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Cradle To Grave (McNevin & The Spokes)

by Michael McNevin

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about

“Cradle to Grave” started out as a folk ballad, now it’s got a pub feel too. A Catholic and a Protestant walk into a bar… sounds like the start of a joke, but really it’s the song premise, environment, and vibe for two Irish ExPats in a pub in Fort Worth, Texas. Sharing a whiskey together, they both miss Ireland, their north and south roots. Jameson whiskey comes from County Cork in the south (some of McNevin’s origins are from there too). Bushmills is from Belfast, a whiskey of the north. I wrote this song for a film, about an Irish family reunion. After reading the script for “Three Days In August”, I also imagined the Irish ExPats who hang out in SF’s irish pubs, in particular Ireland’s 32 on Geary. There happens to be more than one pub across the US with that name. There are 32 counties in Ireland, fun fact. I’ve played at the one in SF. Easy to imagine a conversation between the two, with an eye on a soccer match on the overhead TV, talking about their neighborhoods, families, friends, teams, home. Where the pub treatment of the songs adds festivity, I hope folks hear the ballad in here too, it’s not just a drinking song, even if it sounds like one, it’s for any Irish ExPat living anywhere, in a quiet pub or a loud one. Sláinte!

lyrics

"Cradle To Grave" (by Michael McNevin) 


What'll it be for ya, Jameson's, Bushmills, or gin?
It’s good to sit down at your table again
These dog days ain't over, man it’s hotter than sin
We're thicker than water, but our blood's running thin
We're thicker than water, but our blood's running thin

            ReFrain:
It's a long way to wander from cradle to grave
All the years in between to raise hell or behave
All the years in-between to raise hell or behave

  
I don't know ya well, but I don't hate ya none
Ain't it funny how things come around when we're done 
If there's a score to be settled, it ain't at a bar
The friends that I have are too few and too far
The friends that I have are too few and too far ... (ReFrain)


Sometimes I'm lost, sometimes I'm last
Sometimes I drive just to burn up the gas
Dallas to Waco to Kerrville and back  
And if I could make Ireland I'd surely do that
If I could make Ireland I'd surely do that ... (ReFrain)


As God is my witness, I ain't the worst 
Counting my blessings, kissing the dirt 
What'll it be for ya, Jameson's, Bushmills, or gin?  
It’s good to sit down at your table again
It’s good to sit down at your table again
It’s good to sit down at your table again


Words and Music by Michael McNevin
© 2015 Michael McNevin. All Rights Reserved.
Mudpuddle Music (ASCAP). P.O. Box 2235 Fremont CA 94536

credits

released August 1, 2021
© Michael McNevin. All Rights Reserved. Music and Words by Michael McNevin. Contact: Michael McNevin / Mudpuddle Music. www.michaelmcnevin.com, info@michaelmcnevin.com, P.O. Box 2235 Fremont CA 94536. The players: Dave Pascoe on fiddle, he just turned 30 as of this writing, was at his birthday party in the Sonoma redwoods yesterday for a Sunday afternoon in his yard (he and Laura Benson form the duo/band “Late For The Train”). Old Niles friend Sean Lightholder is on the Irish“Bodhran”. Sean’s dad is an ExPat himself. Sean spent 7 years gigging and busking around Ireland with his guitar and drum. His drumming in this track has a ‘western’ hybrid, getting the Bodran to mimic a drum kit. The Irish pipes (Uilleann Bagpipes) are Tim Hill, whom I met through Sean and who on short notice popped in to add beautiful color, I especially love hearing the pipes rise in the choruses. Tim is a regular at the Irish sessions around the SF bay area. For this weeklong sprint of a recording, producer and pal Michael Romanowski (Coast Mastering, Berkeley CA) plays electric bass, and some 12 string guitar. Michael McNevin is on a ’59 Danelectro Sears Silvertone going through a ’68 Fender Vibro-Champ and an old Fender Broncho, dirtied up some recorded in stereo. Romo herded the last few cats in while I was gigging in Michigan, mixed and mastered, and here we are. The McNevin & The Spokes pub band says howdy and thank you to Hudson/Harding for giving it a home as a single, and to the listeners and Folk DJs in their studios, cars, pubs, and living rooms.

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Michael McNevin San Francisco, California

Michael McNevin's songs read like short stories, a keen eye for detail for the characters and places in his travels. Shared stages with Johnny Cash & The Carter Family, Donovan, Shawn Colvin, Christine Lavin, Richie Havens. Main-stages at Strawberry, High Sierra, Kerrville, Philly Folk Fest. Kerrville New-Folk winner, “DYI Artist Of The Year” for Performing Songwriter, “Song Of The Year” for WCS. ... more

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