If ever you go to Dublin town...
on the 2nd Sunday of any month, check out Song Central, upstairs in Chaplin's Pub, beside the Screen Cinema.
Dec 2013 / Jan 2014
December was a busy month for everyone, and we wish you all a happy and tuneful 2014. We'll start off again on Saturday 18th January 2014.
Child Ballads
If you get a chance to be in Dublin any Wednesday until December18th, there is a weekly, free concert, of singers singing Child Ballads in the National Library, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Open to all.
November 2013 session
One song which has popped up a few times recently, with different interpretations, is the Death of Queen Jane, a Child ballad (#170).
The song is believed to be about Jane Seymour (c. 1509–37), Henry VIII's third wife - one of only two of his six wives he neither divorced nor beheaded. She gave birth to a son, Edward, who briefly become King, Edward VI of England and Ireland, before his early death in his late teens, when his older sisters, Mary and then Elizabeth, took over. There is no historical evidence for any Caesarian section being carried out on Jane during her labour and Jane was well enough to receive visitors after Edward's birth. However, she fell ill within a week and died 12 days later.
Helen Grehan sang a beautiful version the other night, to a different tune than that usually heard. Daithí Sproule composed a tune for it in the early 70s and this is the version the Bothy Band and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill recorded on their Afterhours album.This is also the version in the new Coen brothers' film: Inside Llewyn Davis, although that film is about a folk singer in Greenwich Village in 1961, before the tune was composed.
The song is believed to be about Jane Seymour (c. 1509–37), Henry VIII's third wife - one of only two of his six wives he neither divorced nor beheaded. She gave birth to a son, Edward, who briefly become King, Edward VI of England and Ireland, before his early death in his late teens, when his older sisters, Mary and then Elizabeth, took over. There is no historical evidence for any Caesarian section being carried out on Jane during her labour and Jane was well enough to receive visitors after Edward's birth. However, she fell ill within a week and died 12 days later.
Helen Grehan sang a beautiful version the other night, to a different tune than that usually heard. Daithí Sproule composed a tune for it in the early 70s and this is the version the Bothy Band and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill recorded on their Afterhours album.This is also the version in the new Coen brothers' film: Inside Llewyn Davis, although that film is about a folk singer in Greenwich Village in 1961, before the tune was composed.
The words to the ballad are (Bothy Band
version):
Queen Jane lay in labor full nine days or more
'Til her women grew so tired, they could no longer there
They could no longer there
"Good women, good women, good women as ye be
Will you open my right side and find my baby?
And find my baby"
"Oh no," cried the women, "That's a thing never can be
We will send for King Henry and hear what he may say
And hear what he may say"
King Henry was sent for, King Henry did come
Saying, "What do ail you, my lady? Your eyes, they look so dim
Your eyes, they look so dim"
"King Henry, King Henry, will you do one thing for me?
That's to open my right side and find my baby
And find my baby"
"Oh no," cried King Henry, "That's a thing I'll never do
If I lose the flower of England, I shall lose the branch too
I shall lose the branch too"
There was fiddling, aye, and dancing on the day the babe was born
But poor Queen Jane beloved lay cold as the stone
Lay cold as the stone
Queen Jane lay in labor full nine days or more
'Til her women grew so tired, they could no longer there
They could no longer there
"Good women, good women, good women as ye be
Will you open my right side and find my baby?
And find my baby"
"Oh no," cried the women, "That's a thing never can be
We will send for King Henry and hear what he may say
And hear what he may say"
King Henry was sent for, King Henry did come
Saying, "What do ail you, my lady? Your eyes, they look so dim
Your eyes, they look so dim"
"King Henry, King Henry, will you do one thing for me?
That's to open my right side and find my baby
And find my baby"
"Oh no," cried King Henry, "That's a thing I'll never do
If I lose the flower of England, I shall lose the branch too
I shall lose the branch too"
There was fiddling, aye, and dancing on the day the babe was born
But poor Queen Jane beloved lay cold as the stone
Lay cold as the stone
Frank Finn Traditional Singing Weekend- 4th to 6th October 2013
The Sligo Traditional Singers' Circle held the Frank Finn Traditional Singing Weekend, from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October 2013, at the Yeats Country Hotel, Rosses Point, Co Sligo.
This year, one of the special guests was Boyle's Breege Duffy. Breege and her brother Hughie gave a talk about Josie McDermott on the Saturday evening.
This year, one of the special guests was Boyle's Breege Duffy. Breege and her brother Hughie gave a talk about Josie McDermott on the Saturday evening.
Another Josie,
Rosses Point is a beautiful setting for this singing fest, long may it continue.
21 September 2013
On the eve of the All Ireland Dublin / Mayo clash, some of the singing was distinctly partisan, with Dicey Riley taking on the Mayo supporters in the other corner.
Poor aul Dicey Reilly she has taken to the sup
Poor aul Dicey Reilly she will never give it up
It's off each morning to the pop
And then she's in for another little drop
Ah, the heart of the rowl is Dicey Reilly
She walks along Fitzgibbon Street with an independent air
And then it's down by Summerhill and as the people stare
She says it's nearly half past one
And it's time I had another little one
Ah, the heart of the rowl is Dicey Reilly.
We don't encourage that class of thing at all. At all.
Poor aul Dicey Reilly she has taken to the sup
Poor aul Dicey Reilly she will never give it up
It's off each morning to the pop
And then she's in for another little drop
Ah, the heart of the rowl is Dicey Reilly
She walks along Fitzgibbon Street with an independent air
And then it's down by Summerhill and as the people stare
She says it's nearly half past one
And it's time I had another little one
Ah, the heart of the rowl is Dicey Reilly.
We don't encourage that class of thing at all. At all.
Frank Finn Traditional Singing Weekend: Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October 2013
The Frank Finn Traditional Singing Weekend will be held this year from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th October 2013 at the Yeats Country Hotel, Rosses Point, Co Sligo.
A great weekend of singing has been lined up once again by the Sligo Traditional Singers' Circle. This year, one of the special guests is Boyle's Breege Duffy.
The weekend's programme is varied and includes a trip to Coney Island, Breege and her brother Hugh on the Bard of Coolmeen, singing competition for the under 13s on the Sunday, and many, many singing sessions.
See you there.
A great weekend of singing has been lined up once again by the Sligo Traditional Singers' Circle. This year, one of the special guests is Boyle's Breege Duffy.
The weekend's programme is varied and includes a trip to Coney Island, Breege and her brother Hugh on the Bard of Coolmeen, singing competition for the under 13s on the Sunday, and many, many singing sessions.
See you there.
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