Lyrics: American country singer and songwriter the late Max Barnes, (1935 – 2004). Vocals: Irish country, traditional and easy listening singer, the late Big Tom McBride, (1936 – 2018).
The Same Way You Came In.
Oh we’re going out the same way we came in. Don’t matter who you know or where you’ve been. Makes no difference who you are, Skid Row Joe or superstar, You’re going out the same way you came in. We are born into this world without a thing, And we leave it just as naked as we came. You may drive a Coup de Ville, own a mansion on a hill, Don’t mean nothing when Saint Peter calls your name. Oh you’re going out the same way you came in. Someone will notify your next of kin. Some will weep and some will moan, some will spit upon your stone, But you’re going out the same way you came in. Oh they lay you out in all your fancy clothes, And they’ll figure out just who and what you own. Then the lawyers line their nest and your kinsfolk gets the rest, Oh you can’t take it with you when you go. Oh you’re going out the same way you came in. Makes no difference who you know or where you’ve been. Makes no difference who you are, Skid Row Joe or superstar, You’re going out the same way you came in. Oh you’re going out the same way you came in. Makes no difference who you know or where you’ve been. Makes no difference who you are, Skid Row Joe or superstar, You’re going out the same way you came in. Yeah, you’re going out the same way you came in.
The Warrenpoint Co. Down Irish singer Ms Clodagh Rodgers sadly passed away on Good Friday last, April 18th aged 78 years. Ms Rodgers, who had been ill for around three years, passed away at her home in Cobham, Surrey, England, where she had lived for many years.
Ms Rodgers was best known for her hit singles which included “Come Back and Shake Me”, “Goodnight Midnight” and “Jack in the Box” and albums including “You Are My Music”, “It’s Different Now” and “Save Me”.
Save Me
Ms Rodgers was asked to represent the UK in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. Despite being a Roman Catholic female and from Northern Ireland, she received death threats from the Irish Republican Army (IRA); latter who regarded her as a traitor, as a result of her agreeing to appear for the United Kingdom. Regional juries decided she was the winner, with her song “Jack in the Box”, with lyrics written by John Worsley and David Myers. On Eurovision night she went on to finish in fourth place, behind Monaco, Spain and Germany.
Ms Rodgers was married twice; firstly to Mr John Morris in 1968, in London. Mr Morris later became her manager, with the marriage producing one son, before they divorced in 1979. She married her second husband, guitarist Mr Ian Sorbie, in 1987; with whom she had a second son in 1984. They remained married until Ian’s death from a brain tumour in 1995.
Ms Rodgers had numerous successes on stage and screen, including ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’; ‘The Morecambe and Wise Show’; ‘The Two Ronnies’; ‘The Bill’ and became the face of ‘Bisto Gravy’, in a series of television advertisements.
Lyrics: County Fermanagh Irish musician and songwriter Mickey MacConnell. (Written in 1965) Vocals: Irish male folk group “Onóir”(Word translated from Irish to English meaning “Honor”).
Only Our Rivers Run Free.
When apples still grow in November, When blossoms still bloom on each tree, When leaves are still green in December, It’s then that our land will be free. I wander her hills and her valleys, It’s still through my sorrows I see, A land that have never known freedom, Still only her rivers run free. I drink to the death of her manhood, For the men who’d rather have died, Than to live in the cold chains of bondage, To bring back their rights where denied. Where are you now when we need you? What burns where the flame used to be? Are you gone like the snows of last winter? Will only our rivers run free. How sweet is the life for we’re crying, And how mellow the wine but we’re dry, How fragrant is the rose but it’s dying, How gentle the wind but it sighs. What good is in youth when it’s ageing? What joy is in eyes that can’t see? When there’s sorrow in sunshine and in flowers, And still only our rivers run free. And still only our rivers run free.
END
“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” Above quote by South African anti-apartheid activist and politician the late Nelson Mandela, (1918 – 2013).
Today, April 18th 2025 is Good Friday, when according to the four Gospels, (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), in the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus Christ was arrested, tried and sentenced to death by crucifixion, latter an ancient form of execution in which a person was nailed or bound to a cross and left to die. Christians believe Jesus Christ died on such a cross, was buried in a tomb, and three days later rose from the dead.
The Old Rugged Cross.
Lyrics: American hymn composer and preacher, the late George Bennard(1873 – 1958). Vocals: American country music singer/songwriter Alan Jackson.
The Old Rugged Cross.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, The emblem of suffering and shame, And I love that old cross where the dearest and best, For a world of lost sinners was slain. So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, (rugged cross). Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown. To that old rugged cross I will ever be true, It’s shame and reproach gladly bear. Then he’ll call me some day to my home far away, Where his glory forever I’ll share. So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, (rugged cross). Till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown. I will cling to the old rugged cross, And exchange it some day for a crown.
Lyrics: Derry born Irish musician, songwriter and record producer, Phil Coulter. Vocals: Dublin born Irish folk singer and guitarist, Paddy Reilly.
The first three verses of the song hereunder reflect on the simple lifestyle Phil Coulter grew up with in Derry, while the final two deal a period known as ‘The Troubles’. He laments how his placid home-town had suddenly become a major military outpost, plagued with violence and death. The final verses of his song include a wish and a message of hope.
The Town I Loved So Well.
In my memory I will always see, The town that I have loved so well, Where our schools played ball by the gas-yard wall, And we laughed through the smoke and the smell. Going home in the rain, running up the dark lane, Past the jail and down behind the fountain. Those were happy days in so many, many ways, In the town I loved so well. In the early morning the shirt-factory horn, Called women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog, While the men on the dole played a mother’s role, Fed the children and then walked the dog. And when times got rough there was just about enough, But they saw it through without complaining. For deep inside was a burning pride, For the town I loved so well.
There was music there in the Derry air, Like a language that we could all understand. I remember the day when I earned my first pay, When I played in the small pick-up band. There I spent my youth and to tell you the truth, I was sad to leave it all behind me. For I’d learned about life and I’d found me a wife, In the town I loved so well.
But when I’ve returned, how my eyes were burned, To see how a town could be brought to its knees, By the armoured cars and the bombed-out bars, And the gas that hangs on to every breeze. Now the army’s installed by that old gas-yard wall, And the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher. With their tanks and their guns, oh, my God, what have they done, To the town I loved so well.
Now the music’s gone but they carry on, For their spirit’s been bruised, never broken. Though they’ll not forget till their hearts are set, On tomorrow and peace once again. For what’s done is done and what’s won is won, And what’s lost is lost and gone forever. I can only pray for a bright brand new day, In the town I loved so well.
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