Slow

Torretje

Slow children’s song in Dutch that Simon Oak wrote for his three year old. It’s about a little beetle that wished it had a mustache and it tells the story of how it gets it. Lyrics Daar was een heel klein torretje Dat had een…

Mountshannon

Ballad by Simon Oak about the White Tailed Sea Eagles of Mountshannon, Co. Clare. The song was written for the Song Writing Competition of the 2013 Trad Festival, where the theme was to celebrate the successful breeding of these mighty birds at a nest near…

The Ballad Of Elizabeth Hart

Ballad by Simon Oak about the emigration of an Irish family from Wexford to Texas in 1834. Before Elizabeth left Ireland, she lost three of her six daughters in one week to the whooping cough. The story is based on Rosalie Priour/Hart’s biography, her only…

Just A Stone

Ballad by Simon Oak to remember the 2023 edition of the Traditional Singing Weekend in Inishowen. The stone is real and still on his desk in Holland. Lyrics There you are, just a stone Are you waiting for some company? On the sand, all alone…

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…

Volle Maan (Full Moon)

Old Hallowe’en Song in Dutch. I wrote this song for my kids back in 2002 and recorded it just now. Hope you like it. Lyrics Om twaalf uur in de nacht bij volle maanWanneer de uilen vliegen en de klokken slaanOm twaalf uur in de…

Nothing Quite So Quiet

This is an old children’s poem from the USA that was set to music by Simon Oak, thanks to Wim van Gent who posted the poem after a silent night of snowfall. I took the photo in December 2009. Source: Edgar, M. G.: “A Treasury of Verse for…

Tune For Iran

While I was writing down this little tune, I received a message from a friend who was visiting Iran and, like all visitor stories about Iran, he reported great friendliness of the people there, so therefore this name “Tune For Iran”. Feel free to learn it and make…