The Old Northern Shore - Tom Russell

Oh whiskey’s the life of man but whiskey’s mostly water
And it’s whiskey fuels the worker and corrupts his only daughter
The mountain water’s in the still the copper pipes a’ steamin’
There’ll soon be whiskey in the glass and dreamers gone to dreamin’
Chorus: Oh it’s the dreamin’ it’s the dreamin’
A young girl’s prayer an old man’s thoughts a reelin’
Two lovers stealin’ the moonlight beamin’
Oh it’s the dreamin’ it’s the dreamin’
Oh I met her down in Dublin town like a bottle fly I fell
To the spider in the Blackbush of the old railway hotel
She spun her web from Liffey’s walls to the back rooms down at Whelan’s
But oh how sweet her poison now I’m drowning in the dreamin’
Chorus: Oh it’s the dreamin’ it’s the dreamin’
A young girl’s prayer an old man’s thoughts are reelin’
Two lovers stealin’ the moonlight beamin’
Oh it’s the dreamin’ it’s the dreamin’
Oh whiskey’s made of water lads Barley corn or malt
And man and woman’s water mixed with poetry and salt
Bring on the pullin’ of the tides the flash of eyes a gleamin’
When passion blends the elements the yeast is but the dreamin’
Chorus: Oh it’s the dreamin’ it’s the dreamin’
A young girl’s prayer an old man’s thoughts are reelin’
Two lovers stealin’ the moonlight beamin’
The search for meaning leads through the dreamin’
Oh whiskey’s the life of man