Lyrics and Chords
Ol' Jim Finneran
This song has been with me since at least 1993 as I found it on a live show tape from Sweden, October 1993. Jim was my dad's best friend and a real great character. I hope you can feel him in this song as we still tell stories about him and always laugh. I think that may be the trick of this whole game, to be remembered after you've gone and bring a laugh and a smile to someone's face. Certainly doesn't sounds too bad...
*Rube Goldberg is an old New York term/reference that means you fix something, somehow, someway. It's not right, it's usually economical, but it works just fine and you leave it. Rube must have been a smart guy for this to catch on.
Well Ol' Jim Finneran has long since passed and gone
But he can still make my father smile when he sings his songs
We're all just a song
Well he could fix anything you brought his way
And if he couldn't fix it properly it'd still be OK
The Rube Goldberg* way
Ol' Jim Finneran has long since passed and gone
But he can still make my father smile when he sings his songs
We're all just a song
Ol' Jim Finneran worked the New York State Trains
I recall stories of mountain climbs
Runway trains and stops on the dime
All spiced up just the right way, just the right way
But the way I remember his most was like an old sea captain
With a gruffy old laugh and a story and a point to be made
Always a point to be made
Ol' Jim Finneran has long since passed and gone
But he can still make my father smile when he sings his songs
We're all just a song
We're all just a song
Let your spirit live on
Let someone sing your song