Irish

The Fields of Athenry-an enduring anthem

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Pete St. John

Pete St. John

  If you are a fan of Dropkick Murphys then you might have listened to this song a countless times. It was actually suggested by a friend from Northen Ireland and after listening to it in several renditions, I could say that it is powerful. I mean there’s even a reggae version of this song recorded around 2003 .  I haven’t seen Veronica Guerin starring Cate Blanchett and I would be looking forward seeing it after realizing that this song also appears in that movie.

  The Fields of Athenry is a folk ballad written by Pete St. John in the 70s,  set on a great famine(1845-50).According to Wiki: about a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family. It is a widely known and popular anthem for Irish sports supporters and fans of Celtic FC.

  Here’s the lyrics:

By a lonely prison wall,
I heard a young girl calling:
“Michael, they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyn’s corn,
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.”

Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall,
I heard a young man calling
“Nothing matters, Mary, when you’re free
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity.”

Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely harbor wall,
She watched the last star falling
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lived to hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

 

Here’s a little bit of Celtic music for you

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Celtic1Happy Sunday.Your music Druid has been busy sorting his life but what can I say? Life is blessed and life is beautiful.I have enjoyed some Hayley Westenra music and of course this one from Clannad. Check it out.Clannad – Coinleach Glas an Fhómhair

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  The first time I heard that song I fell inlove with it right away. It has a poignant simplicity with only Moya Brennan’s voice gliding through accompanied by acoustic guitar and bass.I have played that song almost everywhere in my travels but the best venue I got was on a mountain, early morning after the rain.

  What I  love about Celtic music is the atmosphere.You can’t help but be transported somewhere, to a better place than this.It carries you like a bird on wings.

Clannad is working on a new album

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  Yes it is true. For those who never heard it, Clannad is recording a new album and is probably finished and confirmed by the official site http://www.clannad.ie/ The Grammy -winning band who gave us Theme From Harry’s Game as will as I Will Find You (theme from The last of the Mohicans) is once again in perfect form.This is worth the wait.

Irish without being too remotely Celtic

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cranberries Hello there peeps. So what keeps me up these days? Listening to Irish rock such as the likes of Sinead O’Connor (whom I have given spot light on my previous post) and The Cranberries. U2 would have to be my first introduction to Irish rock and then followed by The Cranberries. It was an accident that a throw away Joshua Tree came to me in a box along with Duran Duran‘s The Big Thing. At first the guitars thew me off (blame it on my Frank Sinatra upbringing) but when I got through the noise I became a witness to sheer aural beauty and Bono‘s deep haunting voice. It seems the term haunting has always been synonymous with Irish vocal qualities. Except when I listen to The Corrs, I don’t really sense a trace of that Irish haunting quality in Andrea Corr‘s vocals.

It was around 1993 or 1994 when I picked up Everybody Else is Doing It So Why Can’t We.Dreams at that time was big on Modern Rock radio and I was attracted to that atmospheric quality of the music and Dolores O’Riordan‘s beautiful voice. I played it to my pals and I got along with people who were into modern rock at that time. It stayed with me for a long time as well as No Need to Argue, the band’s sophomore effort. But succeeding albums didn’t really warm up my taste. I found the band too engrossed with testosterone and that Dolores was missing the point why people came to like her in the first place. It seemed that she wanted to be ‘one of the boys’ which was a total disappointment because it’s the girlie girlie stuff about her that I came to like in the first place. But yeah, I will always list these two albums as my favorites.

Of course there are others such as  Waterboys, The Pogues as well as Luka Bloom and they added to the collage of this ideas why I love Irish music in the first place.

Sinead O’Connor after the controversies

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  Bsinead1een listening to my Sinead O’Connor retrospective which lists all her albums from The Lion and the Cobra up to her las known release.Enya appeared on her first album reading a passage in Psalms in Irish Gaelic.The song is called “Never Get Old” Years and years later, she blasted her with this words from her official site

Singing sensation Sinéad O’Connor is back to her old self again, follicley speaking, after failing to get recognised.
Sinéad let her hair grow back over the past few years from her trademark skinhead, but the controversial singer has gone back to her roots, literally.
After the shock of being mistaken for another Irish singer, Enya last week in Lillies Bordello, the singer shaved her head first thing Monday morning.
Speaking to ShowBizIreland.com this week Sinead explained why she did it. “I’ve been trying to let it grow but last week someone came up to me in Lillies and asked me was I Enya. I was so shocked by this that the minute I got up on Monday I shaved all my hair off and now look exactly like I did when I came into the pop business first.
“She went on, “Which is kind of ironic as I have just finished my latest traditional style album which is called “SEA NOS NUA”. It is also cool as I have just recorded a song with Moby, who is a fellow skinhead.”

29. may 2002 by ShowBiz Ireland news

Like Enya it takes time for her to record in an average of 3 year album stretch. Unlike Enya who devotes her time on her craft, polishing and re-recording tracks that don’t work, Sinead does nothing but court controversies.It is also tragic to note that she is well remembered more on her notorious TV antics and bad mouth than her music. Her music is wonderful and no one comes close to the power of her voice. She is probably Ireland’s reluctant poster girl with her good looks and nice figure.Again, sad to say she is more memorable politically rather than musically.I recently read an article where she blasted Kylie Minogue‘s performance.Here’s the link for those who wan to knowhttp://www.whosdatedwho.com/news/story_view.asp?ID=2923 Fine I am not really attracted Kylie’s voice and music but to  say I’d rather be shot dead than listen to it?Those are poisonous comments she said there. Is she bitter because her career is going down and  she hates someone who still kicks ass way after 40 years of existence? No one is safe from her vicious mouth.Hell not even Kris Kristofferson who supposedly defended her one time after audience booed her out.She holds nothing, and no one sacred. Isn’t it no surprising that no one holds her on the same esteem? Sinead will always be one of my favorite singers but she has so very few albums out.And I doubt she’ll ever change or clean her act.