Never Hated Anyone Before

Protest song against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Lyrics I wished the drones above my head were song birds Singing at the dawn to start the day I miss the shadows of our lofty palm trees Everything is rubble now and grey I wished my lovely…

The Ballad Of You

A special kind of love song by Simon Oak to the beautiful air of Jay Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell, which has an A and a B part. The indented verses 3, 4, 6 and 7 have the B part of the air.  Lyrics 1. I could…

The Ocean Between Us

A US-mocking version of Dominic Behan‘s The Sea Around Us, written by Simon Oak in the first week of Donald Trumps second term as president. The first verse and the first line of the chorus are Dominic’s own. Some extra verses (10-13) added in 2026….

Carrick, You Make Me Feel At Ease

Ballad by Simon Oak about the late Liam Clancy, one of my heroes, returning to his home town Carrick-On-Suir. The song was written for the songwriting competition ‘A Song for Carrick 2017’ and, because I had never been there, the song is almost entirely based on…

Carnival Mirrors

Today it’s 13 days after the tragic shooting at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris, a cold-blooded terrorist attack on a magazine that refused to bend for threats by Islamic extremists. Here’s my new sad song in commemoration of the tragedy. Hope you like it. Lyrics Whenever religion is taking the…

The Ballad Of Charlie McCoy

Here’s the Ballad Of Charlie McCoy. Last September (2014) I was at the impressive ancient Celtic site of Glendalough, co. Wicklow. Looking for old undocumented Irish songs, a local man, John Holden, told me about the late Charlie McCoy, who was the local forester and…

The Ballad Of Nelson Mandela

Here’s the ballad I wrote one year ago about Nelson Mandela, shortly after his passing. I was delighted when Claudio Benito was willing to join me to make a version of this song by combining his Flamenco skills and my folk style into a brand new…