As well as performing solo, Paul has also toured internationally as a guitarist with the famous '60s legend Donovan, Welsh Breton songstress Katell Keineg, Kieran Halpin and platinum selling Irish singer Sinead Lohan whilst also guesting with the HotHouse Flowers, Mary Black, Christy Moore and Beth Orton.
Following on the success of his first album, he formed a trio with Kevin Murphy on cello and Colm McCaughey on fiddle bringing to the music an unusual sense of melody crossing over the rock-traditional-folk divide.
This distinctive combination has so far resulted in a successful tour of America and Scandinavia in 1994, a stunning performance at the international South by Southwest music seminar in Texas in 1995, tours and festivals in Switzerland and in Germany throughout the last ten years and a string of vibrant performances to wildly enthusiastic crowds all over Ireland.
The debut album was followed by a more "electric" album called "Virgoville" in 1998. Paul released his third album "God knows i love a happy ending" in 2002, an enthralling, swirling mixture of strings and voices and is at the moment working on his fourth album.
Recently Paul appeared on the Irish television series 'Other voices' featuring the best of Irish singer songwriters. One of Paul's songs 'Belle' has been included in the top ten Irish album of the same name.
Paul has also recently joined Irish cult band Interference who have been described as being one of the seminal influences on the likes of well known Irish artists, The Frames and Mundy.
Paul has a song (the title track) covered by one of Ireland's most popular singers, Kieran Goss, on his last album 'Red Letter Day'.
One of Paul’s songs ‘how to say goodbye’ is in an American film ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite playlist’….recently a top 10 box office hit in the USA and to be released worldwide in 2009.
Paul Tiernan released his fourth CD entitled ‘Belle’ in 2005 which CDbaby (the worlds biggest online distributor of independent cds) wrote: ‘this is, without a doubt, one of the most memorable male folk albums to come through our doors in years.’
‘Earthquakes start with little cracks’ , Paul’s latest CD was released in Ireland on March 2nd, 2009. The opening song ‘Breakfast in bed’ has already been voted on of the best songs of 2008 by ‘Rock n’ Folk’ , one of France’s most popular music magazines.
For tour info, audio samples & CD purchases see Paul's homepage.
Paul Tiernan - discography:
Who's Fooling Who? (1995)
Virgoville (1998)
God Knows I Love a Happy Ending (2000)
Belle (2004)
Earthquakes start with little cracks (2008)
Driver
Paul Tiernan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She winds down the window
and screams at the darkness around her
I'm still sixteen and I think that my life is nearly over
Will I ever get older
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Pass me that bottle of dreams I want to get closer
and I breath her
I'm still sixteen and I think that my life is nearly over
Will I ever get older
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Dreams are not dreams, they're our lives without seams
to hold them together
Time doesn't mean anything 'till it's gone and you are older
I was sixteen and I thought that my life would never get started
Now I can't stop it
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Driver
Driver
Driver
Driver
The song "Driver" by Paul Tiernan is a melancholic ballad about the fragility and fleetingness of life, particularly for a teenager. The singer is driving a car with his friend Dave and a girl in the back seat. The girl is screaming at the darkness, perhaps expressing her frustration or sadness, and the singer watches her in the rear-view mirror. He reflects on his own life, feeling that it's nearly over even though he is only sixteen years old. He asks the driver if there's anywhere left to go, somewhere nobody knows - a poignant plea for escape, for a new beginning, for a future unencumbered by the weight of the past.
The chorus repeats the refrain "Driver, is there anywhere left to go / Driver, somewhere nobody knows", emphasizing the singer's sense of aimlessness, restlessness, and disillusionment. He reaches for a "bottle of dreams" to drown his sorrows, to escape from the harshness of reality. However, he also realizes that dreams are not just flights of fancy, but our very lives without seams to hold them together. Time, he notes, doesn't mean anything until it's gone and you are older. The final stanza reflects on the irony of teenage life: he thought his life would never get started, but now he can't stop it. The repetition of the word "Driver" at the end, softly and plaintively, evokes a sense of longing, of searching, of hope.
Line by Line Meaning
Dave in the back of my car with a girl I watch in the mirror
I observe Dave and his companion through the reflection in my car's mirror.
She winds down the window and screams at the darkness around her
The girl who is with Dave opens the window and shouts in the night's void outside.
I'm still sixteen and I think that my life is nearly over
Despite being young, I feel as though my life is coming to a close.
Will I ever get older
I question whether or not I will reach a ripe old age.
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
I appeal to the driver, asking if there is any unexplored direction to travel.
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
I implore the driver to take us to someplace off the beaten track.
Pass me that bottle of dreams I want to get closer
I request to have the bottle of dreams passed to me as I aspire to get nearer to my goals.
Summer still shines as she climbs out my head and I breathe her
The nostalgia of summers past continues to linger in my thoughts as I inhale and exhale.
Dreams are not dreams, they're our lives without seams to hold them together
Our aspirations are more than just mere dreams, they shape our lives and give them purpose.
Time doesn't mean anything 'till it's gone and you are older
Time's worth is only fully realized when it has elapsed and one has aged.
I was sixteen and I thought that my life would never get started
When I was sixteen, I believed that my life would never truly begin.
Now I can't stop it
I now realize that my life is in motion, and that there is no way to halt its progression.
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
I repeat my request, asking if there is still any possible destination left to reach.
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Again, I plead that we journey to an unknown haven.
Driver, is there anywhere left to go
Once more, I implore the driver for any options of an unexplored direction to travel.
Driver, somewhere nobody knows
Finally, I request one last time for us to go to a location that's unfamiliar to us both.
Driver
I address the driver.
Driver
I reiterate my address to the driver.
Driver
I address the driver for the third time.
Driver
My final address to the driver.
Contributed by Alexandra O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.