Missiles and drones are flying over my home in Bahrain as I write this song. Warning sirens sound a dozen times a day. There has been fighting over the so called Holy Land for thousands of years but no land is holier than any other. We all walk on Holy Groundmore

A moody atmospheric, take on this classic traditional song. The sparse percussion-driven arrangment reflects the protagonist's preparation for death. putting aside the things of this world. While a ragged chorus of "loved ones who've gone on" beckons him forward to the next life. One can't escape the influences of Johny cash and Jos Slovik on this track; Nick Cave had a hand in it too.more

A new folk version of "house of the rising sun" harking after pre-animals versions like those of Leadbelly, Nina Simone and Dave van Ronk. The song is interpreted as the story of an immigrant family coming to terms with their new country, while still remembering echoes of the old. The track opens with a simple guitar pattern that reprises the descending bassline of Dave van Ronk's arrangement - famously 'borrowed' by Bob Dylan, on whose first album it appears, and whose version apparently heavily influenced The Animals. The mandolin - an unfamiliar American instrument, feeling its way into the song, enters next. While Eric Burdon chose to change the gender of the protagonist to a "poor boy" to match his own,, The folk tradition has no issue with a gender-mismatch. Thus, in the altered 2nd verse it is a male voice that tells of the "poor girl's" background. The her mother comes from a land "green and unfree" - Ireland under British occupation, seeking refuge in the land of liberty. Her father is a wastrel, spending his time gambling in the city. Growing up without parental love or attention, our poor girl falls into a life of sin and misery. tune that appears in the first instrumental break on (America's) mandolin and comes back at the end on a old-style Irish fiddle is "The King of the fairies" The spoken words in the 2nd verse are a loose Irish Gaelic translation of the sung English words. the young and old spoken words are by Martina Ellis and Aine O'Farrell. My grandfather's fiddle is played by Micheal O Fearghail.more