Johnny Duhan Song Lyrics And Chords
Johnny is one of Irelands formost singer/songwriters and has written songs about most aspects of Irish life. All the bigest names on the Irish folk scene have recorded his songs, including, Mary Black, Eleanor Shanley and Christy Moore to name a few. Johnny is also a fine singer and continues to tour Ireland and beyond.
Johnny Duhan started his career as a fifteen year old front man with Granny’s Intentions, the most popular beat group in Ireland in the 60s. After rousing Dublin with their soul touch, they moved to London, were signed to the prestigious Deram label, enjoyed considerable success and disbanded before Johnny was twenty one. Johnny started writing folk songs, poetry and prose at this stage. In a career spanning 40 years,
his greatest achievement is a quartet of epic albums - Just Another Town, To The Light, The Voyage and Flame - which correspond to the four chapters of his lyrical autobiography, TO THE LIGHT. Johnny’s songs are sung worldwide in a variety of languages, thanks to the focus put on them by Christy Moore, The Dubliners, Mary Black and hosts of other Irish and international singers. His song The Voyage has become a modern classic. Christy Moore has termed Johnny “One of our greatest songwriters.” And the late Ronnie Drew described him as “one of my favourite songwriters.” A new album, The Burning Word, has just been released .
his greatest achievement is a quartet of epic albums - Just Another Town, To The Light, The Voyage and Flame - which correspond to the four chapters of his lyrical autobiography, TO THE LIGHT. Johnny’s songs are sung worldwide in a variety of languages, thanks to the focus put on them by Christy Moore, The Dubliners, Mary Black and hosts of other Irish and international singers. His song The Voyage has become a modern classic. Christy Moore has termed Johnny “One of our greatest songwriters.” And the late Ronnie Drew described him as “one of my favourite songwriters.” A new album, The Burning Word, has just been released .
Trying To Get The Balance Right Song Lyrics And Guitar Chords
Written by singer Johnny Duhan and recorded by Mary Black
We (Am) don’t always live in (E) harmony,
(F) Often there are times (C) when we are enemies;
(Dm) I fight with you and you (Am) fight with me
(E) Trying to get the balance (Am) right.
Sometimes we cause each other pain,
Sometimes our wills are not the same;
Often we tire of the strain
Of trying to get the balance right.
(F) Like a circus pair (G) high up in the (E) air
(Em) Working on their (G) act, we (E) need that kind of (Am) pact;
(F) High above the ring, (G) watch them (E) balancing,
(Dm) See how they (G) unite, we (E) too can get it (Am) right.
I know we don’t always get along,
One of us often acts too strong,
Sometimes we find we’re going wrong
trying to get the balance right.
Like a circus pair high up in the air
Working on their act, we need that kind of pact.
High above the ring watch them balancing,
See how they unite, we too can get it right.
Flame Lyrics And Chords By Johnny Duhan
written by Johnny Duhan and recorded by Eleanor Shanley.
A (G) rose won’t grow
If the (Em) soil below goes (D) dry,
It (C) withers and (D) droops and (C) dies at the (D) root,
And (G) its red petals drop
Like (Em) blood that won’t stop from a (D) wound
And (C) then the (D) flower
(C) Without any (D) power lies (G) ruined.
The heart is the same,
The stream in the vein gives it life;
Cut off the flow and it won’t go
For blood is the source
Of all that force in the beat;
Body and soul
Need it to roll for heat.
And fire won’t glow
If wind doesn’t blow on the hearth;
The yellow blaze
Smoulders and fades,
And you’re left to poke
At the cinders and smoke that remain,
But without air
You would despair of the flame.
O when my first flame died
And you became my love
A fresh breath of air made sparks appear
And my heart, like coal,
Lit up and my soul took fire,
While out in your bed
You grew blushing red, my flower
Written by singer Johnny Duhan and recorded by Mary Black
We (Am) don’t always live in (E) harmony,
(F) Often there are times (C) when we are enemies;
(Dm) I fight with you and you (Am) fight with me
(E) Trying to get the balance (Am) right.
Sometimes we cause each other pain,
Sometimes our wills are not the same;
Often we tire of the strain
Of trying to get the balance right.
(F) Like a circus pair (G) high up in the (E) air
(Em) Working on their (G) act, we (E) need that kind of (Am) pact;
(F) High above the ring, (G) watch them (E) balancing,
(Dm) See how they (G) unite, we (E) too can get it (Am) right.
I know we don’t always get along,
One of us often acts too strong,
Sometimes we find we’re going wrong
trying to get the balance right.
Like a circus pair high up in the air
Working on their act, we need that kind of pact.
High above the ring watch them balancing,
See how they unite, we too can get it right.
Flame Lyrics And Chords By Johnny Duhan
written by Johnny Duhan and recorded by Eleanor Shanley.
A (G) rose won’t grow
If the (Em) soil below goes (D) dry,
It (C) withers and (D) droops and (C) dies at the (D) root,
And (G) its red petals drop
Like (Em) blood that won’t stop from a (D) wound
And (C) then the (D) flower
(C) Without any (D) power lies (G) ruined.
The heart is the same,
The stream in the vein gives it life;
Cut off the flow and it won’t go
For blood is the source
Of all that force in the beat;
Body and soul
Need it to roll for heat.
And fire won’t glow
If wind doesn’t blow on the hearth;
The yellow blaze
Smoulders and fades,
And you’re left to poke
At the cinders and smoke that remain,
But without air
You would despair of the flame.
O when my first flame died
And you became my love
A fresh breath of air made sparks appear
And my heart, like coal,
Lit up and my soul took fire,
While out in your bed
You grew blushing red, my flower
10. THE BEACON
A family outing set me on a track up a
glorified hill behind Kylemore Abbey and
gave me the inspiration for this song.
And the great accordion player
Máirtin O'Connor gave me the musical
support to scale the heights.
When we saw the white beacon near the top of the hill,
the children stopped their fighting
and went suddenly still,
and before we brought the engine to a stop,
they said "Please let's climb that mountain to the top."
We parked the car by the old Abbey
and found a narrow path
winding up the hillside, so we followed that.
We met people coming down with smiling faces
whose bright eyes revealed they'd been in higher places.
Then the children grew more daring
and went climbing on ahead.
Soon we couldn't see them, so we listened hard instead;
our wild angels started calling through the bracken
and put our minds at rest. Our pace didn't slacken.
Over stumps, stones, mould and boulders; over rock-ledges and -shelves,
we struggled on and upwards and rose above ourselves;
and we weren't even wearing heavy boots,
through our souls we could feel real living roots.
And we thought of the first pilgrims
who forged that narrow track
up that rugged hill-face
with the beacon on their backs.
And as we strained over the last ridge to the summit
we wondered how they ever could have done it
Till standing there before us,
high above the rocky moss,
we found a silent answer in the figure on a cross,
and our breathless children looking on were saying,
A family outing set me on a track up a
glorified hill behind Kylemore Abbey and
gave me the inspiration for this song.
And the great accordion player
Máirtin O'Connor gave me the musical
support to scale the heights.
When we saw the white beacon near the top of the hill,
the children stopped their fighting
and went suddenly still,
and before we brought the engine to a stop,
they said "Please let's climb that mountain to the top."
We parked the car by the old Abbey
and found a narrow path
winding up the hillside, so we followed that.
We met people coming down with smiling faces
whose bright eyes revealed they'd been in higher places.
Then the children grew more daring
and went climbing on ahead.
Soon we couldn't see them, so we listened hard instead;
our wild angels started calling through the bracken
and put our minds at rest. Our pace didn't slacken.
Over stumps, stones, mould and boulders; over rock-ledges and -shelves,
we struggled on and upwards and rose above ourselves;
and we weren't even wearing heavy boots,
through our souls we could feel real living roots.
And we thought of the first pilgrims
who forged that narrow track
up that rugged hill-face
with the beacon on their backs.
And as we strained over the last ridge to the summit
we wondered how they ever could have done it
Till standing there before us,
high above the rocky moss,
we found a silent answer in the figure on a cross,
and our breathless children looking on were saying,
2. THE VOYAGE
The Voyage has become a modern classic. Hot Press magazine editor Niall Stokes has predicted that the song will be around centuries from now, after most popular songs of our time are long forgotten.
3. THE BLIGHT
With the blight on my mind the poison ran
straight to my heart;
Then I couldn't find courage to make a fresh start;
I had worked many years on my own,
Clearing deadwood in a western zone,
But for all of my effort my brain turned to desert
Where the buzzards wouldn't leave me alone;
I lost almost three stone,
Eaten with worry, I was picked to the bone.
For six months or more I was consumed with despair;
I locked my front door and wouldn't go out anywhere;
At night I was tossed on my bed
By a fever going on in my head;
I was famished and weak and I found little sleep
And the little I found full of dread;
For my dreams were all fed
On that terrible blight that wanted me dead.
With my eyes dripping tears I knelt down one day
and I prayed;
Hadn't done this in years and it made me no less afraid;
That night was no better for me,
No let-up in anxiety,
But at dawn in the sunlight someone called me outside
And out there I started to see in a mist from the sea,
Among my own neighbours, there were others like me.
5. AFTER THE DREAM
All through those sleepless nights,
while my restless heart hammered away
in the dark like a working forge,
sparks flew heavenward outside my window,
but I hardly noticed them till one morning
I looked eastward and, by my soul, I saw
the heart of day rise up in burnished gold.
In the night I had a dream; It felt so right
I thought it real; Then I awoke and it was
gone But in its place I found the sun.
I had a girl, a lovely girl; In my life
she was my world; Then one day I found
her gone But in her place another one.
I had a prayer I used to say;
A simple prayer for night and day;
As I grew forgot the words
But now I find they've returned:
In the night I had a dream;
It felt so right I thought it real;
Then I awoke and it was gone
But in its place I found the sun.
6. FACE THE NIGHT
I came upon our nine year old
Kevin staring at the night sky with a
slightly bewildered look, as though
puzzled for the first time by the
complexity of the universe.
I wrote him this song as a mark of
reassurance for his valid place
in the great scheme of things.
O little boy, don't fear the dark;
Look up in the sky, see it spark;
The Maker's in his forge working away
Shaping another day.
O little man don't be afraid;
There is a plan heaven-made;
Look at its bright pattern shining above,
Now it's in your eyes, love.
Face the night don't turn away,
The starlight can be much clearer
Than the light of day.
O little one, don't you fear;
The going of the sun has brought
the moon here, With a trail
of stars burning like coal
Warming the heart and soul.
7.SONG OF THE BIRD
When I was a kid I arrived
home one day with a wounded bird
and my mother allowed me to keep it
in our shed and helped me nurse it
back to flight.
Soon after my mother died,
the wee bird came back to me
and helped me make this song.
8. THE BURNING WORD
Pure as a lily flower,
closed in its petaled tower,
you opened to the power of love.
An angel came to you
out of the mystic blue
while you were praying to God above.
Pure as a lily flower
closed in its petalled tower
you opened to the power of love.
Though pain would ensue
from that flame that burned in you,
still you embraced the burning word.
The angel flew away
after he had his say
on that most sacred day for love.
Though pain would ensue
from that flame that burned in you,
still you embraced the burning word.
Gabriel came to you
out of the mystic blue
while you were praying to
God above.
15. ADVENT 2013
Winter is barbed like the holly, but risk being pricked
by the spiky green leaf and gain the red berry.
All through December I made my way to the chapel in the bay;
Drawn like the Magi, I left my car,
walked the dark shoreline without a star.
The wind was against me, the ocean was wild,
when I made the journey for the child.
Black on black as ebony -
the clouds and the rocks and the spread of the sea,
and only shadow guiding me. The narrow path, the town up ahead,
a forest of lights, the holy bread, and the deep hunger by which I'm led.
All through the winter I kept on going
while the storms were blowing;
Drawn like a moth to the candle flame that
burned on the altar to the infant's name.
The times were against me, where few now
can conceive how anyone can still believe.
Black on black as ebony, etc...
All through the season till Christmas day
I struggled all the way.
Lured by an instinct and the fear
I might fail the little life in the stable tale.
Now light pours upon me here in the spring where under the sun I sing.
6. RESURRECTION hymn to Creation.
Fresh shoots of Spring are here again nwoodlands, gardens and parks;
And in bushes and trees we hear a hymn Of linnets, blackbirds and larks.
And in the open heavens a resurrected sun shining like a halo over everyone
And there is so much wonder still to come n the endless summer of the kingdom.
Bright flowers on stems are bowing, Bending to the prayer of the wind.
And like flames petals are glowing s rays of light descend
From the open heavens where the resurrected sun
s shining like a halo over everyone
And there is so much splendour still to come
n the endless summer of God's kingdom.
7. THE RIVER RETURNING
The River Returning plumbs emotional memories of my father during his dying days and takes me back to he source of my first inspiration - the river Shannon.
The Voyage has become a modern classic. Hot Press magazine editor Niall Stokes has predicted that the song will be around centuries from now, after most popular songs of our time are long forgotten.
3. THE BLIGHT
With the blight on my mind the poison ran
straight to my heart;
Then I couldn't find courage to make a fresh start;
I had worked many years on my own,
Clearing deadwood in a western zone,
But for all of my effort my brain turned to desert
Where the buzzards wouldn't leave me alone;
I lost almost three stone,
Eaten with worry, I was picked to the bone.
For six months or more I was consumed with despair;
I locked my front door and wouldn't go out anywhere;
At night I was tossed on my bed
By a fever going on in my head;
I was famished and weak and I found little sleep
And the little I found full of dread;
For my dreams were all fed
On that terrible blight that wanted me dead.
With my eyes dripping tears I knelt down one day
and I prayed;
Hadn't done this in years and it made me no less afraid;
That night was no better for me,
No let-up in anxiety,
But at dawn in the sunlight someone called me outside
And out there I started to see in a mist from the sea,
Among my own neighbours, there were others like me.
5. AFTER THE DREAM
All through those sleepless nights,
while my restless heart hammered away
in the dark like a working forge,
sparks flew heavenward outside my window,
but I hardly noticed them till one morning
I looked eastward and, by my soul, I saw
the heart of day rise up in burnished gold.
In the night I had a dream; It felt so right
I thought it real; Then I awoke and it was
gone But in its place I found the sun.
I had a girl, a lovely girl; In my life
she was my world; Then one day I found
her gone But in her place another one.
I had a prayer I used to say;
A simple prayer for night and day;
As I grew forgot the words
But now I find they've returned:
In the night I had a dream;
It felt so right I thought it real;
Then I awoke and it was gone
But in its place I found the sun.
6. FACE THE NIGHT
I came upon our nine year old
Kevin staring at the night sky with a
slightly bewildered look, as though
puzzled for the first time by the
complexity of the universe.
I wrote him this song as a mark of
reassurance for his valid place
in the great scheme of things.
O little boy, don't fear the dark;
Look up in the sky, see it spark;
The Maker's in his forge working away
Shaping another day.
O little man don't be afraid;
There is a plan heaven-made;
Look at its bright pattern shining above,
Now it's in your eyes, love.
Face the night don't turn away,
The starlight can be much clearer
Than the light of day.
O little one, don't you fear;
The going of the sun has brought
the moon here, With a trail
of stars burning like coal
Warming the heart and soul.
7.SONG OF THE BIRD
When I was a kid I arrived
home one day with a wounded bird
and my mother allowed me to keep it
in our shed and helped me nurse it
back to flight.
Soon after my mother died,
the wee bird came back to me
and helped me make this song.
8. THE BURNING WORD
Pure as a lily flower,
closed in its petaled tower,
you opened to the power of love.
An angel came to you
out of the mystic blue
while you were praying to God above.
Pure as a lily flower
closed in its petalled tower
you opened to the power of love.
Though pain would ensue
from that flame that burned in you,
still you embraced the burning word.
The angel flew away
after he had his say
on that most sacred day for love.
Though pain would ensue
from that flame that burned in you,
still you embraced the burning word.
Gabriel came to you
out of the mystic blue
while you were praying to
God above.
15. ADVENT 2013
Winter is barbed like the holly, but risk being pricked
by the spiky green leaf and gain the red berry.
All through December I made my way to the chapel in the bay;
Drawn like the Magi, I left my car,
walked the dark shoreline without a star.
The wind was against me, the ocean was wild,
when I made the journey for the child.
Black on black as ebony -
the clouds and the rocks and the spread of the sea,
and only shadow guiding me. The narrow path, the town up ahead,
a forest of lights, the holy bread, and the deep hunger by which I'm led.
All through the winter I kept on going
while the storms were blowing;
Drawn like a moth to the candle flame that
burned on the altar to the infant's name.
The times were against me, where few now
can conceive how anyone can still believe.
Black on black as ebony, etc...
All through the season till Christmas day
I struggled all the way.
Lured by an instinct and the fear
I might fail the little life in the stable tale.
Now light pours upon me here in the spring where under the sun I sing.
6. RESURRECTION hymn to Creation.
Fresh shoots of Spring are here again nwoodlands, gardens and parks;
And in bushes and trees we hear a hymn Of linnets, blackbirds and larks.
And in the open heavens a resurrected sun shining like a halo over everyone
And there is so much wonder still to come n the endless summer of the kingdom.
Bright flowers on stems are bowing, Bending to the prayer of the wind.
And like flames petals are glowing s rays of light descend
From the open heavens where the resurrected sun
s shining like a halo over everyone
And there is so much splendour still to come
n the endless summer of God's kingdom.
7. THE RIVER RETURNING
The River Returning plumbs emotional memories of my father during his dying days and takes me back to he source of my first inspiration - the river Shannon.
