Way Down in the Hole

Way_Down_In_The_Hole

“Way Down in the Hole” is a song written by the singer-songwriter Tom Waits. It was included on his 1987 album Franks Wild Years, which was first presented as a stage production put on by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois.

The song was used as the theme for HBO’s The Wire. A different recording was used each season. Versions, in series order, were recorded by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Tom Waits, The Neville Brothers, DoMaJe, and Steve Earle. Season four’s version, performed by the Baltimore teenagers Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir and Avery Bargasse, was arranged and recorded specifically for the show. An extended version of the Blind Boys of Alabama recording was played over a montage in the series finale.

In 2004, music historian Kim Beissel said that the 1994 song “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was loosely based on “Way Down in the Hole”.

“Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music […]

Paul2026-04-30T12:17:26-04:00

Too Close for Comfort

“Too Close for Comfort” is a popular song by Jerry Bock, George David Weiss, and Larry Holofcener.

It was written in 1956 as part of the score for the Broadway musical Mr. Wonderful starring Sammy Davis Jr., who released the song as a single on March 3, 1956 on Decca Records prior to the musical’s premiere. Several other pop vocalists, such as Eileen Barton, also recorded their own competing versions around this time, as well as other songs from the musical.

Paul2026-04-08T18:38:57-04:00

Picture To Burn

Paul2026-04-20T16:46:05-04:00

Let It Snow

“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!“, also known as simply “Let It Snow“, is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heatwave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions. The song was first recorded that fall by Vaughn Monroe, was released just after Thanksgiving, and became a hit by Christmas.

Other U.S. recordings during the 1945–46 winter season included those by Danny O’Neil (Majestic), Connee Boswell (Decca), Woody Herman (Columbia), and Bob Crosby

The song makes no mention of any holiday. The lyrics include spending time with a loved one during a snowstorm, enjoying a fireplace and popcorn. When the singer has to leave, feelings of love will keep him warm once he is outside in the cold. The song has come to be regarded as a Christmas song worldwide due to its winter theme, and is often played on radio stations during the Christmas and holiday season. It has been covered by multiple artists on Christmas-themed albums.

Paul2026-04-21T08:21:16-04:00

Waltzing Matilda

“Waltzing Matilda”

Waltzing_Matilda is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country’s “unofficial national anthem”. The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot, by walking (waltzing) with one’s belongings in a “matilda” (swag) slung over one’s back, a slang expression that may have originally been repurposed from a work of light verse by Charles Godfrey Leland.

The song narrates the story of a “swagman” (itinerant worker) boiling a billy at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. When the jumbuck’s owner, a squatter (grazier), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares “You’ll never catch me alive!” and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong (watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site.

The original lyrics were composed in 1895 by the Australian poet Banjo Paterson, to a tune played by Christina MacPherson based on her memory of Thomas Bulch’s march Craigielee, which was in turn based on James Barr’s setting for Robert Tannahill’s poem “Thou Bonnie Wood o Craigielee.

Download a PDF with tabs, lyrics, chords and notation

Paul2026-04-16T14:08:13-04:00

Molly Malone

Molly_Malone

Molly Malone” (Roud 16932; also known as “Cockles and Mussels” or “In Dublin’s Fair City“) is a song set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the city’s unofficial anthem.

A statue representing Molly Malone, designed by Dublin artist Jeanne Rynhart, was unveiled on Grafton Street during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations by then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ben Briscoe. In July 2014, the statue was relocated to Suffolk Street, in front of the Tourist Information Office, to make way for Luas track-laying work at the old location.

The song tells the fictional tale of a fishwife who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin and died young, of a fever. In the late 20th century, a legend grew up that a historical Molly lived in the 17th century. She is typically represented as a hawker by day and a part-time prostitute by night. In contrast, she has also been portrayed as one of the few chaste female street hawkers of her day.

There is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman in the 17th century or any other time. The name “Molly” originated as a familiar version of the names Mary and Margaret. Many such “Molly” Malones were born in Dublin over the centuries, but no evidence connects any of them to the events in the song. Nevertheless, the Dublin Millennium Commission […]

Paul2026-04-19T16:14:53-04:00

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Take_Me_Out_To_The_Ball_Game music sheet ”

Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is a 1908 waltz song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of North American baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game before writing the song. The song’s chorus is traditionally sung as part of the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. Fans are generally encouraged to sing along, and at many ballparks, the words “home team” are replaced with the team name.

“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is one of the three-most recognizable songs in the US, along with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Happy Birthday.” However, most people are only familiar with the chorus. The verses of the song likely failed to gain popularity due to being in third person.

Paul2026-04-22T19:49:03-04:00

House of the Rising Sun

House_of_the_Rising_Sun

“The House of the Rising Sun” is an American traditional folk song, sometimes called “Rising Sun Blues“. It tells of a person’s life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the English rock band The Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and in the U.S. and Canada. As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the “first folk rock hit”.

The song was first collected in Appalachia in the 1930s, but probably has its roots in traditional English folk song. It is listed as number 6393 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

“A good player can make any guitar sound good.” – Michael Bloomfield

Paul2026-04-20T16:02:24-04:00

Fields of Athenry

Fields_of_Athenry

“The Fields of Athenry” is a song written in 1979 by Pete St John in the style of an Irish folk ballad. Set during the Great Famine of the 1840s, the lyrics feature a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway, who stole food for his starving family and has been sentenced to transportation to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay. It has become a widely known, popular anthem for Irish sports supporters.

“The Fields of Athenry” was written in 1979 by Pete St John, who stated he heard a story about a young man from the Athenry area who had been caught stealing grain to feed his family during the Irish famine years, and was deported to Australia. A claim was made in 1996 that a broadsheet ballad published in the 1880s had similar words; however, the folklorist and researcher John Moulden found no basis to this claim, and Pete St. John stated that he wrote the words as well as the music.

In 1979, the song was recorded by Danny Doyle, reaching the top ten in the Irish Singles Chart. The song charted again in 1982 for Barleycorn, reaching […]

Paul2026-04-27T15:26:12-04:00

Donkey Riding

“Donkey Riding” (Roud 4540) is a traditional 19th-century Canadian/Scottish folk song and sea shanty, often used as a capstan shanty to work cargo. The lyrics, often adapted regionally, typically feature the chorus “Hey, ho, away we go, / Donkey riding, donkey riding” and describe experiences in ports like Quebec. The “donkey” refers to a steam-powered tractor/winch used for loading timber.

Paul2026-04-20T15:43:19-04:00

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“Waltzing Matilda”