Johnny's gone to France

Johnny's gone to France, een Ierse Reel.

Donegal Danny

Ronnie Drew & The Dubliners perform Donegal Danny from a concert in the Gaeity Theatre.

Donagal Danny

Donagal Danny door The Barleycorn.

The Town I Loved So Well

Phil Coulter

In my memory I will always see
the town that I have loved so well
Where our school played ball by the gasyard wall
and we laughed through the smoke and the smell
Going home in the rain, running up the dark lane
past the jail and down behind the fountain
Those were happy days in so many, many ways
in the town I loved so well

In the early morning the shirt factory horn
called women from Creggan, the Moor and the Bog
While the men on the dole played a mother's role,
fed the children and then trained the dogs
And when times got tough there was just about enough
But they saw it through without complaining
For deep inside was a burning pride
in the town I loved so well

There was music there in the Derry air
like a language that we all could understand
I remember the day when I earned my first pay
And I played in a small pick-up band
There I spent my youth and to tell you the truth
I was sad to leave it all behind me
For I learned about life and I'd found a wife
in the town I loved so well

But when I returned how my eyes have burned
to see how a town could be brought to its knees
By the armoured cars and the bombed out bars
and the gas that hangs on to every tree
Now the army's installed by that old gasyard wall
and the damned barbed wire gets higher and higher
With their tanks and their guns, oh my God, what have they done
to the town I loved so well

Now the music's gone but they carry on
For their spirit's been bruised, never broken
They will not forget but their hearts are set
on tomorrow and peace once again
For what's done is done and what's won is won
and what's lost is lost and gone forever
I can only pray for a bright, brand new day
in the town I loved so well

Eleonor Plunkett

André Visser speelde deze eigen bewerking in de kerk tijdens de slotavond van een trekzak dag in Enkhuizen. Ooit geschreven door Turlough o' Carolan ergens tussen 1670 en 1738.

David Munnely

David Munnely speelt bij Het Accordeonweekend van de VPRO

Blarney Roses

[D]Can anybody tell me where the Blarney Roses grow?

It may be down in Limerick town or[G] over in Mayo.
It's some[D]where in the Em'rald Isle, but[G] this I want to know:
Can [D]anybody tell me where the[G] Blarney Roses [D]grow

'Twas over in ould Ireland near the town of Cushendall,
One morn I met a damsel there, the fairest of them all.
'Twas with my young affections and my money did she go,
And she told me she belonged to where the Blarney Roses grow

Her cheeks were like the roses, her hair a raven hue.
Before that she was done with me, she had me raving too.
She left me sorely stranded, not a coin she left, you know,
And she told me she belonged to where the Blarney Roses grow

They've roses in Killarney, and the same in County Clare,
But 'pon my word those roses, boys, I can't see anywhere.
She blarney'd me and, by the powers, she left me broke -- ho, ho! --
Did this damsel that belonged to where the Blarney Roses grow.

Acushla gra-machree, me boys, she murmured soft, did she,
"If you belong to Ireland, it's yourself belongs to me."
Her Donegal come-all-ye brogue, it captured me, you know.
Bad scram to her and that same place, where the Blarney Roses grow

Here's the guitar chords in the key of G

[G]Can anybody tell me where the Blarney Roses grow?
It may be down in Limerick town or[C] over in Mayo.
It's some[G]where in the Em'rald Isle, but[C] this I want to know:
Can [G]anybody tell me where the[C] Blarney Roses [G]grow

She moved thro' the fair

This is a tragic piece about lost love. This song was written in 1909 although the original pre-dates this. But a song collector and publisher named Herbert Hughes heard the melody while in County Donegal and approached the song writer Padric Colum with the last two lines of the song and asked him to write a version.

Sinéad left out some of the song. 
Usually the third verse is
"The people were saying no two were e´er wed,
But one has a sorrow that never was said,
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear."
and the last verse should start:
"last night she came to me, my dead love came in"
This is where the young man denies that he murdered his young love. 

In the last verse we hear the line, I dreamed last night my young love came in. The original line is, I dreamed last night that my dead love came in (implying she haunts him for what he done). 

The song has been used in several movies including Brave Heart.

Donegal Danny

Samenspelen met Johan in de tuin bij de Suudooster. Donegal Danny. Wordt vervolgd.

Raglan Road

Lyrics:
On Raglan Road of an autumn day
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might one day rue
I saw the danger and I passed
Along the enchanted way
And said let grief be a fallen leaf
At the dawning of the day

On Grafton Street in November
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion's pledge
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay
Oh I loved too much and by such by such
Is happiness thrown away

I gave her gifts of the mind
I gave her the secret signs
Known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint I did not stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there
And her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had loved not as I should
A creature made of clay
When the angel woos the clay
He'll lose his wings at the dawn of day

• Muziek

  • 'Raglan Road' van Luke Kelly (iTunes)

Dicey Riley

Henry my Son

Avondale

Red is the Rose

The Skillet Pot

Michael Grosvenor Myer sings a sentimental Irish song about childhood.

Where is James Connnolly

Andy Irvine - Where is our James Connolly?

Arthur McBride

Paul Brady 1977  

Traditional. This one goes back to 1840s and was recorded by Planxty , Paul Brady and Bob Dylan. The first verion is by Andy Irvine with Plankty. all the other versions of the song are included here. The sheet music is below. Thanks to Marc Fahrbach for the chords for the Planxty version.

Long Version in G
 
I (G)had a first cousin called Arthur McBride
He and (C)I took a (G)stroll down (Am)by the sea(C)side;
(G)Seeking good fortune and (C)what might be(G)tide
It was just as the (Am)day was a'(C)daw(D)nin'
And (G)after restin' we (C)both took a (G)tramp
We (C)met Sergeant (G)Harper and (Am)Corporal (C)Cramp
Be(G)sides the wee drummer who beat up the camp
With his row-dee-(D)dow-dow in the (G)morning
 
He says my young fellows if you will enlist
A guinea you quickly will have in your fist
Besides a crown for to kick up the dust
And drink the King's health in the morning
For a soldier he leads a very fine life
He always is blessed with a charming young wife
And he pays all his debts without sorrow or strife
And always lives happy and charming
 
And a soldier he always is decent and clean
In the finest of garments he's constantly seen
While other poor fellows go dirty and mean
And sup on thin gruel in the morning
Says Arthur, I wouldn't be proud of your clothes
You've only the lend of them as I suppose
And you dare not change them one night or you know
If you do you'll be flogged in the morning
 
And although we are single and free
We take great delight in our own company
And we have no desire strange countries to see
Although your offer is charming
And we have no desire to take your advance
All hazards and danger we barter on chance
and you'd have no scruples to send us to France
Where we would be shot without warning
 
And now says the sergeant, if I hear but one word
I'll instantly now will out with my sword
And into your bodies as strength will afford
So now my gay devils take warning
But Arthur and I we took the odds
We gave them no chance to launch out their swords
Whacking shillelaghs came over their heads
And paid them right smart in the morning
 
As for the wee drummer, we rifled his pow
And made a football of his row-do-dow-dow
Into the ocean to rock and to roll
And bade it a tedious returnin'
As for the old rapier that hung by his side
We flung it as far as we could in the tide
To the Devil I pitch you, says Arthur McBride
To temper your steel in the morning

The Boys of Blue Hill

Angus Polka

Dennis Murphy's Polka