Pogo, here is the song you were looking for, as well as some info. It was in the DT.

SONNY'S DREAM
(Ron Hynes)

Sonny lives on a farm on a wide open space
Where you can take off your sneakers and give up the race
You could lay down your head by a sweet river bed
But Sonny always remembers what it was his Mama said

Sonny carries a load though he's barely a man
There ain't all that to do, still he does what he can
And he watches the sea from a room by the stairs
And the waves keep on rollin', they've done that for years

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

And it's a hundred miles to town, Sonny's never been there
And he goes to the highway and stands there and stares
And the mail comes at four and the mailman is old
Oh, but he still dreams his dreams full of silver and gold

Sonny's dreams can't be real, they're just stories he's read
They're just stars in his eyes, they're just dreams in his head
And he's hungry inside for the wide world outside
And I know I can't hold him though I've tried and I've tried

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong

(Sung by Ron Hynes on the album: "Living in a Fog"
by the Wonderful Grand Band 1981)

Definitely written by Ron Hynes. It originally appeared on
a Ron Hynes solo album (long since deleted) in the late seventies.
Hamish Imlach made up some additional lyrics and added them
after hearing the song (perhaps incomplete) during a
tour of Canada some time in the mid-eighties. This version was
then passed on to Christy Moore and then to Mary Black etc.
Ron Hynes recorded another solo album "Cryer's Paradise" in 1993.
He currently lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada.


I've always known it with another verse at the end. I guess these were the additional lyrics by Hamish Imlach referred to above.

Many years have rolled on, Sonny's old and alone
His Daddy the sailor, never came home
Sometimes he wonders what his life might have been
But from the grave Mamma still haunts his dreams.

cho: Oh, Sonny don't go away, I am here all alone
And your daddy's a sailor who never comes home
And the nights get so long and the silence goes on
And I'm feeling so tired, I'm not all that strong