Browse Content (15 total)
- Collection: Songs and Mouth music
Shores of My Native Land
Rita Gallagher from County Donegal recorded this song for me in her own inimitable style over twenty years ago at an All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil. I have loved the song and Rita's masterful interpretation of it.
Gentle Mother
During those trips Mulhaire's Céilí Band made to Lixnaw and other towns in County Kerry in the 1960s (see 'Tart ar an Ól'), ballad singer Josephine McNamara was another artist who made the long journey – in her case from…
Fleadh Down in Ennis, The
In 1956, Robbie McMahon from Spancilhill in County Clare composed this song about the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil held in Ennis that year. When it is sung today, it is a wonderful piece of musical history, as it is also a litany of the names of…
Mhaighdean Mhara, An
All-Ireland champion harpist and singer Pádraigín Caesar attended Boston College as a Fulbright Scholar, and we became great friends. When Sandy and I lived in Groton, Massachusetts, 'Paudi', as we called her, visited us on a number of…
O'Brien the Blacksmith
Another song from the pen of Robbie McMahon. I first heard him sing it at a County Clare Fleadh Cheoil over fifty years ago, and it has stayed with me down through the years. Robbie sang it again for me the afternoon that I visited his home in 2009,…
Spancilhill
Spancilhill in east County Clare gives its name to this song which I first heard around 1958, sung by Robbie McMahon, who was himself from that very same neighbourhood. Robbie gave us his updated rendition during a wonderful afternoon of singing in…
Lurgy Stream
The beautiful singing voice of All-Ireland Champion Rita Gallagher is once again heard on this track. The words of the song, and the others that she sang for the miscellany, appear courtesy of Rita. Thank you, my friend. More wonderful singing from…
Old Man in the Hob
In this song, the old man sitting by the fireside calls his sons together to relate to them what it was like living and surviving in days gone by: true stories of tough times. Running somewhat parallel with the words of this song are words spoken to…
Eochaill
My dear friend Ann Mulqueen, formerly of Castleconnell, County Limerick, and now living in An Rinn, the Gaeltacht area of County Waterford, is the singer on this track. Ann travelled throughout Ireland competing at Fleadhanna Ceoil, and she was much…
Savage Seas, The
I first heard this song many years ago, sung by Ed and Ruth Fitzgerald from Kildare, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The song tells the story of the seas surrounding the Island. Ed composed the song for a competition on the Island, but forgot about it…
Tigh an Cheoil
My good friend Ann Mulqueen, one of Ireland's wonderful traditional singers, composed 'Tigh an Cheoil'. Tigh an Cheoil, the great pub in An Rinn in County Waterford, should be on everyone's list of places to visit when looking for a good pint, great…
Gracie M. Parker, The
Sung here by Edward and Ruth Fitzgerald from Prince Edward Island in Canada, this song tells the story of a ninety-one-ton, two-masted schooner built in Massachusetts in 1869. According to Edward, the boat was based in Tignish, PEI, and it was…
Edward on Lough Erne's Shore
There are a number of songs that mention Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, and much has been written about this beautiful spot. Rita Gallagher's performance of this song is a dream. Listen as one of Ireland's great singers tells the story.
Lament for Mick Mackey
Poet Críostóir Mac Gearailt penned the words of this song in tribute to one of Ireland's greatest sportsmen, the mighty Mick Mackey from Ahane, County Limerick. Mick Mackey played hurling for his native county in the 1930s and '40s, and…
Parting Glass, The / The Peacock's Feather
The majestic vocals of the one and only Len Graham bring us near the end of this collaborative collection as he sings 'The Parting Glass'. His is an old County Antrim setting of the song, one that he and Joe Holmes sang together in the Guild Hall,…