Back about 1918 my father Ray Cash was in the army in France Along about armistice day he was one of the proud men to stand inspection By General John J Pershing Less than a year later my dad was back on a cotton farm in Southwest Arkansas And you know the way of life didn't change very fast back home He rode a horse about ten miles every Sunday to see Miss Carrie Rivers In those days when everyone in the country either rode a horse or wagon or walked You were probably a stranger if you were five miles away from home or less maybe Sometimes life was pretty tough so some of the people were tough too That's why my dad had a Colt 45 stuck in his belt every Sunday The first thing he always did was to lay his pistol on the mantle Of the fireplace at grandpa Rivers When my parents got married my mother Carrie Rivers was sixteen After that it wasn't long till dady wasn't considered a stranger So he made friends with most everybody around Daddy tells about an Irish immigrant on a railroad where he worked The cotton belt line whonever stopped talkin' about goin' back to Dublin One of the first stories I ever remember my dad tellin' Was one that the Irish immigrant told him And according to that particular source of information There's this boy named Daniel McKinney workin' in the fields one morning And across the fields came his sweetheart Rosalee She came crying with tears in her eyes Later someone put down into a song some of the things that Rosalee told Daniel She said Daniel there's a bloody war a ragin' And I've come to tell you that they're wantin' you to fight So fight for Ireland but come back to me Daniel I'll be witin'
Oh Danny Boy the pipes the pipes are calling From glen to glen and down the mountain side The summer's gone and all the roses falling It's you it's you must go and I must bide
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow Or when the valleys hushed and white with snow I'll be here in sunshine or in shadows I'll be here oh Danny Boy I miss you so
But if you fall as all the flowers are falling And if you're dead as dead well you may be I'll come and find the place where you are lying And kneel and say and an Ave there for Thee
