Kathy O’Toole

 THIS POEM HAS NOW BEEN A SONG FOR A LONG TIME. I'M FINALLY GOING TO RECORD IT THIS SUMMER..

Kathy O’Toole was a painter, not the ones you hang on walls
 But skirting boards and ceilings, window frames and doors
 Steel-capped boots, jeans slung low, curls cut close to her head
 Paint on her t-shirt, between her toes
 Big Irish smile wherever she went
  
 Kathy O’Toole came from Cavan but a-travellin’ she did go
 And we met her in London in a pub on City Road
 Oh we weren’t in a hurry ‘cos it was Friday night
 And 5 or 6 pints later
 We’d put the world to rights
  
 Men looked at Kathy in the caff, wondered, scratched their heads
 And she wished them all a good day, as she ate her beans and eggs
 And if they scowled or if they said she’s taking the job of a man
 She winked at them and whistled a song 
 On the way out to the van
 
 There was Kathy O’Toole and me, Tony, Tommy K
 Up and down the Holloway Road drinking all the way
 And Sundays we’d sleep it off we didn’t drink at all
 ‘Cos Monday morning she’s up the ladder
  In her overalls
  
 Then one day she said, it’s time for me to go
 I need to see my family yeah I must go back home
 But this is your home Kathy O’ with Tommy K and me
 Where you can drive your van and a painter be
 And love whoever you please
  
 Oh slow down Kathy slow down consider what you do
 I know that you miss Cavan, but is Cavan  ready for you?
 oh how I tried to change her mind but I just wasn’t able
 So we walked up to the Nag’s Head
 And drank the men under the table
  
 So we were feeling rough, on the way down to the bus
 That would take her up to Stansted, and far away from us
 She cried a bit for London, for Tommy and for me
 Then started off for home
 All across the Irish Sea
  
 Oh are you still in Ireland, Kathy did you stay?
 Or did you go to Australia, France, Americay?
 In Moy and Ballyconnell do you make the walls look new?
 Do you gloss the doors of Ulster?
 Was Cavan ready for you?