Poetry for Bill

[rivrrat]

As long as we are into poems and songs. Here's one for our resident British Subject. I know we very seldom agree on The Late Unpleasantness, but we agree on Ireland.

I wish I could send the music but y'all really don't want to hear me sing.

words by J.K. Casey, music Turlough O'Carolan


And come tell me Sean O'Farrell tell me why you hurry so
Husha buachaill hush and listen and his cheeks were all a glow
I bare orders from the captain get you ready quick and soon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon

By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
For the pikes must be together by the rising of the moon

And come tell me Sean O'Farrell where the gath'rin is to be
At the old spot by the river quite well known to you and me
One more word for signal token whistle out the marchin' tune
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon

By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
With your pike upon your shoulder by the rising of the moon

Out from many a mud wall cabin eyes were watching through the night
Many a manly heart was beating for the blessed warning light
Murmurs rang along the valleys to the banshees lonely croon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon

By the rising of the moon, by the rising of the moon
And a thousand pikes were flashing by the rising of the moon

All along that singing river that black mass of men was seen
High above their shining weapons flew their own beloved green
Death to every foe and traitor! Whistle out the marching tune
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon

'Tis the rising of the moon, 'tis the rising of the moon
And hurrah, me boys, for freedom, 'tis the rising of the moon

[bill_torrens]

Doug,

Thanks for that. I've known and loved that song since I was 9 years old. My favourite version is by The Dubliners.

But I must tell you that the lyrics of Irish rebel songs are subject to a degree of...blarney. Several of them relate to the 1798 uprising and in one of them, Boolavogue, one is confronted by the stirring lines:

'Twas at The Harrow the boys of Wexford
Showed Bookey's regiment how men can fight

But if you read an authoritative history of the '98 you find that what actually happened at The Harrow was that the good colonel and a couple of the members of his staff ran into a rebel horde and sanely concluded to make themselves scarce. "Bookey's regiment" indeed!

Have you read "Clear The Confederate Way: The Irish In The Army Of Northern Virginia"? Dreadful title, but an interesting piece of scholarship.

Cheers,

Bill

[rivrrat]

No, I'll have to look it up. Are you familiar with Kelly's Irish Brigade, Confederate from St. Louis Mo.
Most war songs are a little on the blarney side they incourage pride, not history. I'm not familier with Boolavoge either, as you can imagine Irish rebel songs are hard to come by in Kansas.
The reason that American tourists sing Danny Boy in pubs is its the only Irish Song they have ever heard. All of us Yanks are Irish once a year. Except, me of course.

It was the English trying to depopulate both Scotland and Ireland that insured that a great percentage of the boys fighting on both sides were of Celtic background.

[bill_torrens]

Doug,

It was the English trying to depopulate both Scotland and Ireland that insured that a great percentage of the boys fighting on both sides were of Celtic background.

Actually the mistreatment of Highlanders happened mainly at the hands of Lowland Scots. The English get a bum rap on this....if anyone has colonised anyone else the Scots have colonised us. Just look at the number of them in the present cabinet. They now have their own assembly to determine policy and law in Scotland, but their M.P.s still get to sit in Westminster and have a say in forming policy in England as well.

Yes, they've fiddled the system very nicely. Victims? Oh purlease.

Bill

P.S. Back in the 1950s two comic songwriters named Flanders & Swann wrote the following:

The Scotsman is mean, as we're all well aware,
And bony and blotchy and covered in hair.
He eats salted porridge and works all the day,
And hasn't got bishops to show him the way.