and deliver for youse are the boul deceivers.
With me ring dum dey do dum de dah
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o
No whiskey in the jar. [There's moonshine in the jar - last Chorus]
Well with my trusty laptop I just took their money
And stuck in in my pocket for it looked a pretty penny
But I knew it was all wrong as soon as I got to thinkin'
For their money it was boggin' their money it was stinkin'.
I went home to my chamber for to take my slumber
I dreamt a crazy dream for sure it was no wonder.
But my friends they did betray me, they rung their politician
And toul them that my dream could start some revolution.
It was early in the mornin' before I riz to journey
Up comes the Establishment with their own wee private army
They looks in my computer and sez I was not clever
They'd evidence enough to lock me up for ever.
If anyone can save me, it's my sisters and my brothers
If we'd all get together we could stand by one an other
We could tell them where to stuff it, where they would not think it funny
We could tell them where to go with all their phoney money.
There's moonshine in the jar and moonshine in the car.
On the Road to Freedom.
This original version of this song song was written sometime ago, in 2017 I think, and was on The Willie Drennan Wired Up Again Album. This was a collaboration with blues rock guitarist, David McClean. This slight variation of the original was recorded at the time of the Lockdown protests at Belfast City Hall, 2021/22.. In 2024 we're still on the Road To Freedom and we've been joined by many others. But for now we seem to be in the darkest glen part.
We’re on the road, we're on the road
We're on the road to freedom now
So shed your heavy load and join us on the road
On the road to freedom now.
To find the road to freedom you take the trail
Where some folks weep and some folks wail
Then take the long winding lane
To feel the wrath and feel the pain.
All roads to freedom are not the same
You might cross Sorrow you might catch Blame
But once you make it round the final bend
It’s all the same freedom in the end.
Just like the fox who roams at night
Across the fields in pale moonlight
She loves to follow freedom’s way
Down her own freedom road
She love’s to stray.
And she knows that road with danger is fraught
She knows by dawn she might get shot
And if she never makes it round the final bend
It’s still the same freedom in the end.
That road goes up the highest hill
To view the world and feel the thrill
Then out across the seven seas
To feel the world in the breeze.
But first it’s down the darkest glen
When you’re out of there you don’t know when
But once you make it round the final bend
You will feel freedom in the end.
Open the Gate
Written during Lockdown in 2020. For most of us the gates have been opened – for now.
Open the gate and let me out
Get me to the world all round about
Open the gate and set me free
So I can play some rhapsody
Open the gate and let me out
Get me to the world all round about
Open the gate and set me free
So I can play some rhapsody.
When is it all ever going to stop?
Seems to me it's gone over the top
I'm afraid this is my suspicion
But don't ask me I'm just a musician.
There's folk shut in and shops shut down
Masquerade balls everyday downtown
Seems dumb to me and getting dumber
But then I am just a Lambeg drummer.
As if other illness never mattered
The economy all shot and shattered
More lockdown would surely blow it?
But what do I know sure I'm just a poet.
You may think I am a ranting raver
A delinquent chronic misbehaver
But I'm just a fiddler and a fluter
A fifer and whistle tooter.
The Whole Wide World's Gone Mad
Written during Lockdown in 2020. The world's not any saner in 2024.
The whole wide world's gone mad
The whole wide world's gone mad
It's birlin roon upside doon
The whole wide world's gone mad.
Got lost in a dream the other day
Out o'er the fields and far away
Down through the glen and o'er the mountain
Drinking Adam's ale straight from the fountain
Heard the waves lap upon the shore
Just sea and sky who could ask for more
But lost in the dream I lost my thought
Lost in the dream I clean forgot
The whole wide world's gone mad.
As the universitee and the TV
Rewrite their own historee
It's no longer all just black and white
When right was not wrong and wrong was not right
Now as anti-Fascist means the same
As Fascist – who do we blame?
It will never be the same as it used to be
Till you blow up your TV to be free
For the whole wide world's gone mad.
They have me and you trained what to do
When China sends a brand new flu
They try control what we see and hear
To fill our heads all full of fear
It's all upside down and inside out
Makes you want to yell and scream and shout
It's all just like some very bad dream
Makes you want to yell and shout and scream
The whole wide world's gone mad.
Got lost in a dream the other day
Out o'er the fields and far away
Down through the glen and o'er the mountain
Drinking Adam's ale straight from the fountain
Heard the waves lap upon the shore
Just sea and sky who could ask for more
But lost in the dream I lost my thought
Lost in the dream I clean forgot
The whole wide world's gone mad.
Over the Hills And Far Away
It is me singing on this but written and composed by David McClean. It's not just me who has had notions of escaping to some place far, far away beyond the madness. That place is just in our dream state at the moment - but it's a start. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian writer who was sent to the Gulag for daring to share bad thoughts, in a personal letter to a friend, about the tyrannical Joseph Stalin - was able to survive imprisonment from 1945 to 1953 by escaping to sunshine and open green countryside - in his creative imagination. We should all endeavour to master that art.
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Heard about a land that's far away
Take you more than a year and a day
Heard about a place where the wild wind blows
What will we do there nobody knows
Heard about a place where spirits run free
Sounds like a land for you and me
Up to the mountains down to the glen
When will we get there we don't know when
Sing us a song that's old and clear
Sung by a man for a thousand year
Heard by the rocks and the wind and the rain
Far far away and back again
Come to the land of the brave and the true
Loved by the many but seen by the few
Come to the place that's pure and free
Sounds like the land for you and me.
Fishing – Ever Since The World Begun
One of the travesties of globalisation is the centralised control and destruction of our food industry by the globalist corporations - in other words the control and destruction of our food supply. They have gradually been taking control of all prime farmland land and the seas. This song was inspired by a video clip I watched where a fisherman, from a long line of English traditional fishermen, lamented that his young son would probably not be allowed to carry on the family tradition.
My daddy was a fisherman, my grandad was a fisherman and he was a fisherman's son
A family of fishermen and they say we've been fishing ever since the world begun.
Ever since the world begun, ever since the world begun
A family of fishermen and they say we've been fishing ever since the world begun.
Plaice and pollock and coley and cod, mackeral, bass and skate,
Herrings and haddock and hake and sole, in abundance for your plate.
Down by the dock we'd smoke and cure all the extra fish we caught,
They come from the town and all around and all our fish they bought.
Then big boats came from far away to plunder off our shore,
They wrecked the seabed and left fish for dead and come back to plunder more.
My daddy was a fisherman, my granda was a fisherman and he was a fisherman's son
A family of fishermen and they say we've been fishing ever since the world begun.
All the bureaucracy and all the greed made my daddy weep and wail,
He says I fear for you my only son, no fishing boat you'll sail.
My daddy was a fisherman, my grandad was a fisherman and he was a fisherman's son
A family of fishermen and they say we've been fishing ever since the world begun.
Ever since the world begun, ever since the world begun
A family of fishermen and they say we've been fishing ever since the world begun.
Farewell to the Far-off Land
During the Lockdowns many folk wondered when they would ever see loved ones again – who lived in far-off lands. In previous times it was common for folk to emigrate to far-off lands and pine for their loved ones and for the sights, sounds and smells of their homeland. Most of them never got the opportunity to travel back to their homeland during their lifetime. The Lockdowns gave us a taste for what that was like and what it can be like again if and when more permanent globalist travel bans are inflicted upon us common folk.
Took off to roam out o'er the foam
Far away from my native home
Took off to roam out o'er the sea
To the land they call Land of the Free
I left behind my sweetheart true
To sail out o'er the ocean blue
And left my parents to wail and weep
To sail out o'er the ocean deep.
Don't tell me now I'll never return
To hear the water run in the burn
Nor hear sweet music in the breeze
By the oak and ash and willow trees.
Don't tell me now I'll never again
Sail back o'er the raging main
To never no more smell the earth
In the far-off land of my birth.
Folkybilly Rock n Roll
This song written in 2017, addresses the fact that the globalised Music Industry has called the shots for many years now. They determine what gets played on the airwaves and who gets to be part of their system. Only the complicit need apply.
Folkybilly, not to be confused with folkabilly, is an attempt at creating a variant of other genres that would never get acknowledged by the Music Industry authorities. To date it has worked.
You can dance all night when the moon is shining bright
Folkybilly Rock n Roll
You can dance all night when the moon is shining bright
So good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul.
They say this song is just a curse and the tune is ten times worse
They say the beat would drive you mad, that makes us all oh so glad.
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul.
Their music they would make you hear. They blast it in your ear
They would tell you how to dance. You like different? - here's your chance.
Different Road
Written in 2018
Down Different Road you should always go
It goes to and fro and you never know
No, you never know where it might end
It goes up and down and round the bend.
Down Different Road they beat a big drum
They play loud guitar till the Kingdom Come
They do the Lambeg Boogie to Rock n' Roll Blues
So bring along your dancing shoes.
Never take the road they tell you take
Never take their road for Heaven's sake
They say their road is straight and it is clean
It's safe and sure like it's always been
Down their road, they say, there are no fears
But it just might drive you to your tears
It's save they say if you do what your told
It's not for the brave, not for the bold.
Never heed what they tell you on TV
Never heed what you see on BBC
If they tell you it's right it's probably wrong
So just you sing your different song.
Sing out loud like the rooster crowed
As you dance along your Different Road
When you turn down right on Different Street
All the Different people you will meet.
Belfast Smart City
Belfast, like the City of London and Leeds, is a World Economic Forum Smart City. This means Belfast will be ahead of the game when it comes to all things designated Smart by the WEF - including artificial intelligence, mass-surveillance, high velocity 5G/6G and Digital ID linked to personal bank accounts.
I get the impression that most folk who live in Belfast don't know they are in a Smart City - and among those who do know, some think that's a good thing.
Belfast all Smart Smart
Could lose its soul and heart and all
All Smart Smart Smart Smart
Is not very smart at all.
Smart Belfast could lose its soul
As Klaus Schwab takes control
Of Belfast heart an all
Not very smart at all at all
Never heed new Smart Alecs
All talkin new Smart Bollicks
In wee world of their own on new Smart phone.
In 15 minute new Smart Zone.
New Smart subservience
Smart watch surveillance
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Independence
5G high frequency
CBDC, Digital ID
Smart reality on your settee
As they watch you watch Smart TV.
Belfast all Smart Smart
Could lose its soul and heart and all
All Smart Smart Smart Smart
Is not very smart at all.
The People of Belfast – spoken word.
The story of Belfast is not drastically different from the story of port cities across the British Isles. A significant difference however is the extent of internal divisions that have been inflicted upon the people of this city. The spirit of humanity always finds a way to see beyond the manipulations of the powers-that-be. That spirit is being tested once again.
Beneath the hills, by the sandy ford where the river met the Lough, a settlement was formed as people arrived from across the sea.
That small settlement was a hamlet, then a village, then a town thriving on the fruits of sea and land.
The 2nd Industrial Revolution saw folk flock from Belfast's hinterland to join the mechanical revolution - a city was born.
The people of the city of Belfast formed a tight-knit independent community – yet co-reliant upon each other for survival, mutual support and bonding.
The people had their differences, divisions and struggles, but the strength and warmth within the Belfast heart and soul saw them through.
WW1 tested like never before as few homes in the terraced-row escaped the knock on the door from the telegram man dressed in black - the moment parents learned their son would never return from the war on some far-off shore.
In WW2 the foreign foe blitzed the city - killing one thousand people, temporarily displacing a hundred thousand more as the city was flattened by Nazi bombs.
And later in that century the troubles divided the people. Peace Walls were built – which weren't really walls of peace at all, but walls that demarcated zones of division.
But still the sprit of the people won the day as the walls of division, like walls of Jericho, like walls of Berlin, came tumbling down.
And in today's new world new challenges of the New-Age will see new attempts to disrupt harmony and create brand new virtual walls of division.
As the new foe, from beyond and within, invades under cover of darkness, to try divide and conquer the people once more.
Virtual brown envelopes, stuffed with virtual global gold get passed around to secure support for their 4th Industrial Revolution - while others remain oblivious to what's going on.
But the warmth and strength within the hearts of the people of Belfast will always be there, as in days of yore,
The ancient passion for freedom is inherited – the call of freedom still heard loud and clear,
still held secure within the spirit of the People of Belfast.
People of Belfast - the music.
A wee tune to celebrate the warmth and strength within the hearts of the people of Belfast.
Boyne Water /Battle Cry of Munster
For people who live on the island of Ireland, or indeed anywhere in the British Isles, a good place to start trying to understand historic and present-day wars, is to examine the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The battlefield at the Boyne was right beside Newgrange and other ancient megalithic sites. There is much more to this battle than the history books tell us. But that's another story for another day. The Boyne Water is a well known tune in the Orange tradition. I'm not too sure of the origins of the Battle Cry of Munster but I do know that the two tunes are very similar. I also know, from experience, that when I play the Boyne Water along with traditional Irish musicians from Munster playing the Battle Cry of Munster, something other than battle cries can be experienced. When the tune/tunes are shared and played without lyrics, other than lilting in the traditional mouthh music style, the result is primal passion that's a far cry from being in battle mode. The sharing of music in this way offers hope of seeing beyond historic division and conflict so that we can understand the present.
Christmas Eve in No Man's Land
From my Christmastime Album of 2021
Young British soldiers in their trenches faced young German soldiers, in their trenches, across No Man's Land .
World War One had already ravaged and savaged. Many lay wounded, many lay dead on both sides
.
Young sons, sons of mothers and fathers, grandsons of grandfathers and grandmothers, brothers of sisters - and lovers with sweethearts and young wives -some were even young fathers of newborns , all off to an early grave in far-off fields.
In a world gone mad. In a Hell upon the Earth,.
But Christmastime is Christmastime.
Yes Christmastime is Christmastime.
Young German lads sang:
Stille nacht, heilige nacht
Alles schläft; einsam wacht
While young English lads sang:
Silent night. Holy night
All is calm all is bright.
Different language, same tune
Different language, same song
Different language, same Christmas message.
Young soldiers from both trenches left their weapons behind as they rise up out of their trenches - out to meet and greet the enemy in the middle of the barren, No Mans Land of mutual anguish and death. Out to meet other young men who were determined to kill each other before the other killed them. In a momentary response to an ancient call of liberty from within ,in a spontaneous blip of instinctual courage.
Gifts were exchanged, photographs were taken, a football was playfully kicked back and forth in the spirit of all that is good about humanity.
And both sides took time to bury their dead.
By Boxing Day both sets of young soldiers were back under the control of their masters. Back to the reality of what war was meant to be about. It was back to the sheer insanity and sheer savagery of war. Back to bombs and bullets. Back to inhumanity.
Young dissenters in their moment of sanity and light, who had defiantly challenged the whole point of what war and social division was all about, were put back in their place.
There were no more Christmas truces for the duration of WW1. And not too many, if any, anywhere ever since.
At Christmastime 2021 the Earth - the Earth divided within nations, divided within communities, once again needs young dissenters to arise from out of the New-Age global trenches of division, in defiance
of their globalist masters.
Parcel Of Rogues.
Rabbie Burns, the Immortal Bard, wrote his political song about an earlier time in Scottish history. He was taking a swipe at the Scottish ruling classes who he reckoned were bought and sold for English gold. That was the situation as he saw it at the time – at that time the City of London already owned the gold, owned the money, owned the establishment and owned the conflicts, divisions and wars.
I have taken a wee bit of poetic license and altered a word or two to connect it to the present. I have been studying the life and works of Burns from the age of fifteen and I am totally certain he would approve. The sentiments of the song are just as important now as they were back then. Perhaps even more important in this day and age as folk today are being bought and sold for tyrant's gold on a global scale.
What force or guille could not subdue
Through many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
The tyrant's steel we could disdain
Secure in valour's station
The tyrant's gold has been our bane
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation.
Oh wud that I had seen the day
That treason thus could sell us
In my heid I hear the auld yins say
I hear what it is they tell us
By pith and power til my last hour
I'll mak this declaration
We're bought and sold for tyrant's gold
Such a parcel o rogues in a nation.
Tam Madole
This wee Ulster Scotch ditty goes back to the days of the Ulster Scotch Folk Orchestra 2000 – 2008. When I first recorded this song folk often said to me that not everybody wanted to be like Tam Madole. This included members of my own band. I am thinking now though that surely everybody – at least everybody who is listening to this album – does want to be like the free independent man who can has no bank account, who doesn't believe everything the establishment tells him, who can feed his family from his own produce and can drink clear water from out of his own well?
Chorus
Tam Madole, Tam Madole, Tam Madole
Everybody want tae be like Tam Madole
Like Tam Madole, just like Tam Madole
Everybody wants tae be - Just like Tam Madole.
Tam Madole he whussles an he sings
He aye taaks aboot the finer things
He taaks aboot life an love an joy
The folk aa sez he's some boy
Tam Madole lives just ower the hill -
Rins a wee farm and rins a wee still
Tam Madole he disnae care
He's free like the birds up in the air
Tam Madole never heeds aa he's toul
For he is cannae, thran an bowl
A man o independent mine
He aye reads atween lines.
Tam Madole he has nae bank account
A wheen o pun unner his bed nae big amount
Tam Madole he disnae care
Never gien a penny tae Tony Blair
Tam Madole has aye prootas for his plate
A cock at cras an a pigeon on the gate
He's aye fit tae feed hissel
Drinks clear water fae oot his ain well.
Tam Madole whiussels an he sings
He aye taaks aboot the finer things
He goes didley diddely dee didley diddely dum
As he blaaters awa on a great big drum.
Tam Madole they sez he kens the Lord
A wee bird, que he, gien him the word
His maker he'll meet nae fear ava
He's gan tae heaven when he gets the caa.
Tan Madole danners the fiels an burns
Follies the water as it wimples an turns
Doon the glen richt tae sea
Where he sails aff tae be aye free.
Stand Up and Sing
The original version of this song was written many years ago. It's still as relevant as ever. The message is simple.
Stand up and sing. stand up and sing. Stand up and sing, stand up and sing. [ Chorus]
Like the lark on the wing Get up and do your thing Let's hear the rafters ring.
Stand and sing.
As you saunter along Let them hear your song Tell them you belong.
Where you stand and sing.
As they gather round you And try to confound you And try to surround you.
Stand and sing.
They'll tell you black is white They'll tell you day is night They' ll tell you wrong is right.
Stand and sing.
They've been out to get you. They'll wish they never met you They'll wish they'd never let you
Stand and sing.
When they shove you around Just stand your ground Tell them we're glory bound
Stand and sing.
Like the breeze in the bushes Like the river that rushes The gentle tide that hushes.
Stand up and sing.
Like the morning choir. That cheers the dawning hour. Sing your songs afar
Stand and sing.
Back To The Free World
Written in 2023. They might get to our body but not our soul.
Back to the free world you and me
Back to the real world to be free
Back to the free world, you and I
We hear the call, we hear the cry.
The road to freedom we know it well
It's the road that goes beyond their Hell
It's the road that sees beyond it all
We hear the cry, we hear the call.
It's back now to the call of wonder
Beyond the lightning and the thunder
Back to the call of the wild
Back to the cry of the child.
Beyond all the fear and all the battle
All the uproar and all the rattle
Beyond the sea back to the stream
Beyond the mountain, back to the dream.
Our dream's for real, like reality
It is for real like eternity
It sees beyond indoctrination
Beyond their manipulation.
They can't stop us now with chains of fear
The call of freedom is loud and clear
They can't stop us now with their control
Might get to our body but not our soul.
The road to freedom we know it well
It's the road that goes beyond their hell
It's the road that sees beyond it all
We hear the cry, we hear the call.
Liberty 2024
Once again I've taken advantage of the mighty work of Rabbie Burns to highlight how the patterns of history repeat - from ancient times to the present day. I have obviously taken Burns' Scots Wha Hae Wi Wallace Bled - which references struggles for liberty in 1314 and connected it to current quests for liberty in 2024. - for people all over Planet Earth.
Wars and conflicts have forever been created by those who seek to divide and conquer for purpose of expanding their personal wealth and power. The two world wars of the 20th Century and the current wars in Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine are classic examples of contrived wars. As in historic battles they seem totally futile and yet the unfortunate people in the battle zones feel they have no choice but to fight to defend their liberty.
The only way to avoid such futile wars is for the majority of all people to understand they are been conned, coerced and manipulated – to understand that their real enemy is not other people but the evil cabal who want to control all people. We all need to know and understand the enemy.
Liberty 2024 is not a call to arms but a call to understand that we are currently being used in the same way as our forebears have been used. This time round it is different in that it is on a global scale. Nation states,communities and families have been systematically divided, used and abused all across the planet. In our quest for liberty in 2024 we must respect and find the courage of our forebears who fought and died for our rights and freedoms. We must demand a return to the true democracy that they stood for. We can achieve this by understanding the enemy – by never complying or capitulating to their outrageous mandates and manipulations - by educating others who have yet to realise the reality of our times. This is the way to avoid slavery to the System and World War 3. If we fail to do this then, regrettably, the only choice left could be to find the courage and conviction to do what our forebears felt compelled to do.
Remember them wha never fled
Remember them oor freedom led
Remember them wha hae bled
For oor liberty.
Noo's the day an noo's the hour
See the front o battle lour
See encroach the tyrant power
Chains an slavery.
Wha wull be a traitor knave
Wha can fill a coward's grave
Wha sae base as be a slave
Let them turn an flee.
Wha for oor common law
Freedom's sword wull proudly draw?
For freedom stand noo yin an aa
For democracy.
By oppression's woes an pains
By oor young in serville chains
We shall drain oor dearest veins
But we shall be free.
See the warld ower the people's licht
Flames o freedom shinin bricht
The battle noo is for the richt
Tae hae democracy.
Ye sons o them wha never fled
Daughters o them oor freedom led
Remember them wha hae bled
For democracy.
Ye people o this yince free land
Lissen tae yer sowl's command
Remember them wha tuk their stand
For oor liberty.
-
Willie Drennan Band. Wired Up Again.
Unique Fusion of Folk and Rockin' Blues.
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I/ Folkybilly RocknRoll
2/ Boom Boom Baby
3/ Oh Dearie Me
4/Over The Hills and Far Away
5/ Road TO Freedom
6/ No Whiskey In The Jar
7/ My Heart
8/ Lambeg Boogie
9/Til The Cows Come Home
10/Different Road
11/Rockin Roarin Bagpipes/Black Bear
12/ Sourhill RocknRoll
A collaboration between grassroots Willie Drennan and rock guitarist, David McClean
Review:
The album begins with,’Folkybilly Rocknroll’ which is akin to supercharged folk music as in harpist meets punk bluegrass with an overlay of Slade for good measure.
Much of the music here is a melange of rock and folk but interestingly the rock input veers towards 1970’s Britpop.
So I hear echoes of the influences on people of a certain age, of which I am one and I suspect so also is Willie, bands such as T-Rex to give just one example .
An exception to that homegrown fusion however is,’Boom Boom Baby’ which has echoes of Mississippi delta blues and the energy of Elvis when he was still known as ,‘ The Hillbilly Cat’.
Overall the result is a successful fusion of sound that is personal and regional and ultimately universal.
Alister J McReynolds
August 2020.
David McClean Willie Drennan
This album was due for release in May 2020 but postponed due to Coranvirus Lockdown. It is now available.
Other musicians on this album are: Davy Angus, John Trotter, Derek Montgomery, Ali McKenzie, Jim Cuthbertson, James Christie, Ian Burrows, Cherith Knipe, Judith Knipe, Caroline Drennan, Diane Wilson.
Watch Folkybilly RocknRoll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTrdk2RqjJU
1/ Folkbilly RocknRoll
You can dance all night when the moon is shining bright
Folkybilly Rock n Roll
You can dance all night when the moon is shining bright
So good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
They say this song is just a curse
They saythe tune is ten times worse
They say the beat would drive you mad
Makes us all oh so glad
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
Folkybilly RocknRoll, so good for your soul
Their music they would make you hear
They blast it in your ear
They would tell you how to dance
You like different? - here's your chance
2/ Boom Boom Baby
Chorus
We're the boys that make the noise
We're the boys that you'll enjoy
Come on down and see the show
Boom boom baby and away we go
Boom boom baby and away we go.
Gonna play this guitar all day long
Gonna bang my drum until the sun is done
Gonna slap my bass all over the place
Gonna beat my drum into outer space.
Blatter it high and blatter it low
I'm gonna blatter it quick and blatter it slow
Slide it up and slide it down
We're the loudest noise in town.
Hear that rhythm and hear that sound
Feel that beat go round and round
From the soles of your feet to the top of your head
It's loud enough to wake the dead.
3/ Oh Dearie Me
Yin step forrit an twa steps back
Lord hae mercy on me for heaven's sake
A'll en up sax fit unner the grun
Shud A iver hae ony mair nor a wee bit o fun.
Turned on the wireless tae hear sum guid news
The weatherman was singin the Blues
He went rain hale sleet an mair rain
An we micht niver ever see sunshine again.
Went tae the bank lukin cash oot
The bank man yelled an lashed aboot
Man dear yer sae far in arrear
Hoo dare ye even cum in here.
A towl the doctor hoo bad A feel
He says richt eneuch hi yer naw weel
A niver seen onythin like yer state
Ther's naethin A can dae it is too late.
Scunnert tae the teeth half-hungert an cowl
Went tae the kirk tried save m'sowl
But the meenister cudnae show me the wye
He'd signed the broo the ither day.
Tae thon Pearly Gates A'm feart tae be gan
A'm feart tae be stannin fornenst yer man
Ye hae spent yer time jist gypin aroon
Ther's yin road noo an that is doon
4/ Over the Hills And Far Away
Chorus
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Hear about a land that's far away
Take you more than a year and a day
Heard about a place where the wild wind blows
What will we do there nobody knows
Hear about a place where spirits run free
Sounds like a land for you and me
Up to the mountains down to the glen
When will we get there we don't know when
Sing us a song that's old and clear
Sung by a man for a thousand year
Heard by the rocks and the wind and the rain
Far far away and back again
Come to the land of the brave and the true
Loved by the many but seen by the few
Come to the place that's pure and free
Sounds like the land for you and me.
Chorus
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Hey ho away we go over the hills and far away
Hear about a land that's far away
Take you more than a year and a day
Heard about a place where the wild wind blows
What will we do there nobody knows
Hear about a place where spirits run free
Sounds like a land for you and me
Up to the mountains down to the glen
When will we get there we don't know when
Sing us a song that's old and clear
Sung by a man for a thousand year
Heard by the rocks and the wind and the rain
Far far away and back again
Come to the land of the brave and the true
Loved by the many but seen by the few
Come to the place that's pure and free
Sounds like the land for you and me.
5/ On The Road To Freedom Now
We’re on the road to freedom now
On the road to freedom now
So shed your heavy load and join us on the road
On the road to freedom now.
To find the road to freedom you take the trail
Where some folks weep and some folks wail
Then take the long winding lane
To feel the wrath and feel the pain.
All roads to freedom are not the same
You might cross Sorrow you might catch Blame
But once you make it round the final bend
It’s all the same freedom in the end.
Just like the fox who roams at night
Across the fields in pale moonlight
She loves to follow freedom’s way
Down her own freedom road
She love’s to stray.
And she knows that road with danger is fraught
She knows by dawn she might get shot
And if she never makes it round the final bend
It’s still the same freedom in the end.
That road it goes up the highest hill
To view the world and feel the thrill
Then out across the seven seas
To feel the world in the breeze.
But first it’s down the darkest glen
When you’re out of there you don’t know when
But once you make it round the final bend
You will feel freedom in the end.
6/ No Whiskey In The Jar
As I was going over life's great big scary mountain
I met the fat-cat bankers, all their money they were countin'
With their friends the commissioners and their corporate advisors
I said stand and deliver for youse are the boul deceivers.
With me ring dum dey do dum de dah
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o
No whiskey in the jar.
Well with my trusty laptop I just took their money
And stuck in in my pocket for it looked a pretty penny
But I knew it was all wrong as soon as I got to thinkin'
For their money it was boggin' their money it was stinkin'.
I went home to my chamber for to take my slumber
I dreamt a crazy dream for sure it was no wonder.
But my friends they did betray me, they rung their politician
And toul them that my dreams could start some revolution.
It was early in the mornin' before I riz to journey
Up comes the Parliament with their own wee private army
They looks in my computer and sez I was not clever
They'd evidence enough to lock me up for ever.
If anyone can save me, it's my sisters and my brothers
If we'd all get together we could stand by one an other
We could tell them where to stuff it, where they would not think it funny
We could tell them where to go with all their stinkin' money.
7/My Heart.
Every time I see that girl to walking down the street my heart goes,
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
Every time I think of her my heart it skips a beat and it goes,
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Diddely Dum.
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding.
If only I could talk to her and tell her how I feel but I go
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding.
Maybe then she'd fall for me and happy we would be but I go
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Diddely Dum.
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding.
Now that we're together with our children one , two, three my heart goes
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
Little boys who want to learn to beat the drum like me, my heart goes
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Dum.
My heart is beating like a Lambeg Drum A Num A Num A Diddely Dum Diddely Dum.
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding
Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Ding, Diddely Dinga Dinga Dinga Diddely Ding Diddely Ding Ding.
Words and Music by Derek Montgomery. Main vocals by Derek. Inspired by a family tradition of lilting out drum rhythms to facilitate the learning of tunes.
Translation available on request.
8/Lambeg Boogie
Hey Mr DJ how do you do
Got a brand new song that was written for you
I hope you'll try and give it a spin
It will blast those Blues you've got within
It's called the Lambeg Boogie
Lambeg Boogie, the Lambeg Boogie, the Lambeg Boogie
Everybody shout and shake it all about
The Lambeg Boogie makes you feel alright
Everybody shout and shake it all about
The Lambeg Boogie makes you feel alright
Well this ain't country and this ain't pop
And we don't care if you like it or not
It's got a great big beat to a great big drum
It will blast your brain till the kingdom come.
Lyrics and tune by David McLean
Words written by David following an impromptu jam in Willie's backyard where electric guitar met Lambeg drum in natural fusion. It was like the two instruments were meant for each other. The music flowed organic and lyrics seemed the obvious follow up.
9/ Til The Cows Come Home
Who drives me crazy near every night
You do you do you do
Who says she'll love for the rest of my life
You do you do you do.
You got me howlin at the moon
Dancin like a lune
like a little red rooster
crowing out his favourite tune.
My heart's racing in the danger zone
Gonna love you til the cows come home
My heart's racing in the danger zone
Gonna love you til the cows come home.
Who'll be beside you down the long long road
I will I will I will
Who 's gonna love you when we both get old
I will I will I will
You got me cooing like a dove
From his tree high above
Pouring joy from his soul
For his own true love.
My heart's racing in the danger zone
Gonna love you til the cows come home
My heart's racing in the danger zone
Gonna love you til the cows come home.
Who drives me crazy near every night
You do you do you do
Who says she'll love for the rest of my life
You do you do you do.
You got me howlin at the moon
Dancin like a lune
Like a little red rooster
Crowing out his favourite tune
My heart's racing in the danger zone
Gonna love you til the cows come home.
10/ Different Road
Down Different Road you should always go
It goes to and fro and you never know
No, you never know where it might end
It goes up and down and round the bend.
Down Different Road they beat a big drum
They play loud guitar till the Kingdom Come
They do the Lambeg Boogie to Rock n' Roll Blues
So bring along your dancing shoes.
Never take the road they tell you take
Never take their road for Heaven's sake
They say their road is straight and it is clean
It's safe and sure like it's always been
Down their road, they say, there are no fears
But it just might drive you to your tears
It's save they say if you do what your told
It's not for the b rave, not for the bold.
Never heed what they tell you on TV
Never heed what you see on BBC
If they tell you it's right it's probably wrong
So just you sing your different song.
Sing out loud like the rooster crowed
As you dance along your Different Road
When you turn down right on Different Street
All the Different people you will meet.
11/ Rockin Roarin Bagpipes/ Black Bear
The title of this piece speaks for itself. Features Ian Burrows on Highland bagpipes. The Black Bear is a traditional Scottish pipe band march that is also popular among folk musicians in Northern Ireland. The format of this tune offers opportunity for dynamics and build up into a climax on Willie's Lambeg drum. Then David's guitar takes it over the edge to places the tune has never been before.
12/ Sour Hill Rock 'n Roll
This song addresses common crossovers and musical fusions.
It was written by Willieat a time when he, David McClean and Johnny Murphy were involved in a musical heritage project entitled 'The Fiddle and the Fife' for Mid and East Antrim Museum.
The Boys of the Sour Hill who regularly met at the home of Joe Mills in the latter part of the 20th Cent were of course traditional musicians. But the spirit of their fiddle music could be easily compared and transferred to musicians of other genres across the world.
The second verse relates to the traditional fifers who often walked the country roads playing their high-pitched flutes in the days before television.
The last verse addresses the spirit of singing. In this case it refers to the story told by Willie's mother about when she attended Slaght Primary School. The pupils were taught the Scottish song 'The Campbells Are Coming Oh Ho' and coincidentally a family who lived down a long lane across from the rural school house were also called Campbell. In the playground a suitably adapted version of the song was belted out by the pupils whenever they thought the Campbells were within earshot.
“Signing out for the good of their soul, just like they do in rock 'n roll”.
Also coincidentally, the fifers of Mid-Antrim adapted a version of the Scottish tune to accompany the Lambeg drums and this timing seems to work just spot on for rock 'n roll.
The tune is also similar to 'Miss McLeod's Reel' which has very popular versions in Scottish, Irish, and Appalachian fiddle traditions.