Farewell My Own Dear Native Land
There are many versions of this song dating back to the 1700s,but this one comes from the mid 1800s. Castle Gardens, which is also mentioned in Goodbye Mick, Goodbye Pat, was the landing place for Irish emigrants to America before Ellis Island was opened. I have tried to stay as faithful as possible to Margaret’s words in this song – her turn of phrase is wonderful - “the land that gave my birth”.
I learned this from one of the very few recordings of Margaret Barry singing unaccompanied which is on the wonderful Topic Records collection “Songs of the People”.
Farewell my own dear native land for here I cannot stay
For I do intend to cross the sea Bound for Amerikay
To leave the land that gave my birth It grieves my heart full sore
So fare thee well dear Ireland Where the three leaf shamrock grows.
The ship she lies at anchor being now ready for to sail
May heaven send the vessel safe with sweet and pleasant gale
And when I’m on the ocean wide you’ll all be in my mind
So fare thee well old Ireland and all I left behind.
The tears flow freely from my eyes, my heart’s suppressed with woe
To think I’d leave my native land and be compelled to go
To see my old aged mother and it fills her heart with woe
So fare thee well dear Ireland Where the three leaf shamrock grows.
Hurrah me boys our sails are spread and the wind is blowing fair
Full steam to Castle Gardens in a few days we’ll be there
It’s hard to part with all I love that’s in my heart you know
So fare thee well dear Ireland Where the three leaf shamrock grows.
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The Connemara Cradle Song
On wings of the wind o’er the dark rolling deep
Angels are coming to watch o’er thy sleep
Angels are coming to watch over thee
So list to the wind coming over the sea
Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow
Lean your head and hear the wind blow
Oh wings of the night may your fury be crossed
May no-one that’s dear to our island be lost
Blow the wind gently calm be the foam
Shine the light brightly and guide them to home
Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow
Lean your head and hear the wind blow
The currachs are sailing way out in the blue
Laden with herring of silvery hue
Silver the herring and silver the sea
And soon there’ll be silver for baby and me
Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow
Lean your head and hear the wind blow
The currachs tomorrow will stand on the shore
And Daddy goes sailing, a sailing no more
The nets will be drying the nets heaven blessed
And safe in my arms dear contented he’ll rest
Hear the wind blow dear, hear the wind blow
Lean your head and hear the wind blow
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The Castle of Dromore
(Trad)
This lullaby contains a typically Irish mixture of references to both Christian belief and folklore. Castle Dromore is near Kenmare, Co. Kerry in Ireland, and the Blackwater referred to in the second verse is a river that flows by the castle. A pháiste bán a stór (a fawsh-de van a store) means "her pale children, her treasure".
October winds lament
Around the castle of Dromore
Yet peace is in her lofty halls
A pháiste ban a stór
Though autumn leaves may droop and die
A bud of spring are you
Singing hushabye lu la lu lo lan, hushabye lu lo lan
Bring no ill will to hinder us
My helpless babe and me
Dread spirit of Blackwater banks
Clan Eoin's wild banshee
And holy Mary pitying us
in heaven for grace doth sue
Singing hushaba lu la lu lo lan, hushaba lu lo lan
A Róis mo chroí, a shlaitín óir
As gardha drom an óir
Bí a’ fás go mbeidh gach cleite bheag
Mar scíathan iolra mhóir; Is léim annsan ar fúd an tsaoil
Oibri is saori clú.
Seinam hushaba lu la lu lo lan, hushaba lu lo lan
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What Would You Do Love
This song was first recorded by Delia Murphy with Richard Hayward from Ballymena in 1938. It was among the first batch of recordings she made. The song was written by Corkman Samuel Lover in the mid 1800s. He was famous for the internal rhyming in his songs and in the true tradition of folk singers ended up getting into trouble in the early 1900s when he suggested in a song that there were no differences between Catholics and Protestants and that they should all learn to get along together better.
What will you do love? When I am going
With white sails flowing the seas beyond
What will you do love? When waves divide us
And friends may chide us for being fond
Though waves divide us and friends may chide us
In faith abiding I’ll still be true
And I’ll pray for you on the stormy ocean
In deep devotion that’s what I’ll do
What would you do love If distant tidings
Your fond confidings should undermine
And I abiding neath bright stars shining
Thought other eyes were as bright as thine
Oh name it not though for guilt and sorrow
Were there tomorrow I’d still be true
But that heart of thine should another share it
I could not bear it, what would I do
What would you do love If home returning
with hopes high burning and wealth for you
my good bark which bounded o’er seas unsounded
were lost and pounded what would you do
though you were spared love I’d bless the morrow
in wanton sorrow that left me you
And I’d welcome thee from the westing billow
This heart thy pillow that’s what I’d do
Though waves divide us and friends may chide us
In love abiding we’ll still be true
And through stormy weather we’ll sail together
No more to sever that’s what I’ll do.
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Goodbye Mick, Goodbye Pat
(Trad)
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat
And goodbye Kate and Mary
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up
I'm leaving Tipperary
There’s the steamer blazing up
I can no longer stay
I'm bound for New York City boys
Three thousand miles away
The Ship will sail in half an hour
To cross the broad Atlantic
My friends are standing on the shore
With grief and sorrow frantic
My trunks are all stored down below
On the great ship Dan O'Leary
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up
I'm leaving Tipperary
And my trunk holds all my worldly goods
From the land that I am leaving
And if you don’t think I’ll look after it
In short you are mistaken
And if this ship plays pitch and toss
For half a dozen farthings
I'll take my trunk upon me back
And walk to Castle gardens
Give my respect to Mrs Mac
And likewise Mrs Hagan
And I’ll come back for the christening
When she marries Patsy Fagan
I'm deep in love with Johnny Burke
And soon I’ll be in clover
And when I’m settled in he’ll come if
I’ll pay his passage over
And it's goodbye Mick and goodbye Pat
And goodbye Kate and Mary
The anchor's weighed and the gangway's up
I'm leaving Tipperary
And now the steam is blowing off
I have no more to say
I'm bound for New York City boys
Three thousand miles away
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The Spinning Wheel
Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning
Bent o’er the fire her blind grandmother sitting
Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting
Eileen a chara I hear someone tapping
Tis the ivy dear mother against the glass flapping
Eily I surely hear someone sighing
Tis the sound mother dear of the autumn winds dying
Merrily cheerily noiselessly whirring
Swings the wheel spins the reel while the foot’s stirring
Sprightly and brightly and airily ringing
Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing
There’s a form at the casement the form of her true love
And he whispers with face bent “I’m waiting for you love
Get up on the stool through the lattice step lightly
And we’ll rove in the grove with the moon shining brightly”
The maid shakes her head on her lip lays her fingers
Steals up from the seat, longs to go and yet lingers
A frightened glance turned on her drowsy grandmother
Puts one foot on the stool spins the wheel with the other
Lazily, easily swings now the wheel round
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel sound
Noiseless and light through the lattice above her
The maid creeps then leaps to the arms of her lover
Slower and slower and slower the wheel spins
Lower and lower and lower the reel rings
E’er the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving
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Martha, the Flower of Sweet Strabane
If I was king of Erin’s Isle
and all things at my will
I’d roam through every inch
And seek for comfort still
And The comfort I would seek the most as you may understand
Is to win the heart of Martha,
The flower of sweet Strabane
Her cheeks they are a rosy red
Her eyes a lovely brown
And oe’r her lily white shoulders
her golden hair hangs down
She is one of the fairest creatures
and fairest of her clan
And my heart is captivated
with the flower of sweet Strabane
If I had you lovely Martha
way down in Inishowen
Or in some lonesome valley
in the wild woods of Tyrone
I would use my whole endeavour
and I’d try to work a plan
For to gain you lovely Martha,
the flower of sweet Strabane
But farewell to bonny Lifford
where the sweet Mourne waters flow
And likewise to my brown-eyed girl
since I from her must go
As down Lough Foyle the waters boil
and my ship stands out from the land
I will say farewell and God bless you
to my flower of sweet Strabane.
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If I Were A Blackbird
If I was a blackbird, I’d whistle and sing
And I’d follow the ship that my true love sailed in
And on the top rigging I’d there build my nest
And I’d pillow my head on his lily white breast
I am a young maiden and my story is sad
For once I was courted by a brave sailor lad
He courted me truly by night and by day
But now he has left me and gone far away
He promised to take me to Donnybrook Fair
To buy me red ribbon to tie up my hair
And I know that some day he’ll come back o’er the tide
Then surely he’ll make me his own loving bride
His parent s they chide and will not agree
That I and my sailor boy married should be
But let them deride me and do what they will
While there’s breath in my body he’s the one I love still
If I was a blackbird, I’d whistle and sing
And I’d follow the ship that my true love sailed in
And on the top rigging I’d there build my nest
And I’d pillow my head on his lily white breast
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Ar Éirinn ní n-Eósfainn Ce h-Í
(English translation follows)
Aréir is mé ‘tearnamh um neoin
Ar an dtaobh eil’ den teora ‘na mbím
Do théarnaigh an spéirbhean am chomhair,
D’fhág taomanach breoite lag sinn
Do ghéilleas dá méin ‘s dá cló
Dá bréithre ‘s dá beol tanaí binn
Do léimeas faoi dhéin dul ‘na treo,
Is ar Éirinn ní n-eosfainn ce hí
Dá ngéillfeadh an spéirbhean dom’ ghlór
‘siad ráite mo bheoil a bheadh fíor
Go deimhin duit go ndéanfainn do ghnó
Do léirchur i gcóir is i gcrích
Do léighfinn go léir stair dom’ stór
‘Sba mhéinn liom í ‘phogadh óm’ chroí
‘S do bhéarfainn an chraobh di gan ghó
Is ar Éirinn ní n-eosfainn ce hí
Tá spear-bhruinneall mhaorga mhodhúil óg
Ar an dtaobh eile den teora ‘na mbím
Tá féile is daonnacht ‘na snódh
Is deise ‘gus meon ins an mhnaoi.
Tá folt aici ar lasadh mar ór
Go cocánach, ómrach buí
Tá lasadh ‘na leacain mar rós
Is ar Éirinn ní n-eosfainn ce hí
English Translation
For Ireland I’d Not Tell her name
( a translation by Séamas Clandillon as reproduced in Ireland’s Own)
Last eve as I wandered quite near
To the borders of my little farm
A beautiful maiden appeared
Whose loveliness caused my heart harm
By her bearing and looks smitten sore
And the words from her sweet lips that came
To meet her I raced the field o’er
But for Ireland I’d not tell her name.
If this beauty but my words could heed
The words that I’d speak would be true
I’d help her in every need
And indeed all her work I would do
To coin one fond kiss from my love
I’d read her romances of fame
Her champion I daily could prove
But for Ireland I’d not tell her name.
There’s a beautiful stately young maid
At the mearing of my little farm
She’s welcoming, kind unafraid
Her smile is both child like and warm
Her gold hair in masses that grows
Like amber in sheen is that same
And the bloom in her cheeks like the rose
But for Ireland I’d not tell her name.
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The Moonshiner
(Trad)
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me, well, leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry, I'll drink when I'm dry
And the moonshine don't kill me, I'll live til I die
I've been a moonshiner for many a year
I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
I'll go to some hollow, I'll set up my still
And I'll make you a gallon for a ten shilling bill
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me, well, leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry, I'll drink when I'm dry
And the moonshine don't kill me, I'll live til I die
I'll go to some hollow in this counterie
Ten gallons of wash I can go on a spree
No women to follow, the world is all mine
I love none so well as I love the moonshine
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me, well, leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry, I'll drink when I'm dry
And if moonshine don't kill me, I'll live til I die
Oh, moonshine, dear moonshine, oh, how I love thee
You killed me old father, but ah you try me
Now bless all moonshiners and bless all moonshine
Their breath smells as sweet as the dew on the vine
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Love’s Old Sweet Song
(Molloy)
James Lynam Molloy was one of the 19th century's most gifted Irish songwriters. Born near Tullamore, King's County, Ireland in 1837, he was well known and wrote a number of idiomatic works in his homeland that reached high levels of popularity including The Old Cottage Clock and The Kerry Dance. Few of Molloy's works reached hit status in the US save his crowning achievent, Love's old Sweet Song, written when Molloy was nearly 60.
Once in the dear dead days beyond recall
When on the world the mists began to fall
Out of the dreams that rose in happy throng
Low to our hearts love sang an old sweet song
And in the dusk where fell the firelight gleam
Softly it wove itself into our dream
Chorus
Just a song at twilight, when the lights are low,
And the flick’ring shadows softly come and go
Though the heart be weary, sad the day and long
Still to us at twilight comes love’s old song
Comes love’s old sweet song.
Even today we hear love’s song of yore
Deep in our heart’s it dwells for ever more
Footsteps may falter, weary grow the way,
Still we can hear it at the close of day
So till the end, when life’s dim shadows fall
Love will be found the sweetest song of all.
Chorus.
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Teddy O’Neill
Trad
I’ve seen the mud cabin he danced his wild jigs in
As neat a mud cabin as ever was seen
Considering twas used to keep poultry and pigs in
I’m sure you’ll allow twas both tidy and clean
But now all around seems so sad and so lonely
So sad and so silent, No piper no reel
Not even the sun through the casement shines cheerly
Since I lost my own darling boy teddy o’neale
I dreamt but last night ah bad cess to my dreaming
I’d die if I thought it would e’er come to pass
I dreamt while the tears down my pale cheeks were streaming
That Teddy was courting another fair lass
A didn’t I wake with such weeping and wailing
The pain of that thought was too much to conceal
My mother cried Nora child what is your paling
But all I could answer was Teddy O’Neale
Shall I ever forget when the big ship was ready
And the moment had come for my love to depart
I cried like a spalpeen goodbye to you teddy
With a tear in my eye and a stone in my heart
He says tis to better his fortune he’s roving
But what would be gold to the joy I would feel
To see him come back to me honest and loving
Still poor but my own darling teddy o’neale
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The Factory Girl
As I went a walking one bright Summer’s morning
The birds in the branches they sweetly did sing
The lads and the lasses together were sporting
Going down to yon factory their work to begin
I spied one amongst them more fairer than any
Her skin like the lily that grows in yon dell
Her cheeks like the red rose that grows in the valley
She’s my one only goddess she’s my sweet factory girl.
I stepped up unto her, it was for to view her
When on me she cast a proud look of disdain
Stand off me, stand off me and do not insult me
For although I’m a poor girl, I think it no shame.
Now greed and temptation rules many’s a nation,
To many a rich lady perhaps I’d do well
My friends and relations they all frown upon me
She’s only a hard working factory girl.
It’s true I did love her but now she won’t have me
And all for her sake I will wander awhile
O’er high hills and valleys where no one will know me
Far away from the sound of the factory bell
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Homes of Donegal
This is one of Bridie Gallagher’s most famous songs and it is also one of the very first songs I ever learned. My mother comes from Ballyshannon in Co. Donegal and I was brought up in Belleek just across the Fermanagh border. Our house lay less than 100 yards from the border and looked over Breesy Mountain where I imagined the fairy folk of William Allingham’s poetry out playing in the bogs. I learned songs from the gramophone player in my mother’s home house and from a very early age learned songs made popular by Bridie Gallagher and Delia and to this day when I sing the Homes of Donegal I can only see the dresser in Granny’s front room.
I just popped in to see you all, I’ll only stay a while
I wanted to see how you’re getting on, I want to see your smile
I’m happy to be back again and greet you big and small
For there’s no place else on earth just like the Homes of Donegal.
I love to see your smiling children standing at the door
The kettle boiling on the hob as I walk up the floor
And then to see a welcome free for travellers one and all
Oh your hearts are like your mountains in the homes of Donegal
I love to stay a long with you and while away the night
With fairy lore and tales of yore, the silent hearth fire bright (beside your fire so bright)
And then to see in wait for me a shakedown by the wall
Oh there’s rest for weary travellers in the homes of Donegal
But now it’s time for me to go and bid you all adieu
The open highway calls me back to do those things I do
But when I’m travelling far a way, your friendship I'll recall
And please God I'll soon return to the homes of Donegal.
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