Lisa O’Neill
lisa o’neill “rock the machine,”
from: heard a long gone machine, 2018
“Among those treating traditional sounds with fresh hands, Lisa O’Neill is a master. Her voice comes from another place and time, full of hard truth and conviction. Instrumentation is as spare and haunting as it should be.
Ms O’Neill grew up in Ballyhaise, County Cavan and moved to Dublin at 18 to study music at Ballyfermot College. For seven years after that she worked in the service industry, continuing to write songs. Her first album was released in 2009, her fourth album just came out. She’ll be playing at Passim on Wednesday May 3.
-Bill Boehm
Rock the Machine
I’m losing will, love
My hands are soft as cotton gloves
Machine has eaten up my job
My meaning, my cause
Machine with the strength of a hundred men
Can’t feed and clothe my children
Can’t greet a sailor coming in
Or know of desperation
I shovel coal down Spencer’s dock
I took your dear into wedlock
And you did bear us a beautiful flock
River rock the machine down on the docks
River rock the machine until it stops
Oh low Liffey, show me gold
Like a heron I will go
Oh roaring Liffey when you’re high
Like a cormorant I will dive
In the Galway glow at night we rise
We’re gold enough to win back time
We’re gold enough to win back the pride
River rock the machine until it dies
Today, dear, I’m unemployed
Before I spoke, you read my eyes
I feared of nothing or no one
But I feel old and I’m so young
I miss the graft, I miss the boys
I plead for purpose in the void
Time is inward, ticking tighter
I wish my load was a mountain lighter
I shovel coal down Spencer’s dock
I took your dear into wedlock
And you did bear us a beautiful flock
River rock the machine down on the docks
River rock the machine until it stops
Oh low Liffey, show me gold
Like a heron I will go
Oh roaring Liffey when you’re high
Like a cormorant I will dive
In the Galway glow at night we rise
We’re gold enough to win back time
We’re gold enough to win back the pride
River rock the machine until it dies
River rock the machine down on the docks
River rock the machine until it stops
”
