Oh, where to start with the January collection of songs?
Eugene was MC and moved the session along in jig time so we heard loads of lovely songs. There were some composed by their singers: Bríd, George, Cyril and Doney; some fresh ones, new to the session, from Tony, George, Frank, Paddy, Brian, Eileen, Tommy and more favourites from everybody. There was even a story from Eugene. Silence from Clíona (still no voice), Helen and Clare (as those two couldn’t make it that night).
Boneparte got a look-in and was done with (by Brian): We paid in hell since Moscow burned ...
Save my soul from evil, lord and heal this soldier's heart
I'll trust in thee to keep me, lord, I'm done with Bonaparte
And later Frank added the Plains of Waterloo:
When Boney's star was in the sky, my love he marched away,
He told me that he loved me true; would marry me some day,
He said that he'd return to me, whatever would ensue,
But now he lies with sightless eyes on the plains of Waterloo.
Cyril and Tony both sang of geese. Cyril’s story was about Jim Reilly going to Boyle and Tony sang the shanty:
Have you seen a wild goose sail across the ocean; Ranzo me boys, Ranzo hey
They’re just like the pretty girls when they gets the notion; Ranzo me boys, Ranzo hey
Doney sang sadly of how Manhood is no more –
All the trad boys look forlorn, ‘cos definitely, no flutes
But Cyril came back with: Oh, you lovers of mirth, I pray, pay attention
It's that damnable rogue of a Daniel O'Connell-
He's now making children in Dublin by steam.
Tony was concerned with the seasons, and began with January Man (by Dave Goulder):
Oh the January man he walks abroad in woollen coat and boots of leather
The February man still wipes the snow from off his hair and blows his hand
The man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring
And hopes for better weather
And on through the year until:
And the January man comes round again in woollen coat and boots of leather
To take another turn and walk along the icy road he knows so well
The January man is here for starting each and every year
Along the way for ever.
And later he moved on into Robbie Burn’s Summer:
The winter it is past, and the summer comes at last,
And the small birds sing on ev'ry tree
Doney stayed in Scotland for
Up the Noran Water, roon by Ingle's Maddie,
Annie's got a bairnie that hasna got a daddie.
Who the bairnie's father is the lassie winna say,
An nobody expected it with Annie's quiet ways.
George sang of courting:
Johnny get up from the fire, get up and give the man a seat
Can't you see it's Mr. Maguire and he's courtin' your sister Kate
Ah, you know very well he owns a farm a wee bit out of the town
Arragh get up out of that, you impudent brat, and let Mr Maguire sit down.
But the temperature changed for Mr Maguire:
Ah I don't know what gets into him, for he's always on the tare
Arragh just sit where you are and never you dare to give ould Maguire the chair
There was a congenial atmosphere and Frank sang Happy Are We All Together
'Twas friendship brought us here tonight
Which brought on a Ben Sands song from Cyril
We all need a hug...
Majella took down the words of that one.
Eugene told a story about the Owl who was God (by James Thurber) and the gist was:
“... there was an owl who sat on the branch of an oak tree...”
Some moles told the other creatures that the owl was the wisest of all animals because he could see in the dark and answer any question.
A secretary bird went to see the owl: "How many claws am I holding up?" said the secretary bird. "Two," said the owl, and that was right. "Can you give me another expression for ‘that is to say’ or ‘namely’?" asked the secretary bird. "To wit," said the owl. "Why does the lover call on his love?" "To woo," said the owl.
The other animals heard of this exchange and declared "He’s God!" So they followed him wherever he went and when he bumped into things they began to bump into things, too.
The animals followed him, even up a motorway and they were still crying "He’s God" when a truck ran them down. Most of the animals, including the owl, were killed.
The moral went something like this:
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
Then Brian:
As I was going along the road and feeling fine and larky O,
A recruiting sergeant trim and neat said you’d look fine in khaki O.
There was loads more, and towards the end, Eileen sang:
The fire is out, the moon is down
The parting glass is dry and done
And I must go and leave this town
Before the rising of the sun.
And so we did.
Next up is the February session.
Jim Bainbridge guests at the Góilín singing club
Jim Bainbridge, who has been frequenting the Boyle Singers session in the past year is to be an invited guest at Dublin's Góilín singing club on Friday, January 28th, 2011.
18 December 2010
We've had to cancel December's session due to the snow that's been falling since Friday morning all over Leitrim and Roscommon ... and the North West in general. Nollaig shona agus Athbhliain faoi mhaise.
November 2010
A select group tried out some new songs and recitations around the fire in Dodds. Very enjoyable. More anon, when this writer gets the time!
Now...
Tony sang (not all at the same time) the Greenmore Hare, the King’s Shilling, The Bantry Girl’s lament and:
The cocks are crowing, daylight is appearing
It's drawing nigh to the break of day
Arise my darling, out of your slumbers
Arise my darling, and come away.
And he included the verse which has caused much discussion on the Mudcat Café:
If the Killy Boyne, it were mine in the chorus
And the green fields, they were mine, and wide
If my pen were made of the temper-ed steel, sure
My true love's praises I could never write.
Mudcat: What's a killy boyne? You’ll have to check out Mudcat Café yourself to find out what the theories and opinions were.
Frank had The Lowlands of Holland, a song from the 1770s. Again, from Mudcat: “... in some versions Holland may have been New Holland, the former name for Australia, which has perhaps been confused with the Dutch East Indies. This may explain the strange description of Holland in the third verse or the "sugar cane" mentioned in other versions.”
Frank also sang a local song composed 60 years ago, telling about a dispute between two neighbours over a goat. James Dillon was minister at the time; Clement Attlee was Prime Minister in England. Jim Dillon, you did it, you scoundrel... You won’t find that one on Mudcat.
Breege started off with Once I had a fair young sweetheart ... “Go and leave me, I don't mind.”
She also sang her own song about the emigration of her uncle who had no future labouring for McDermottroe in Roscommon at the time. She made a great job of Banks of the Lee and Staunton’s Brae too.
George’s new song: I dropped in to the barbers shop, badly needing a shave... and had him swapping hats with a “toff”, then drinks and finally wives – Exchange is no robbery, so I don’t care.
Recitations on the night included Yeats’ Wild Swans at Coole from Martin and Frances’s Nancy Lee and the flea. Martin: Some are fast, more are slow: his own poem, inspired by Céilithe and the set dance gang.
Frances was “battered and scarred” and George was too, according to The sick note, written by Pat Cooksey in 1969. Its original title was Paddy and the Barrel, which he tells us (on Mudcat, of course) was based on Gerard Hoffnung's address to the Oxford Union, and this in turn had its origin in a more simple story dating back to the English music halls in the 1920s.
Here Paddy is, halfway through his sorry tale:
Now when those building bricks fell from the barrel to the floor,
I then outweighed the barrel so I started down once more,
I held on tightly to the rope as I flew to the ground
And I landed on those building bricks that were scattered all around.
Safe home now. See you for the Christmas session.
Now...
Tony sang (not all at the same time) the Greenmore Hare, the King’s Shilling, The Bantry Girl’s lament and:
The cocks are crowing, daylight is appearing
It's drawing nigh to the break of day
Arise my darling, out of your slumbers
Arise my darling, and come away.
And he included the verse which has caused much discussion on the Mudcat Café:
If the Killy Boyne, it were mine in the chorus
And the green fields, they were mine, and wide
If my pen were made of the temper-ed steel, sure
My true love's praises I could never write.
Mudcat: What's a killy boyne? You’ll have to check out Mudcat Café yourself to find out what the theories and opinions were.
Frank had The Lowlands of Holland, a song from the 1770s. Again, from Mudcat: “... in some versions Holland may have been New Holland, the former name for Australia, which has perhaps been confused with the Dutch East Indies. This may explain the strange description of Holland in the third verse or the "sugar cane" mentioned in other versions.”
Frank also sang a local song composed 60 years ago, telling about a dispute between two neighbours over a goat. James Dillon was minister at the time; Clement Attlee was Prime Minister in England. Jim Dillon, you did it, you scoundrel... You won’t find that one on Mudcat.
Breege started off with Once I had a fair young sweetheart ... “Go and leave me, I don't mind.”
She also sang her own song about the emigration of her uncle who had no future labouring for McDermottroe in Roscommon at the time. She made a great job of Banks of the Lee and Staunton’s Brae too.
George’s new song: I dropped in to the barbers shop, badly needing a shave... and had him swapping hats with a “toff”, then drinks and finally wives – Exchange is no robbery, so I don’t care.
Recitations on the night included Yeats’ Wild Swans at Coole from Martin and Frances’s Nancy Lee and the flea. Martin: Some are fast, more are slow: his own poem, inspired by Céilithe and the set dance gang.
Frances was “battered and scarred” and George was too, according to The sick note, written by Pat Cooksey in 1969. Its original title was Paddy and the Barrel, which he tells us (on Mudcat, of course) was based on Gerard Hoffnung's address to the Oxford Union, and this in turn had its origin in a more simple story dating back to the English music halls in the 1920s.
Here Paddy is, halfway through his sorry tale:
Now when those building bricks fell from the barrel to the floor,
I then outweighed the barrel so I started down once more,
I held on tightly to the rope as I flew to the ground
And I landed on those building bricks that were scattered all around.
Safe home now. See you for the Christmas session.
16 October 2010 - Sing early, sing often!
Sing early, sing often!
Autumn resolution for the Boyle Singers - we'll be starting at the earlier time of 9.00 (no, really we will), with a view to kicking off the singing at 9.30pm, from next month onwards.
This week we had a visit from a Japanese girl from Tokyo, Sayaka, who's doing a thesis on sean nós singing and seems to be visiting all the singing circles and festivals in Ireland, (it's a hard oul' station), gathering information and talking to people. She's a lovely singer herself, too.
Jim Bainbridge, Brian and Eileen were welcomed back and were in good voice, as was Eugene – doing a mighty job in his debut as Fear a' Tí. We’re making a small change to our usual format, and the convention is now, a round or two of songs, the sambos and then a free-for-all, or as they say in polite circles: “open to the floor”.
Frank and Frances Brennan were noted by their absence – but you can catch Frank at the singing festival in Knockcroghery next weekend, where he’s to appear as a special guest.
An aside here: Cnoc an Chrocaire / Knockcroghery was originally called An Creagán (Creggan, stony hill). There was a gallows erected on the hill to hang the Ó Ceallaighs, defeated by Sir Charles Coote in the 17th century. They had resisted Coote’s siege of their stronghold, Galey or Gayley Castle, on the shores of Lough Ree. They were hanged on the hill at Creggan and the deed was remember in the change of name, Cnoc an Chrocaire or hangman’s hill, anglicized to Knockcroghery.
No direct link, but one popular theme for the evening was soldiering and enlisting – or rather, against soldiering and enlisting. Tony for one gave us the King’s shilling (also sung by the Battlefield Band, Karan Casey, Jean Redpath, and others):
Oh my love has left me wi' bairnies twa
And that's the last o' him I ever saw
He's joined the army and he marched awa'
He took the shillin'
He took the shillin' and he marched awa'
Come laddies come, hear the cannons roar Tak' the King's shilling an' we're off tae war
Nora had No traitors came from Boyle and Eileen had Siúl a Rúin.
And the other main theme, wives and their mistreatment (Jim Bainbridge, let him be named!) was answered by Helen’s Himself, but he persisted with Three wives in The Fountain – the Fountain being a pub in England. No lyrics recorded for that but elicited this response from Clíona:
My parents they abandoned me and on them I do frown
For they wed me to an auld grey man for the sake of his money and ground
Francie did give Jim a lift home anyway.
Eugene threw in a few unsuitable songs from his repertoire (which is large) and also gave another tale of the marital state with the Brown and the Yellow Ale:
He asked me if the woman by my side was my daughter
Oh, the brown and the yellow ale
And when I said she's my wife his manner didn't alter
Oh, love of my heart.
Breege sang of Josie McDermott and of Staunton’s Brae and Brian sang Zozimus’s Finding of Moses.
On Egypt's banks, contagious to the Nile
The auld Pharaoh's daughter, she went to bathe in style
She took her dip and she came unto the land
And to dry her royal pelt she ran along the strand
[... Moses found, brought home to the Da, who wants to know who’s responsible]:
Ah then," says the Pharaoh, "I'll search every nook
From the Phoenix Park down to Donnybrook
And when I catch a hoult of the b**st*rds father
I’ll kick him from the Nile down to the Dodder."
And we had Bogies bonnie belle, Isle of Malachy and I wish my love was red red rose from the girl with the new glasses.
Autumn resolution for the Boyle Singers - we'll be starting at the earlier time of 9.00 (no, really we will), with a view to kicking off the singing at 9.30pm, from next month onwards.
This week we had a visit from a Japanese girl from Tokyo, Sayaka, who's doing a thesis on sean nós singing and seems to be visiting all the singing circles and festivals in Ireland, (it's a hard oul' station), gathering information and talking to people. She's a lovely singer herself, too.
Jim Bainbridge, Brian and Eileen were welcomed back and were in good voice, as was Eugene – doing a mighty job in his debut as Fear a' Tí. We’re making a small change to our usual format, and the convention is now, a round or two of songs, the sambos and then a free-for-all, or as they say in polite circles: “open to the floor”.
Frank and Frances Brennan were noted by their absence – but you can catch Frank at the singing festival in Knockcroghery next weekend, where he’s to appear as a special guest.
An aside here: Cnoc an Chrocaire / Knockcroghery was originally called An Creagán (Creggan, stony hill). There was a gallows erected on the hill to hang the Ó Ceallaighs, defeated by Sir Charles Coote in the 17th century. They had resisted Coote’s siege of their stronghold, Galey or Gayley Castle, on the shores of Lough Ree. They were hanged on the hill at Creggan and the deed was remember in the change of name, Cnoc an Chrocaire or hangman’s hill, anglicized to Knockcroghery.
No direct link, but one popular theme for the evening was soldiering and enlisting – or rather, against soldiering and enlisting. Tony for one gave us the King’s shilling (also sung by the Battlefield Band, Karan Casey, Jean Redpath, and others):
Oh my love has left me wi' bairnies twa
And that's the last o' him I ever saw
He's joined the army and he marched awa'
He took the shillin'
He took the shillin' and he marched awa'
Come laddies come, hear the cannons roar Tak' the King's shilling an' we're off tae war
Nora had No traitors came from Boyle and Eileen had Siúl a Rúin.
And the other main theme, wives and their mistreatment (Jim Bainbridge, let him be named!) was answered by Helen’s Himself, but he persisted with Three wives in The Fountain – the Fountain being a pub in England. No lyrics recorded for that but elicited this response from Clíona:
My parents they abandoned me and on them I do frown
For they wed me to an auld grey man for the sake of his money and ground
Francie did give Jim a lift home anyway.
Eugene threw in a few unsuitable songs from his repertoire (which is large) and also gave another tale of the marital state with the Brown and the Yellow Ale:
He asked me if the woman by my side was my daughter
Oh, the brown and the yellow ale
And when I said she's my wife his manner didn't alter
Oh, love of my heart.
Breege sang of Josie McDermott and of Staunton’s Brae and Brian sang Zozimus’s Finding of Moses.
On Egypt's banks, contagious to the Nile
The auld Pharaoh's daughter, she went to bathe in style
She took her dip and she came unto the land
And to dry her royal pelt she ran along the strand
[... Moses found, brought home to the Da, who wants to know who’s responsible]:
Ah then," says the Pharaoh, "I'll search every nook
From the Phoenix Park down to Donnybrook
And when I catch a hoult of the b**st*rds father
I’ll kick him from the Nile down to the Dodder."
And we had Bogies bonnie belle, Isle of Malachy and I wish my love was red red rose from the girl with the new glasses.
Discover Boyle day, Sunday 3rd October 2010
As part of the Discover Boyle day on Sunday 3rd October, the Boyle singers ran an extra singing session, which took place on Sunday afternoon, 4-6pm, in Dodd's Crescent bar.
There was an excellent turn-out of the regulars and some new faces too. Several people dropped in, on their way home from the Sligo traditional singers' weekend in Rosses Point, to add their songs to the afternoon. We hope we'll get to see (and hear) them again at our regular sessions, on the 3rd Saturday of the month, every month.
There was an excellent turn-out of the regulars and some new faces too. Several people dropped in, on their way home from the Sligo traditional singers' weekend in Rosses Point, to add their songs to the afternoon. We hope we'll get to see (and hear) them again at our regular sessions, on the 3rd Saturday of the month, every month.
18 September 2010.
Late night, many songs.
Unexpected and unusual soft spot for a banker - in Eugene's song:
...It pierced her through the very heart,
To think that young banker and her should part...
Young banker he had such a handsome face,
And all around his hat he wore a band of lace,
Beside such an handsome head of hair,
For my young banker I will go there.
From the singing of the Wilsons
Unexpected and unusual soft spot for a banker - in Eugene's song:
...It pierced her through the very heart,
To think that young banker and her should part...
Young banker he had such a handsome face,
And all around his hat he wore a band of lace,
Beside such an handsome head of hair,
For my young banker I will go there.
From the singing of the Wilsons
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