Great Big Sea

Last night I went with K & Co. to see Great Big Sea open for Cowboy Mouth. Now, I wasn’t exactly expecting to enjoy GBS — they’re Canadian, played what K described as “Irish Jig Style Music” and they’re Canadian (did I mention that?)… well, lo and behold I actually enjoyed them quite a bit. They’re a relatively unknown band as far as I’m concerned, but if given half a chance they’re a hell of a lot of fun. After all, how can you hate a band who sings lots of peppy songs about drinking and dying? In order to increase the cultural enlightenment of the group, I’m going to post the lyrics (and some audio excerpts) to two songs. The FURTHER your enlightenment, I’m going to be posting the audio in OGG format, as opposed to MP3.

Why OGG? Well, it’s a much better format for a number of reasons. The files are smaller. The files SOUND BETTER. and OGG is a free format. Some arrogant german prick owns the patent to MP3 and charges all sorts of money to make players and encoders. Bastard. Most new players come with OGG support inherently, but if not almost any player you can think of has a plug-in at the above link for OGG. Go make your computer happy. Now, without further ado, two songs:

Song: Consequence Free
Audio: Right-click here. (263KB, 29 sec.)
Pete Says: Fairly contemporary — good song.

Lyrics:
Na na na, na na na na na na
Oh, Na na na, na na na na na na

Wouldn’t it be great if no one ever got offended
Wouldn’t it be great to say what’s really on your mind
I’ve always said all the rules are made for bending
And if I let my hair down would that be such a crime?

I wanna be consequence free
I wanna be where nothing needs to matter
I wanna be consequence free
Just say - na na na, na na na na na na
Na na na, na na na na na na

I could really use to lose my Catholic conscience
‘Cause I’m getting sick of feeling guilty all the time

I won’t abuse it, yeah I’ve got the best intentions
For a little bit of anarchy, but not the hurting kind

I couldn’t sleep at all last night ’cause I had so much on my mind -
I’d like to leave it all behind, but you know it’s not that easy
Oh for just one night

Wouldn’t it be great if the band just never ended
We could stay out late, and we would never hear last call
We wouldn’t need to worry ’bout approval or permission
We could slip off the edge, never worry about the fall

Song: The Night Pat Murphy Died
Audio: Right-click here. (151KB, 15 sec.)
Pete Says: More Irish — “Paddy Murphy”, Drinking, Dying.

Lyrics:
Oh, the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I’ll never forget,
Some of the boys got loaded drunk and they ain’t got sober yet!
As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feeling gay,
O’Leary came with the bagpipes some music for to play!

[Chorus:]
That’s how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy,
That’s how they showed their honour and their pride,
They said it was, “a sin” and “a shame” they winked at one and another,
And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died!

As Missus Murphy sat in the corner pourin’ out her grief,
Kelly and his gang came tearin’ down the street,
They went into an empty room and a bottle of whiskey stole,
They put that bottle with the corpse to keep that whiskey cold!

[Chorus]

Well, two o’clock in the mornin’ after emptyin’ the jug,
Doyle rose up the icebox lid to see poor Paddy’s mug,
They stopped the clock so Missus Murphy couldn’t tell the time,
And at a quarter after two we argued it was nine!

[Chorus]

Well, they stopped the hearse on George Street outside some damn saloon,
They all went in at half past eight and staggered out at noon,
The went up to the graveyard so holy and sublime,
Found out when they’d got there they’d left the corpse behind!

[Chorus]

Oh, the night that Paddy Murphy died, is a night I’ll never forget,
Some of the boys got loaded drunk and they ain’t been sober yet!
As long as a bottle was passed around every man was feeling gay,
O’Leary came with bagpipes some music for to play!

[Chorus]

Definitely a good band, if they’re ever in your area (and they’re going to a LOT of areas) be sure to check them out. There are also clips of other songs on their website.