Looking Out for Better Weather

by The Residuals

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Streaming + Download

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

This is Looking Out for Better Weather, our third album. Here we present our Prairie Celtic style. With the cultural seeds of Ireland, Scotland, and the Maritimes, we have planted a new Celtic tradition on the Canadian plains. This album is our harvest. This musical crop features new jigs and reels, original songs, and traditional favourites from the past.

The title is from a traditional Irish song called, “All for Me Grog”. Looking out for better weather is an obsession on the Canadian prairie, and not just for farmers. It’s either too cold, too hot, or too full of bugs. Only two weeks, one in May and one in September, can be enjoyed outdoors without discomfort.

Purchasable with gift card

$12 CAD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Compact Discs are the traditional method of listening to music in late 18th Century Ireland, Scotland, and the Canadian Maritimes. Using an ancient technique called "digitization", Celtic craftsmen spun silver into tiny ones and zeroes using looms, then sold the precious discs to their English masters. At parties, the English aristocrats would then produce special music-goats, which would decode the ones and zeroes and bleat the tunes they read. While ancient Celtic digitization and goat-reading have been lost to history, we present the next best thing.

Modern Compact Discs are manufactured from plastics rather than silver, but they still retain a beautiful shine on the reverse side, which sparkles in the sun and will dazzle your friends. Using laser technology, the discs are decoded into electrical signals in something called a "CD Player", which are then transferred into soundwaves via magnets in things called "speakers". (CD Player and Speakers sold separately)

The CD version of Looking Out for Better Weather comes in a cardstock case featuring cover art by Liza Gareau Tosh.

Legal disclaimer: the first paragraph of this writeup contains falsehoods. The second paragraph does not. Both are meant for your amusement.

Includes unlimited streaming of Looking Out for Better Weather via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ... more

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Purchasable with gift card

$20 CAD or more

1.	Ahead by a Century 03:12	lyrics	buy track
First thing, we climb the tree And maybe then we'd talk Or sit silently And listen to our thoughts Illusions of someday Cast in a golden light. No dress rehearsal This is our life. And that's when the hornet stung me And I had a feverish dream With revenge and doubt. Tonight we smoke them out. You are ahead by a century (This is our life) You are ahead by a century You are ahead by a century Stare in the morning shroud And then the day began I tilted your cloud You tilted my hand Rain falls in real time Rain fell through the night No dress rehearsal This is our life And that's when the hornet stung me And I had a serious dream With revenge and doubt Tonight we smoke them out. You are ahead by a century (This is our life) You are ahead by a century You are ahead by a century You are ahead by a century You are ahead by a century You are ahead by a century And disappointing you is getting me down
2.	Whisky, Darlin' Whisky 04:33	lyrics	buy track
CHORUS: Ya, whisky, darlin’ whisky, I drink it every day (HEY!) Whisky, darlin’ whisky, it keeps me ills at bay (HOORAY!) Whisky, darlin’ whisky, I think it’s my best friend (HEH!) Me and my dear whisky’ll be together ‘til the end I woke up one groggy mornin’, my girl had gone away And on the kitchen table was a note and it did say, “I’m through with fightin’ single malts and rare blends for your heart.” And from that very moment on I had a grand new start CHORUS There’s sherry casked and oaky, smoky, peaty too And if you’re up for drinkin’ whisky, I’ll have a drink with you It never, ever judges you or your sorry lot You better hurry to the bar cuz I’m drinkin’ all they got CHORUS It’ll join you when you’re fishin’ or headin’ to the game And if you’ve had too many whiskies it loves you all the same It doesn’t care if all you do is hang out with your mates Now, if you’ll excuse me, with the whisky I’ve a date CHORUS There’s sherry casked and oaky, smoky, peaty too And if you’re up for drinkin’ whisky, I’ll have a drink with you It never, ever judges you or your sorry lot You better hurry to the bar cuz I’m drinkin’ all they got CHORUS
3.	The Commute Set 04:55	info	buy track
4.	A Long Time Gone 05:48	lyrics	buy track
In a farmyard full of weeds in a mansion on the prairie In the ruin of a kitchen lined with crumbling walls, Groaning in the wind, the house told me a story Of the portraits in the basement that once lined the halls. Of the hope that led a family wandering up the trails, Of the hope they wrought upon the plains in plaster, wood, and nails, Of the hope that died in dust-bowl dry and sent them down the rails. And I said, “Why did you tell me?” It said… Chorus: It’s a long time gone, a long time gone away. It’s a long time gone and that hour has passed. So turn your head away. Leave the pain of yesterday. Find the joy in nowadays. Live at last. On a midnight drive in winter, by the moonlight so primordial, I saw a bus flipped in the snow and stopped to aid. But lo, the bus had vanished, replaced by a memorial, And a dozen children’s voices whispered from the shade Of the crash that took their lives that day thirty years ago, Of the town that lost its hope that day, buried in the snow, Of the parents who still mourn that day, unwilling to let go. And I said, “Why did you tell me?” They said… Chorus One night as I lay dreaming I met up with a friend of mine. I wept to see his face and asked him how he’d been. I told him what he’d missed. We talked about his slow decline, The troubled days before he joined the choir unseen. And I asked him what I could have done to stay his last goodbye, And I asked him to forgive me when he chose not to reply, And I asked him why I’d love at all if I must watch it die, And he said, “Why don’t you tell me?” Chorus x2
5.	The Missing Head Set 03:39	info	buy track
6.	Way Down Here 04:27	lyrics	buy track
The new boss didn’t like my attitude. I could have been nicer but she was an old prude. She wrote me up and fired me to win our little feud, And I sucked down pogey for the last half-year. I feel like nothing from doing nothing. I’m handing out random resumes to start a new career ‘cause Chorus: I can’t do nothing while I’m way down here. I can’t do nothing while I’m way down here. I’ll climb above the pain and the shame and the fear ‘Cause I can’t do nothing while I’m way down here. I gained thirty pounds since I lost my job. Eating is too easy as an unemployed slob. I grew out all my hair and I grew into a blob. My apartment grew a stinky atmosphere. I feel like nothing from doing nothing. Today I’m hitting the track and then I’m trimming my hair and beard ‘cause Chorus I started doing anything to numb the pain. Booze and weed and video games became my bane. I’m stupid and forgetful and I’m verging on insane In a cloud of fantasy and dope and beer. I feel like nothing from doing nothing. I’m pouring out all the alcohol to get my spirit clear ‘cause Chorus In the midst of the pain I lost my date. She packed it up and left me to my blame and hate. No-one wants a parasite that’s drunk and overweight. It was one last kicker to my beat-up rear. I feel like nothing from doing nothing. But no-one’s coming to save me so I’m clearing my head and shedding the pounds and getting a job and winning a girl and finding my new frontier! ‘Cause… Chorus x2
7.	Crooked Jack 05:24	lyrics	buy track
To all Irishmen both young and stern with adventure in your souls, There's better ways to spend your days than working down the hole. Chorus: I was tall and true all of six-foot-two but they broke me across my back. By a name I'm known and it's not my own, they call me Crooked Jack. And the ganger's blue-eyed boy was I, Big Jack could do no wrong, And the reason simply was because I could work hard hours and long. Chorus And I curse the day that I went away to work at the hydro dam, The hopes and fears and sweat and tears and all in shuttering jams. Chorus And I've seen many men before their days with their faces long and grey. I never thought so soon would mine hang down the same old way.
8.	My Town 05:30	lyrics	buy track
As you’re driving the plains – don’t blink or you’ll miss it – There’s a cluster of houses and aspen. If you don’t know its name I won’t hold it against you. Believe me friend, no-one is askin’. If you turn at the sign, you’ll see the hotel/bar, A store and a rusty old playground. O, me and this place, two tired old ruins. I live here. I love it. It’s my town. Chorus: So dig me down deep, o dig me down deep, O dig me down deep in the ground. When I’m laid to sleep, just dig me down deep In the grasses so sweet in my town. O the winters are cruel and seem never-ending But the sun in the spring blazes high. It calls forth the grass and the lark in the morning And chevrons of geese flying by. In my soldiering days I smelled flow’rs at Messina And Dutch gardens high of renown. But there’s nothing so sweet in all of this wide world As the cottonwoods blooming in my town. Chorus My cozy white house has stood for ten decades And five generations of children. My hearth and my chair and my neat little garden, Are my own tiny corner of Eden. O my rotten kids are plotting to stick me In a home for old loonies on lockdown. If they send me a car, I’ll greet it with buckshot. They won’t take me alive from my town. Chorus A Luftwaffe bomb killed my brother Billy. He’s buried with pals at Ancona. And my brother Ted got sick of the winters. He was cremated in California. But I’ve got a plot in the graveyard in my town. In death, we’ll have a reunion. My wife and my parents and six-year-old daughter, By starlight we’ll hold our communion. Chorus
9.	Widower's Waltz (for Wayne) 03:22	info	buy track
10.	Bully in the Alley 03:38	lyrics	buy track
Chorus: Help me Bob, I'm bully in the alley Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Help me Bob, I'm bully in the alley Bully down in Shinbone al' Sally is a girl in Shinbone Alley Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Sally is the girl that I spliced nearly Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus I found myself foot under three-o Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley I found myself with time so free-o Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus I walked up to that angel little Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Kicked down the door and walked right in-o Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus I walked up to the barroom counter Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Where I met with Greasy Arty Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus I bought her rum, I bought her gin-o Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley I bought her wine of white and red-o Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus And when I'd spent a folly total Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Off to bed we both did dream 'bout Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus We're open tope-a-low light lark-o Weigh, heigh, bully in the alley Upon daybreak the cock did call her Bully down in Shinbone al' Chorus I left my girl to go a'sailing Way, heigh, bully in the alley I left my Sal to go a-whaling Bully down in Shinbone al'
11.	The Maids of Mitchellstown Set 05:47	info	buy track
12.	The Maple Tree 05:12	lyrics	buy track
Chorus: O The Maple Tree, o The Maple Tree! Come shelter beneath The Maple Tree! O there’s no better life for the gentle and free Than the shelter beneath The Maple Tree! My mother’s mother’s parents, came from Yorkshire dales. After World War Two, Grandad left old Wales. My Daddy and his brother snuck in on the lam To dodge the draft for Vietnam. And my kids play with kids from all legacies, Be it Milanese or Manilanese or Malinese. Though we come from many lands we all must agree We owe our lives to the Maple Tree. Chorus If you wish to sit here beside The Maple Tree You must leave old grudges across the sea. Vendettas are not welcome so please make your amends And greet your neighbours as new friends. For the Hindu, Sikh and Muslim can talk without fear And the Papist and Protestant can share a beer. If you love one God or you think that God’s a she You’ll hear no complaint from The Maple Tree. Chorus The Mother of Exiles frowns across the sea With her back to the land that once was free. Her poor unhappy country is wracked with hate and fear. For her children she cries a copper tear. For the huddled masses are wanted no more, And bulwarked is her golden door. Were she made from flesh, from her island she’d flee To raise her torch by The Maple Tree. Chorus The Maple Tree was planted by settling British hands In the verdant soil of conquered lands. I’ve listened to the critics astutely slinging mud. They say that the Maple was born in blood. We can’t erase our history. Our failings our known, But from our grief something beautiful has grown. If you’ll take my hand, we’ll say sorry And we’ll help to nurture The Maple Tree. Chorus

about

This is Looking Out for Better Weather, our third album. Here we present our Prairie Celtic style. With the cultural seeds of Ireland, Scotland, and the Maritimes, we have planted a new Celtic tradition on the Canadian plains. This album is our harvest. This musical crop features new jigs and reels, original songs, and traditional favourites from the past.

The title is from a traditional Irish song called, “All for Me Grog”. Looking out for better weather is an obsession on the Canadian prairie, and not just for farmers. It’s either too cold, too hot, or too full of bugs. Only two weeks, one in May and one in September, can be enjoyed outdoors without discomfort.

credits

released September 30, 2020

The Residuals are:
Paul Runalls: bass, guitar, voice.
Rob McInnis: banjo, mandolin, cittern, voice, songwriter.
Ulrich Kroener: guitar, bodhrán, banjo, voice.
Jeremy A. Cook: fiddle, viola, mandolin, voice, songwriter.

Recorded at Audio Art Recording of Saskatoon by Glenn Ens
Cover Painting "Looking Out for Better Weather" by Liza Gareau Tosh
Band Photo by Donovan Harsch, Harsch Photography
Packaging Design by Faith Enns

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about

The Residuals Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan's one-of-a-kind Prairie Celtic band, the Residuals, has been playing acoustic folk music for over ten years. Drawing on Irish, Scottish, and Maritime music, they are at the forefront of a living Prairie Celtic tradition.