We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Joe's Report from the Afterlife

from Joe's Report from the Afterlife by Swift Years

supported by
Allan Lento
Allan Lento thumbnail
Paul Beaulieu
Paul Beaulieu thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 CAD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Original CD release

    Includes unlimited streaming of Joe's Report from the Afterlife via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days

      $10 CAD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    5
    releases

    Get all 5 Swift Years releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Three, Démo !, First (self-titled), No Sorrow For Me, and Joe's Report from the Afterlife. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $25.35 CAD or more (35% OFF)

     

about

that's "craic" in the first verse, not "crack..."

lyrics

Joe’s Report from the Afterlife

On a Sunday evening in the plastic paddy pub
There were Algerians and Russians playing rub-a-dub
There were dissidents and malcontents from many different nations
Heretics and infidels of all denominations
There were mandolins and dulcimers, fiddlers and fluters
Bass and concertina, bhodran and djarboukas
The music it was smokin' and the craic was more than fair
Then I saw a ghostly form in the only empty chair

I said "Hey Joe, how's the weather where you are?
Is you time spent meditating or hanging round in bars?
Did the cats in the scriptures paint a picture clear enough,
Is it Nirvana or Valhalla or the land of Tir-nan-Och?
Have they sorted out the problems that we're knee-deep in down here
Is it something to look forward to or something I should fear?"
He said "Oh man, the truth would fry your brain, why don’t you
Take it to the bridge 'till I try to explain?

I saw Jesus and Mohammed arm-in-arm commiserating
About all the harm that’s been done in their names
How instead of peace and love, it’s been building walls and hating
Instead of loving life, it’s been filling it with shame
And right-wing politicians and all like-minded others
Have been reincarnated and come back as single mothers
And there’s pile & piles of drugs of any kind whatever
But we don’t have to take them ‘cause we’ve got our shit together”

Then Joe stood up, said “Well folks, I gotta move,
Keep one eye on each other and the other one on the groove.
Truth and rights are the things to advance to,
Always keep on working for a revolution you can dance to.
Try to stay free, don’t try and count your losses,
Don’t take no wooden nickels from no cheapskate brown-shirt bosses”
I said “Hey Joe, you give me something to aspire to;
Politics, style, and fun, and music to perspire to.”

© Patrick Hutchinson, SOCAN 2005.

credits

from Joe's Report from the Afterlife, released February 2, 2005

license

tags

about

Swift Years image

Swift Years Montréal, Québec

18-stringed Worldbilly trio from Montréal: "Hotter than a plate of pierogis, cooler than the sour cream on the side." (Montreal Gazette) "Un vrai bijou de l'underground montréalais." (Le Devoir)
Bob Cussen: mandolin etc
Patrick Hutchinson: guitars
Suzanne Ungar: bass ... more

contact / help

Contact Swift Years

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Swift Years recommends:

If you like Swift Years, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now