A Bit O' The Emerald Music

So, it being the morning/afternoon/evening/day after St Patty's Day (depending on where you are in the world) - if you are out and about in the world you may have heard, amongst the calls for green beer and whisky, and condemnations of the degradation of the day (depending on where you are in the world) - you may have heard some Irish music!

So I thought, since it is so varied and so enjoyable - what is your taste when it comes to Irish or Irish inspired music? Do you go for the traditional? The banjo/fiddle variety? The rip-roaring drinking variety? There is so much!

Here's a favoruite of mine on such a day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Y4U8zq6J4

Nice selection. Your direct link didn't work, but I got it through Youtube.
I'm drawing a blank at the moment on Irish tune, but I recalled a favorite from my copy of Anthology of Irish Verse:
By Thomas William Rolleston

Cois na Teineadh

WHERE glows the Irish hearth with peat
There lives a subtle spell—
The faint blue smoke, the gentle heat,
The moorland odours tell.

Of white roads winding by the edge
Of bare, untamèd land,
Where dry stone wall or ragged hedge
Runs wide on either hand.

To cottage lights that lure you in
From rainy Western skies;
And by the friendly glow within
Of simple talk, and wise,

And tales of magic, love or arms
From days when princes met
To listen to the lay that charms
The Connacht peasant yet,

There Honour shines through passions dire,
There beauty blends with mirth—
Wild hearts, ye never did aspire
Wholly for things of earth!

Cold, cold this thousand years—yet still
On many a time-stained page
Your pride, your truth, your dauntless will,
Burn on from age to age.

And still around the fires of peat
Live on the ancient days;
There still do living lips repeat
The old and deathless lays.

And when the wavering wreaths ascend
Blue in the evening air,
The soul of Ireland seems to bend
Above her children there.

I love genuine Irish music and verse. Good homage.

After a few drinks, I can usually be persuaded to sing that fantastic old Dublin street ballad, Finnegan's Wake:

Tim Finnegan lived in Watling street
A gentleman Irish, mighty odd
He had a brogue both rich and sweet
And to rise in the world he carried a hod
You see he'd a sort of a tipplin' way
With a love for the liquor he was born
And to send him on his way each day,
He'd a drop of the craythur every morn'

CHORUS:
Whack fol' the dah will ya dance to your partner
Round the floor your trotters shake
Isn't it the truth I told ya?
Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake

One morning Tim was rather full
His head felt heavy which made him shake
He fell off the ladder and he broke his skull
And they carried him home, his corpse to wake
Rolled him up in a nice, clean sheet
laid him out upon the bed
With a bottle of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head

(Repeat Chorus)

Well his friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs. Finnegan called for brunch
Well, first she brought them tea and cake
Then pipes, tobacco, and whiskey punch
Then the Widow Malone began to cry
"such a nice clean corpse did you ever see?"
" Tim, auvreen! Why did you die?"
"Will you hold yer gob?" says Molly McGee'

(Repeat Chorus)

Well, Mary Murphy took up the job
"Oh Biddy," says she, "you're wrong, I'm sure."
Well Biddy fetched her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawling on the floor
Then the war did then engage
'Twas woman to woman and man to man
Shillelagh law was all the rage
And a row and a ruction soon began

(Repeat Chorus)

Well Mickey Maloney ducked his head
When a bottle of whiskey flew at him
It missed, and landing on the bed
The whiskey scattered over Tim
Bedad revives, see how he rises!
Timothy risin' from the bed!
Sayin' "Throwin' your whiskey around like blazes,"
"Thanum an Dhul! do ye think I'm dead?"


That said, the Clancy Brothers sing it far better than I ever could. My father (despite being a true Lancastrian) has had a lifelong love of Irish folk music, so that's been a major part of my musical upbringing.

http://youtu.be/KH7E5rCgS3k

Entirely random find that sounded nice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AFRCWg_kOc

I try never to miss Altan when they're in town, and they'll be closing out this year's U.S. tour here on Sunday night. Best of all, the venue is in my neighborhood.

Here's a good sample of their live work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJDTQW87w-s

Forgot to follow up on this. Turns out the first of the two gigs Altan played here back in March (I was at the second) was recorded for broadcast on local public television station WYCC as part of their new Musicology series. Here's a link to that show, and they have a playlist on the side for other episodes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh_R...Zq83Yd&index=2

Appropriate stuff for Bloomsday! I love Altan