Weight Of A Man (Crowe/Doyle)
The Story Behind Weight Of A Man

This could be heavy.
Not as easy as it seems.
Quite tough to carry, A lot more inside that no one has seen.

But you lying there,
you're not one bit scared,
to shoulder a burden like me.

Chorus

Don't close your eyes, turn your face to the sky,
And breathe me as deep as you can
Your strong heart won't break.
Are you ready to take?
The Weight of a Man

I'm so hard to handle,
My life's a suitcase that's never been closed.
Don't know how you stand me,
Oh how you love me God only knows.
There's ghost and there's witches,
there's black-eyes and stitches,
they come with me
They're part of the show

Chorus

Don't close your eyes,
turn your face to the sky,
And breathe me as deep as you can
Your strong heart won't break.
Are you ready to take?
The Weight of a Man

Bridge

Suspended on air,
because you're lying there,
you shift me slightly and find inspiration
'Cause those witches and ghosts,
play some havoc with their host.
You make me lighter, you're my salvation

This could be heavy.
Not as easy as it seems.
Quite tough to carry,
A lot more inside that no one has seen.
But you lying there,
you're not one bit scared,
to shoulder a burden like me.

Chorus

Don't close your eyes,
turn your face to the sky,
And breathe me as deep as you can
Your strong heart won't break.
Are you ready to take?
The Weight of a Man

How Did We Get From Saying I Love You (Doyle)
The Story Behind How Did We Get From Saying I Love You

"It's a cold day for September",
Was all I thought to say
When I saw you on the street the other day
I knew something changed between us,
All the talk we made was small
But what do you say to someone

When they've heard you say it all
It's an awkward conversation,
In a most peculiar way  

Chorus

How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"  

Instrumental

It seemed like only days ago
We had so much to say
Did we take it all for granted
Did it all get thrown away

"It calls for rain this afternoon" she finally replied
Then there was such a stuttering silence
That I felt my mouth go dry
We’ll talk about the weather
'Cause there's not much more to say  

Chorus

How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"
How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"  

Bridge

Has all the ice been broken?
All our surfaces been scratched?
Have all the words been spoken

Have we finally met our match?
Cause it's an awkward conversation
In a most peculiar way  

Chorus

How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"

How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"  

How did we get from saying "I love you"
to "I'll see you around someday"  

Instrumental  

Land of the Second Chance (Crowe/Doyle 2005)
The Story Behind Land of the Second Chance

He didn’t say her name; he described her with a tear
In 1952 he left that girl and made his way down here
And the ocean raged around him, cleansed his soul and sharpened his aim
He was coming down to Queensland to cut the Sugarcane

Chorus

Burning Field
Bow my head and bend my back and I will kneel
I’ll give the angels thanks
For bringing me here and guiding my hand in this land
The Land of the Second Chance

 In ’53 he bought a car with the proceeds of the season
He travelled three States, coast and bush wandering without a reason
He was driving away her memory, driving himself insane
Then he drove back up to Queensland to cut the Sugarcane

Chorus

Burning Field
Bow my head and bend my back and I will kneel
I’ll give the angels thanks
For bringing me here and guiding my hand in this land
The Land of the Second Chance

 Troppo is not tropical it’s Italian for crazy in the heat
He got arranged to a Spanish girl but she didn’t like his canecutter’s teeth
That season he tripled his workload to prove he was worthy of her hand
When he got back up to Rockhampton, she’d taken off with a handsome man
Five or six years on a gambler’s drunk, he woke up in Sydney one morning
A thousand miles south of his last night out so he took it as the angels warning
That car got him a job fitting aluminium window frames
Floating above the big city, far away from the Sugarcane

Chorus

Burning Field
Bow my head and bend my back and I will kneel
I’ll give the angels thanks
For bringing me here and guiding my hand in this land
The Land of the Second Chance

Bridge

Forty-five years of married life,
Children and children’s children
He can still point to where he fitted the glass
And smiles when you recognise the buildings

Most of his mates have seen the pearly gates but there’s a few that have survived.
They sit here and drink espresso
Like it’s Florence – “Firenze, prima della guerra” (Florence, before the war)

Back in 1935
On a front table at Bill and Toni’s he told me his story on Stanley Street
A little hard to understand that day Mario got brand new teeth
Fifty-three years he’s been here and he says he’s never looked back
A fortunate find for a lucky guy
The Land of the Second Chance

Chorus

Burning Field
Bow my head and bend my back and I will kneel
I’ll give the angels thanks
For bringing me here and guiding my hand in this land
The Land of the Second Chance
The Land of the Second Chance
The Land of the Second Chance

Raewyn (Crowe/Doyle)
The Story Behind Raewyn

There's a black and white photograph of Raewyn.
I know the place and the year that it was taken.
Gosford, before all the houses, Forrestors was still uncrowded.
Footprints, often only your own.

Over the sand dunes and into the mangroves,
He gets his camera out and that's where uncle Peter goes.

He took this photograph of you with your wild hair.
Just back from America, in your print top and your flares.
So much light in your eyes no-one read the despair.
A scream in the night, my mother shaking with tears.
Her little sister was pouring down the stairs,
Oh Raewyn is no longer here.

Chorus 6/8

How little do I know of the pain of my mother,
If I'm now just thinking, if I'd lost a brother?
How many nights has she lain awake shaking.
When I could of held her, shared the pain she had taken.
I should have held her and told her that I loved her,
A son needs to say it when he loves his mother.

Jolly Jack Crowe was out on the ocean.
His Charlie asleep alone, deep within the motion.
Jack's eyes hollowed from the inside, his life and heart had been pulverized,
Guilt's not so loud in a bottle.

Taking risks had bought four sons and good fortune.
How could he know that was the tide his luck was leaving on.

Nobody talked of the beauty lost and undone.
Everybody baulked when we named our son,
But it's time to stop blaming Jolly Jack Crowe.
Who's grief knew no boundaries and swallowed him whole.
Fighting for the dead and fighting for his soul.
I love him more thanks to My Charlie Crowe.

Chorus 6/8

How little do I know of the path of my father?
If I'm now just thinking, if I'd lost a brother?
How many nights has he lain awake shaking,
When I could have held him, shared the pain he had taken.
I should have held him, and told him that I loved him.
A son and a father should always be talking.
A son and a father should always be talking.

Mickey (Crowe/Doyle)
The Story Behind Mickey

God's flashlight, Catches all us sinners,
Sunlight,
Pours the truth on what’s been hidden.
Jesus on my skin,

With one more drink right in my hand
Am I the last man here who’ll stand
We had a meeting – I said I’d see you,
And you know one day I will

It’s so much better when it’s unplanned
To find a drink right in your hands
And we make a pact to kill the afternoon

And we salute the dead marines
then through the laughter and the screams
We remember all the songs we used to sing

So I raise my glass to you,
My hand, my heart and all that’s due
To all the friends that I still know
And those who have passed through

I can never understand
Why when a drink is in my hand
Time accelerates and leaves me still in love with you

One Good Year (Cleaves/Brooks)
The Story Behind One Good Year

It's New Years Day just like the day before
Same old skies of grey, same empty bottles on the floor
Another years gone by, and I was thinking once again
How can I take this losing hand and somehow win

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I've been chasing grace. Grace ain't so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I've got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

I'm burning oil, engine's running rough
I drive from job to job, but it's never enough
I can't find the will to just up and get away
Some kind of chain is holding me down and making me stay

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I've been chasing grace. Grace ain't so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I've got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

Bridge

It's a bitter wind in your face every day
It's the little sins that wear your soul away
When you start giving in, where do the promises all go
Will your darkest hour write a blank check on your soul

It's New Years Day just like the day before
Same old skies of grey, same empty bottles on the floor
Another years gone by, and I was thinking once again
How can I take this losing hand and somehow win

Chorus

Just give me One Good Year. To get my feet back on the ground
I've been chasing grace. Grace ain't so easily found
One bad hand can devil a man, chase him and carry him down
I've got to get out of here, just give me One Good Year

Mr. Harris (Crowe)
The Story Behind Mr. Harris

Mr. Harris take the field
And play the 16th man
We'll sing of Athenrae
And you'll do all you can
For the green
The glorious green
The emerald green
Of Irelands pride
We'll take the fight
We'll never yield
For Irish sons have Irish hearts
And Mr. Harris, Mr. Harris take the field

I Miss My Mind (Hyde)
The Story Behind I Miss My Mind

Victory was not mine to have it came to other men
No daring feats on foreign streets no history making pen
The ship I sailed was lost in fog, some distance from the coast
Of all the things I lost that year I miss my mind the most

I broke my back on boredom’s rack, like this my time was sold
Like every moment was my last, spent like fools gold
Wasted now the passing years of little I can boast
Of all the things I lost that year I miss my mind the most

When spring was young I had a thirst for standing proud and tall
I drank the summers full of wine and fell right into fall

But winters chill with vengeance came and proved a cruel host
Of all the things I lost that year, I miss my mind the most.
The ship I sailed was lost in fog, some distance from the coast
Of all the things I lost that year I missed my mind the most