Bob Marley's Redemption Song

my humble cover

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfill the Book.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

Redemption Song - Bob Marley

Pretty Boy Floyd

If you'll gather 'round me, children,
A story I will tell
'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw,
Oklahoma knew him well.

It was in the town of Shawnee,
A Saturday afternoon,
His wife beside him in his wagon
As into town they rode.

There a deputy sheriff approached him
In a manner rather rude,
Vulgar words of anger,
An' his wife she overheard.

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain,
And the deputy grabbed his gun;
In the fight that followed
He laid that deputy down.

Then he took to the trees and timber
To live a life of shame;
Every crime in Oklahoma
Was added to his name.

But a many a starving farmer
The same old story told
How the outlaw paid their mortgage
And saved their little homes.

Others tell you 'bout a stranger
That come to beg a meal,
Underneath his napkin
Left a thousand dollar bill.

It was in Oklahoma City,
It was on a Christmas Day,
There was a whole car load of groceries
Come with a note to say:

Well, you say that I'm an outlaw,
You say that I'm a thief.
Here's a Christmas dinner
For the families on relief.

Yes, as through this world I've wandered
I've seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.

And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.

Four Letter Word (Demo) - Ilko Birov

Link to Reverbnation


Have you ever loved someone?
Been with them through thick and strong?
Listened to her all day long
Heard of all the good old songs
by other people everywhere
Singing about love

Four letters are in this word
Mix them up and it gets blurred
Say it right and you'll be heard
Say it right and you'll be heard
'Cause everybody wants to know you care
Even if you really aren't there

I flew towards a bridge the other day
I was so joyous that I simply could not stay on the ground beneath my feet
And the cops they came to meet me
One grabbed me by the shirt
Threw me in his car
Took me to a place

Downtown (many times)

So have you ever loved someone?
Been with her through thick and strong?
Listened to her all day long
Heard of all those good old songs
Of other people singing about love

Ilko Birov

Hey Hey - Big Bill Broonzy

My instrumental rendition of this Big Bill Broonzy song

Who's Gonna Buy You Ribbons (When I'm Gone) or Ilko Birov covers Paul Clayton

The Cuckoo

Oh the cuckoo She's a pretty bird
She sings while she flies
She never gets lonesome
Till the first day of July

I've gambled down in England
I've gambled in Spain
It's gambling that's brought me prison
It's gambling that's brought me pain

Jack o' Diamonds, Jack o' Diamonds
I've known you of old
You've robbed my poor pockets
Of silver and of gold

Oh the cuckoo She's a pretty bird
She warbles as she flies
And she never gets lonely
Till the fourth day of July

Stranger lady Stranger lady
Our eyes met once that night
I'll be there at your doorstep
Till the sun is shining bright

I wish I was a poet
An' could write a fine hand
I'd write my love a letter
Lord, she would understand

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues

Well, I was feelin’ sad and feelin’ blue
I didn’t know what in the world I wus gonna do
Them Communists they wus comin’ around
They wus in the air
They wus on the ground
They wouldn’t gimme no peace . . .
So I run down most hurriedly
And joined up with the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
And started off a-walkin’ down the road
Yee-hoo, I’m a real John Bircher now!
Look out you Commies!
Now we all agree with Hitler’s views
Although he killed six million Jews
It don’t matter too much that he was a Fascist
At least you can’t say he was a Communist!
That’s to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria
Well, I wus lookin’ everywhere for them gol-darned Reds
I got up in the mornin’ ’n’ looked under my bed
Looked in the sink, behind the door
Looked in the glove compartment of my car
Couldn’t find ’em . . .
I wus lookin’ high an’ low for them Reds everywhere
I wus lookin’ in the sink an’ underneath the chair
I looked way up my chimney hole
I even looked deep down inside my toilet bowl
They got away . . .
Well, I wus sittin’ home alone an’ started to sweat
Figured they wus in my T.V. set
Peeked behind the picture frame
Got a shock from my feet, hittin’ right up in the brain
Them Reds caused it!
I know they did . . . them hard-core ones
Well, I quit my job so I could work all alone
Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they wus red stripes on the American flag!
That ol’ Betsy Ross . . .
Well, I investigated all the books in the library
Ninety percent of ’em gotta be burned away
I investigated all the people that I knowed
Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go
The other two percent are fellow Birchers . . . just like me
Now Eisenhower, he’s a Russian spy
Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy
To my knowledge there’s just one man
That’s really a true American: George Lincoln Rockwell
I know for a fact he hates Commies cus he picketed the movie Exodus
Well, I fin’ly started thinkin’ straight
When I run outa things to investigate
Couldn’t imagine doin’ anything else
So now I’m sittin’ home investigatin’ myself!
Hope I don’t find out anything . . . hmm, great God!


Bob Dylan

I must admit that despite the wild concert performances, I enjoy the non-live version of this song from The Witmark Demos most (and he doesn't even play the harmonica on this one). I've uploaded it for your listening pleasure at Megaupload, here

"I don't know what they're doin' talkin' New York to him"

Check out the history of this classic Dylan song here: click for the article in Wikipedia

And there's nothing wrong with this song

Dark as a Dungeon

Come listen you fellows so young and so fine

And seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mine

It will form as a habit and seep in your soul

'Till the stream of your blood is as black as the coal

It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew

Where the danger is double and the pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines

It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mines
 
It's a-many a man I've seen in my day
Who lived just to labor his whole life away
Like a fiend with his dope and a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for the lure of the mine
 
The midnight the morning or the middle of the day
It's the same to the miner who labors away
Where the demons of death often come by surprise
One fall of the slate and your buried alive
 
I hope when I'm gone and the ages shall roll
My body will blacken and turn into coal
Then I'll look from the door of my heavenly home
And pity the miner a-digging my bones

Merle Travis 

Car Song

Brrrm brm brm brm brm brm brm, brrrm b' brrrm,
Brrrm brm brm brm brm brm brrrm b' brrrm,
Brrrm brm brm brm brm brm brrrm b' brrrm.
Brrrm brm brm brm brm brm brrrm.

Take me riding in the car, car;
Take me riding in the car, car;
Take you riding in the car, car;
I'll take you riding in my car.

Click clack, open up the door, girls;
Click clack, open up the door, boys;
Front door, back door, clickety clack,
Take you riding in my car.

Climb, climb, rattle on the front seat;
Spree I spraddle on the backseat;
Turn my key, step on my starter,
Take you riding in my car.

Engine it goes boom, boom;
Engine it goes boom, boom;
Front seat, backseat, boys and girls,
Take you riding in my car.

Trees and the houses walk along;
Trees and the houses walk along;
Truck and a car and a garbage can,
Take you riding in my car.

Ships and the little boars chug along;
Ships and the little boats chug along;
Boom buhbuh boom boom boom buh boom,
Take you riding in my car.

I'm a gonna send you home again;
I'm a gonna send you home again;
Boom, boom, buhbuh boom, rolling home,
Take you riding in my car.

I'm a gonna let You blow the horn;
I'm a gonna let you blow the horn;
A oorah, a oorah, a oogah, oogah,
I'll take you riding in my car.

Woody Guthrie

written for his young daughter and her friends