Heh AHers, What's your favourite Irish Ballad?

kfallon

Brummy thats the night visiting video I was on about earlier, Luke's last ever performance, I defy anyone to watch it without getting a tear in their eye or lump in their throat!

Dyr

sensibleken wrote: »

An Golín in parnell square has a fantastic collection of singers

Is it secret? I know of no establishment in Parnell Square by that name

HellFireClub

HellFireClub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38aglV4AOLo

HellFireClub

Pompey Magnus

Mrs McGrath is a great song also, it was very popular among the Volunteers leading up to the 1916 Rising

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGwUrmNI6wY

kfallon

When I had gout about 6 weeks ago I was constantly singing this in my head, if you listen to it all you'll know why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CW_TyDMblI

neil_hosey

has to be "the night before larry was stretched"..

orr...

wearin the britches sung by paul brady!

youtube them!!

kfallon

neil_hosey wrote: »

has to be "the night before larry was stretched"..

'And scuttle your nob with my fist’

Ages since I heard that!
'Little Jimmy Murphy' is another of those kid of ballads

sensibleken

neil_hosey wrote: »

has to be "the night before larry was stretched"..

love the language in that one. 'i'll scuttle your knob with me doddle!'

ziedth

Green fields of France all day for me but bizarrely I don't think it belongs in this thread:

It was written by an aussie.

It has nothing to do with Ireland but is based in a WW1 graveyard (allot
of people do think it's an Easter Rising song).

Even still I'll pick it. With a close second being Streets of New York by the Wolfe Tones.

thebostoncrab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssjsfuVzhIs

Dionysus

Back in 1970, in his first album Prosperous, Christy Moore sang an amazing version of a song named James Connolly. This was not the Wolfe Tones version, but rather the far superior socialist version. It began: "Where oh where is our James Connolly? Where oh where is that gallant man?..."

I can't find this version on YouTube at all. I did, however, find a faster version of the same song by Christy's Planxty friend Andy Irvine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9cyOgNVbaM

.

If anybody knows where to find the Christy version that would be great.

Another great Christy Moore songs is his version of Dunlavin Green (1978), which is one of the few ballads which were contemporaneous with the 1798 insurrection. I love the use of language in the lyrics. (Most songs about 1798 were written many years afterwards with the most famous, Boolavogue, written for the centenary in 1898)

Dunlavin Green is also not on YouTube yet.

Dionysus

And the song that inspired my grá for Irish history most has to be Planxty's Follow Me Up to Carlow. Although only written in the late 19th century (by Patrick Joseph McCall) it captures the hope and despair of sixteenth-century Ireland wonderfully.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvECtlJQ4dU

Another great Christy song, this time from his Live in Dublin (1977) album with Dónal Lunny and Jimmy Faulkner, is Sigerson Clifford's The Boys of Barr na Sráide. It is steeped in history and poignancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaLCWhnxYg

Smyth

biko wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWHo7syTQOo

I don't like all the fiddle dee dee stuff, but this is awesome. She was smokin when she was younger too.

HellsAngel

Boys of the old Brigade.

KeithAFC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3CckdyM394

?

kfallon

ziedth wrote: »

It has nothing to do with Ireland but is based in a WW1 graveyard (allot
of people do think it's an Easter Rising song).

How on earth do people think it's an Easter Rising song, I mean the clue is in the song title :rolleyes:

And the many references throughout the song to WW1

KeithAFC

The Sash? Many won't consider it Irish but some might.

Kensworld

I love the 'Parting Glass' when sung properly and Andy Irvine's 'Plains of Kildare'

Mongarra

OutlawPete post #16. Ronnie Drew "Ballet" group?!! Really missed that!

My own favourite is "Only our rivers run free" - nice version by "Platform".

Another party piece is "Buachaill ón Éirne" although I couldn't say who I heard singing it. Did hear a version one time by Mike Murphy - yes that Mike Murphy "from RTÉ". Words in English "Come by the hills" are nice but are not a translation of the Irish words - completely different theme.

OutlawPete

Mongarra wrote: »

OutlawPete post #16. Ronnie Drew "Ballet" group?!! Really missed that!.

A famous misprint from 1963 that they often referred to in interviews.

Shame, would have liked to see them perform in Tutus.

Check out the strangest version of Skibbereen you will EVER hear:

http://www.myspace.com/secretsrevealed1movement/music/songs/album-ed-skibereen-70706643

neil_hosey

another few greats that i went off to listen to again because they came into memory after reading this thread:

the hackler from grouse hall.

the kerry recruit.

easy and slow.

the limerick rake (a brilliant song sung best by ciaran bourke).

arthur mcbride (definitively sung by paul brady)

valley of knockanure...


ah theres WAY to many to name!

Dyr

neil_hosey wrote: »

another few greats that i went off to listen to again because they came into memory after reading this thread:

the hackler from grouse hall.



the limerick rake (a brilliant song sung best by ciaran bourke).

this guy does cracking versions of both:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SYxTFCjj3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CyjUUvn2pY

sensibleken

this is just awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mMRMDogu2c

castletownman

Cuchalainn's Son....an old Wexford song about Nickey Rackard

not yet

Among a few... The auld triangle, The ballad of James connolly, Kevin barry, But the one that stands out is Roger Casement, wonderful song and words.

ziedth

kfallon wrote: »

How on earth do people think it's an Easter Rising song, I mean the clue is in the song title :rolleyes:

And the many references throughout the song to WW1

Amazing no? I guess it's just he mentions the year 1916 and that's enough for some. I personally have had to explain it to at least 5 people over the years.

spannerotoole

Hazys wrote: »

Choon!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3wPUtfxzeI

Not trying to be pedantic (It comes somewhat natural to me) but Athenry is not in Ard Mhaca, It is in Gallimh.

Dionysus

Anybody here ever hear of Len Graham? He used to sing with a group named Skylark in the 1980s and 1990s. He is married to the Armagh folklorist and singer, Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, who wrote the superb history of the song tradition of Oriel, A Hidden Ulster (2003). He has a super rich voice on him. There's not much about him over on YouTube but here's one.

Anyway with Skylark back in 1987 he sang a great version of the 1690s (yes, 1690s) macaronic (bilingual) song, Siúil a Rúin. No sign of it on YouTube. I did, however, come across the Clannad version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZP-4B7kHqA

fontanalis

ziedth wrote: »

Amazing no? I guess it's just he mentions the year 1916 and that's enough for some. I personally have had to explain it to at least 5 people over the years.

Shows that there's a fine line between patriotic and stupid.

common sense brigade

Luke Kellys, Scorn Not.

And Grace by the Dubliners.

As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham Jail
I think about these past few weeks, oh will they say we've failed?
From our school days they have told us we must yearn for liberty
Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me

Oh Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye

Now I know it's hard for you my love to ever understand
The love I bare for these brave men, the love for my dear land
But when Pádraic called me to his side down in the GPO
I had to leave my own sick bed, to him I had to go

Oh, Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I'll place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye

Now as the dawn is breaking, my heart is breaking too
On this May morn as I walk out, my thoughts will be of you
And I'll write some words upon the wall so everyone will know
I loved so much that I could see his blood upon the rose.

Oh, Grace just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I'll place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love for we must say goodbye
For we must say goodbye

problemchimp

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6RtRB5U0GA

Carrickfergus is a wonderful song, I've seen bustling, rowdy pub go silent when someone starts playing it.

i used to gently sing this to my kids at bedtime when they were about six months old. Beautiful song.

Hookah

I heard this the other day, and thought it lovely.

http://soundcloud.com/reidytony/the-song-of-the-crow

Deedsie

Kensworld wrote: »

I love the 'Parting Glass' when sung properly and Andy Irvine's 'Plains of Kildare'

The Parting Glass is my party piece at the end of a night. Ive been told I zing it well. Great song.

The Wests Awake is a great song. My favourite verse:

That chainless wave and lovely land
Freedom and nationhood demand;
Be sure the great God never planned
For slumb'ring slaves a home so grand.
And long a brave and haughty race
Honoured and sentinelled the place.
Sing, Oh! not even their sons' disgrace
Can quite destroy their glory's trace.

D-Generate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-i8ljrcu8w

Wouldn't be a Cork man without throwing down that. Skibbereen is probably my favourite ballad though.

HellFireClub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgbdaEoUk4Y

doughef

The Wests Awake is a great song. My favourite verse:

That chainless wave and lovely land
Freedom and nationhood demand;
Be sure the great God never planned
For slumb'ring slaves a home so grand.
And long a brave and haughty race
Honoured and sentinelled the place.
Sing, Oh! not even their sons' disgrace
Can quite destroy their glory's trace.[/QUOTE]


Great choice, also A Song for Ireland,.. another fantastic song

HellFireClub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEcpOTaatKg

jdooley28

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcizhnIU2lI

Christy Moore They never came home

bnt

I like Tom Lehrer's "Irish Ballad": here's a version by a proper singer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtuRv5eciAo

Cathaoirleach

The ballad about our people that were forced to leave this isle because of greedy landlords.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5MCRFFEVXU

orourkeda

PK2008

Any ballad that blames the Brits for our problems

woodsy2

Not exactly a ballad, but i think it deserves an honourable mention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x35B7kKmpQ

Otherwise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1y67wYOFQ

Wolfe Tone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXzhEokVn0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmPbC1rYYOA

And written by Bobby Sands;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6SWH4XSNDw

Badgermonkey

Fans of Zeppelin, this preceded 'Blackmountainside'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Gcu0Sv6lk

Morlar

Fantastic thread, reminds me of sunday afternoons as a kid with the stereo blaring out the windows. Here are a few more:

Go on home british soldiers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KA9QKgcNRM

Thin Lizzy-Whiskey in the jar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TehFZ38kt6o

Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile - Scríofa ní Pádraig Pearse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9x6fG3QrBE

The Rebel - Padraig Pearse (Ronnie Drew)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wnqaSNygHs

K-9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5BvPNlYrRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02RJB663LKg

Wolfe Tone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYbEXLxpAW0

Can anyone tell me if the tune is taken from somewhere because I swear the local ice-cream trucks tune is the same. (maybe I'm going mad, or Santry has a fenian ice cream truck)