Collection of Irish Song Lyrics
Where's Your Johnny O?
Copyright: 2001
This song was written for my grandfather John O'Shaughnessy. His youngest children were told he was dead.
They actually had him committed to a mental ward in Highland Falls, NY and his children and grandchildren never knew he was alive. When my mother's search for the family history discovered his whereabouts, he had just died the very day she found him.
I never got to meet the man.
The days of innocence
recalling many happy days
Perhpas too young to recall
the times it rained
Some reassuring words
could make your problems go away
The older,wiser ones
would know just what to say
They would comfort you in this time
your sense of longing
for a man you didn't know
But the truth they hoped
you would never find
Where's your dad, your Johnny O'?
The days of searching
to recall the history of a man
would yield no help
from the ones who knew him best
Still 40 years would pass
while knowing ones still did their dance
While wearing proudly on their heart
his family crest
Secret lies surround you
but with each stone you turn
your knowledge seems to grow
The tightest lips conceal
the truth from you
Where's your dad your Johnny O'?
Chorus
You run and run and run
and still his voice will follow you
you should have known
there is endless time
You'll never, never find a place
where he can't follow you
I hope he haunts your memory now
like he's haunting mine
What was the circumstance
to ever make them hash a plan
to lock away the man
and forever lose the key?
And so elaborate was their plan
to rid John from their hands
they marked a gravesite
so their conscience could be free
Secret lies surround you
but with each stone you turn
your knowledge seems to grow
The tightest lips conceal
the truth from you
Where's your dad your Johnny O'?
And then the day would come
while searching for the family lore
his name leaps off the page
and visions fill your mind
just 10 miles from your home
committed there in Highland Falls
but when you call you learn
you've just run out of time
We buried him this morning
such pain & grief inside
you will never know
Gone again without warning
You found your dad
Your Johnny O'?
CHORUS
You lived alone
You died alone
