Lyrics And Chords From N To R
There are several hundred youtube videos on the site. These videos are only here as a guide to give you the gist of the timing of the song. The videos may not be in the key that I have set the chords to any given song unless I have stated this but most are. Several visitors to the site have written to be saying they are having problems playing along to the videos. Once again I say, play the song in a key that suits your own voice. For example Tommy Byrne from The Wolfe Tones plays a lot of songs in the key of F Major, this key won't suit most guitar players. If the chords I have given don't fit your voice then change the key of the song with the key changer. All the chords are in chordpro .
Paddy
Gerry Carney
Paul Magorrian
The Peeler And The Goat
Pa Los Del San Patricio
The Proclamation Of Independence
The Parting Glass
The Patriot Game
Playing With Numbers
Please Fill Up My Paper Cup
Alec Latimer
Phil The Fluter's Ball
Put More Turf On The Fire Mary Ann
The Punch And Judy Man
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore
The Poor Orphan Boy
Patricia Kelly McKay
The Pretty Maid
Percy French Song Lyrics
Prodoggle
The Plains Of Kildare
Paude O'Donoghue
The Queen Of Connemara
The Quays of Galway Town
Quare Bungle Rye
The Rose Of Allendale
Red Is The Rose
Rafferty's Motor Car
Remember Me / Recuerdame
Remember Me By Christy Hennessy
Remember Me By The Irish Rogues
The Rose Of Moincoin
The Rose Of Tralee
The Roseville Fair
The Rose Of Aranmore
The Recruited Collier
The Storyteller
Red Haired Mary
Roisin Dubh
Reynard The Fox
Rolling Of The Sea
Rolling In The Hay
Conal Gallen
Roisin My Roisin
The Barleycorn
Rebels On Rise
Rambling Boys Of Pleasure
The Rambling House
The Rambling Kerry Lad
Rambling Irishman
Red Roses For Me
Roddy McCorley
The Roads Of Kildare
The Rocks Of Bawn
Paddy McGinty's Goat
Gerry Carney
Paul Magorrian
The Peeler And The Goat
Pa Los Del San Patricio
The Proclamation Of Independence
The Parting Glass
The Patriot Game
Playing With Numbers
Please Fill Up My Paper Cup
Alec Latimer
Phil The Fluter's Ball
Put More Turf On The Fire Mary Ann
The Punch And Judy Man
Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore
The Poor Orphan Boy
Patricia Kelly McKay
The Pretty Maid
Percy French Song Lyrics
Prodoggle
The Plains Of Kildare
Paude O'Donoghue
The Queen Of Connemara
The Quays of Galway Town
Quare Bungle Rye
The Rose Of Allendale
Red Is The Rose
Rafferty's Motor Car
Remember Me / Recuerdame
Remember Me By Christy Hennessy
Remember Me By The Irish Rogues
The Rose Of Moincoin
The Rose Of Tralee
The Roseville Fair
The Rose Of Aranmore
The Recruited Collier
The Storyteller
Red Haired Mary
Roisin Dubh
Reynard The Fox
Rolling Of The Sea
Rolling In The Hay
Conal Gallen
Roisin My Roisin
The Barleycorn
Rebels On Rise
Rambling Boys Of Pleasure
The Rambling House
The Rambling Kerry Lad
Rambling Irishman
Red Roses For Me
Roddy McCorley
The Roads Of Kildare
The Rocks Of Bawn
Paddy McGinty's Goat
New York Girls Can You Dance The Polka
Newport Town
No Irish Need Apply
No Fixed Abode
Alec Latimer
Nancy Spain
Barney Rush / Christy Moore
Nazarene Song
New Day Dawning
No Time To Say Goodbye
Nora Lee
Nora The Pride Of Kildare
Noreen Bawn
Noreen By Celtic Thunder
N.Y.P.D. Honour Ireland's Sons
Derek Warfield
The Nightingale
Off To Tipperary In The Morning
Ruby Murry / Bing Crosby
O'Sullivan's John
Old Clonoe
Seamus Robinson
One Day At A Time
Old Flames
O'Donnell Abu
Only Our Rivers Run Free
Old Ballymoe
On The Dole
On St. Patrick's Day
Ormonde Folk Lyrics
Ordinary Sunday
Athenrye / Dermot O'Brien
Only Ireland Needs You're Tears
Our Lost Little Isle
Our Last Hope
Old Maid In The Garret
The Old Turf Fire
The Wild Geese
The Official I.R.A. Song
The Old Rustic Bridge By The Mill
The Orange And The Green
The Old Claddagh Ring
The Old Dungarvan Oak
The Offaly Rover
The Outlawed Rappree
The Old Fenian Gun
The Old Homestead
The Old House
Of This Land
Oh Sarah
Oh Lord It's So Hard To Be Humble
The Oldest Swinger In Town
The Old Woman From Wexford
Our Divided Little Country Called Ireland
Out Of My Head
Only One Mother
On St. Patrick's Day
Pal Of My Cradle Days
When I Mowed Pat Murphy's Meadow
Roll Back The Clouds
The Rising Of The Moon
The Road That Barry Went
Reconciliation
The Roving Galway Boy
The Rambler From Derry
Newport Town
No Irish Need Apply
No Fixed Abode
Alec Latimer
Nancy Spain
Barney Rush / Christy Moore
Nazarene Song
New Day Dawning
No Time To Say Goodbye
Nora Lee
Nora The Pride Of Kildare
Noreen Bawn
Noreen By Celtic Thunder
N.Y.P.D. Honour Ireland's Sons
Derek Warfield
The Nightingale
Off To Tipperary In The Morning
Ruby Murry / Bing Crosby
O'Sullivan's John
Old Clonoe
Seamus Robinson
One Day At A Time
Old Flames
O'Donnell Abu
Only Our Rivers Run Free
Old Ballymoe
On The Dole
On St. Patrick's Day
Ormonde Folk Lyrics
Ordinary Sunday
Athenrye / Dermot O'Brien
Only Ireland Needs You're Tears
Our Lost Little Isle
Our Last Hope
Old Maid In The Garret
The Old Turf Fire
The Wild Geese
The Official I.R.A. Song
The Old Rustic Bridge By The Mill
The Orange And The Green
The Old Claddagh Ring
The Old Dungarvan Oak
The Offaly Rover
The Outlawed Rappree
The Old Fenian Gun
The Old Homestead
The Old House
Of This Land
Oh Sarah
Oh Lord It's So Hard To Be Humble
The Oldest Swinger In Town
The Old Woman From Wexford
Our Divided Little Country Called Ireland
Out Of My Head
Only One Mother
On St. Patrick's Day
Pal Of My Cradle Days
When I Mowed Pat Murphy's Meadow
Roll Back The Clouds
The Rising Of The Moon
The Road That Barry Went
Reconciliation
The Roving Galway Boy
The Rambler From Derry
Keith Rankin
comment: I wanted to thank you for this site. I was introduced to the tones while I was in college some 20 years ago along with groups like the Chieftans, The Clancy Brothers and others. I have maintained my passion for this rich and wonderful music to this day. As an American of Scots/Irish descent I have, as you noted, learned a great deal of the history of my family's home not only from the music but from the research that those songs inspired in me. As a sometime guitar player I am thoroughly enjoying the addition of the great rebel songs to my list for local parties and get togethers with friends. I enjoy introducing people to the music and the nation I love so well. This rich history and heritage must never be allowed to pass away for mere commercialism or politics. Thank you, God Bless and keep up the work.
comment: I wanted to thank you for this site. I was introduced to the tones while I was in college some 20 years ago along with groups like the Chieftans, The Clancy Brothers and others. I have maintained my passion for this rich and wonderful music to this day. As an American of Scots/Irish descent I have, as you noted, learned a great deal of the history of my family's home not only from the music but from the research that those songs inspired in me. As a sometime guitar player I am thoroughly enjoying the addition of the great rebel songs to my list for local parties and get togethers with friends. I enjoy introducing people to the music and the nation I love so well. This rich history and heritage must never be allowed to pass away for mere commercialism or politics. Thank you, God Bless and keep up the work.
Most of us have had that feeling when we're at that party or in that
quaint little pub where the session is in full swing. That longing to get involved is bubbling inside us if only to sing to ourselves as the guatarist strums, the fiddler fiddles and the bodhran gets beaten by the hairy fellow in the corner.
Why not learn that tune, the words and sing to yourself? Why not take the bull by the horns, join in the session and do your own party piece?
For those using this pack as an introduction to Irish ballads, you will find many of the well known songs which keep on cropping up at parties or sessions in the local pub. Even for those who are unable to read music, the tape will provide you with a portion of each song in the book. Repeat the tape a couple of times to get the tune in your head, learn a few verses from the book and off you go, capable of doing your own party piece or joining in the session with the hairy fellow in the corner.
For those who already know some of the tunes, there are probably still some ballads you are not familiar with or words which you are unsure of. Guitar players are also catered for with guitar chords inserted for each ballad.
On its own, you will find the tape a pleasure to listen to and undoubtably get many hours of enjoyment from it alone.
Irish ballads vary slightly according to the area, the pub or particularly the musician involved. What we have done is taken what we consider the best known version of the ballads for your enjoyment.
quaint little pub where the session is in full swing. That longing to get involved is bubbling inside us if only to sing to ourselves as the guatarist strums, the fiddler fiddles and the bodhran gets beaten by the hairy fellow in the corner.
Why not learn that tune, the words and sing to yourself? Why not take the bull by the horns, join in the session and do your own party piece?
For those using this pack as an introduction to Irish ballads, you will find many of the well known songs which keep on cropping up at parties or sessions in the local pub. Even for those who are unable to read music, the tape will provide you with a portion of each song in the book. Repeat the tape a couple of times to get the tune in your head, learn a few verses from the book and off you go, capable of doing your own party piece or joining in the session with the hairy fellow in the corner.
For those who already know some of the tunes, there are probably still some ballads you are not familiar with or words which you are unsure of. Guitar players are also catered for with guitar chords inserted for each ballad.
On its own, you will find the tape a pleasure to listen to and undoubtably get many hours of enjoyment from it alone.
Irish ballads vary slightly according to the area, the pub or particularly the musician involved. What we have done is taken what we consider the best known version of the ballads for your enjoyment.
Subject Matter of the Ballad. — The ballad is a lyric poem which in its origin was intended to be accompanied not only by music, but dancing, but has long since settled down into a form of narrative poetry, dealing with a particular short story or incident. The peculiarity of the ballad is that it refers to an incident with which the audience is supposed to be acquainted, and does not give a methodical recitation of the facts, such as a newspaper report would. It picks out salient features of the story, and presents them with the author’s comment, which either directly or indirectly challenges the sympathy of the hearers with the author’s own point of view. The ballad has consequently not only a subjective element, as in all lyric poetry, but also purports definitely to represent the popular sympathy and general feeling. A frequent subject with the ballad writer is the death of a popular hero or the chronicling of some martial event.
Metrical Form. — As the ballad is popular in its appeal, it follows that its metrical form must naturally be of the simplest. It is written regularly in stanzas of four verses, the first and third containing four feet, and the second and fourth three feet. A departure from this regular form is seen in Ferguson’s “ Burial of King Cormac,” where each line contains four feet instead of the alternate arrangement of four and three feet. Examine the stanza :
But he who made the tree to grow,
And hid in earth the iron-stone,
And made the man with mind to know,
The axe’s use, is God alone.
You will find in each line four feet, each foot measure consisting of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable, while alternate lines rhyme.
Sometimes, for the sake of variety, each couplet is printed as one verse of seven feet, and then the verses fall into rhyming couplets, as :
The summer sun is falling soft on Carbery’s hundred Isles,
The summer sun is gleaming still through Gabriel’s rough defiles,
History of the Ballad in Ireland. — Ballad poetry in Ireland may be divided into three distinct classes : the Gaelic ballads, written in the Irish language, many of which have been translated by Mangan, Ferguson and Callanan ; the street ballads, the traditional songs of the people, preserved by roving singers, and numbering such well-known songs as “ The Wearing of the Green,” “ The Shan Van Vocht,” “ Willy Reilly ” ; and lastly, the Anglo-Irish ballads, written within the last century. Poets who have contributed the best work in this class are Ferguson, Griffin, Davis and Callanan. It is with this third series of ballads that we are chiefly occupied in the text.
Metrical Form. — As the ballad is popular in its appeal, it follows that its metrical form must naturally be of the simplest. It is written regularly in stanzas of four verses, the first and third containing four feet, and the second and fourth three feet. A departure from this regular form is seen in Ferguson’s “ Burial of King Cormac,” where each line contains four feet instead of the alternate arrangement of four and three feet. Examine the stanza :
But he who made the tree to grow,
And hid in earth the iron-stone,
And made the man with mind to know,
The axe’s use, is God alone.
You will find in each line four feet, each foot measure consisting of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable, while alternate lines rhyme.
Sometimes, for the sake of variety, each couplet is printed as one verse of seven feet, and then the verses fall into rhyming couplets, as :
The summer sun is falling soft on Carbery’s hundred Isles,
The summer sun is gleaming still through Gabriel’s rough defiles,
History of the Ballad in Ireland. — Ballad poetry in Ireland may be divided into three distinct classes : the Gaelic ballads, written in the Irish language, many of which have been translated by Mangan, Ferguson and Callanan ; the street ballads, the traditional songs of the people, preserved by roving singers, and numbering such well-known songs as “ The Wearing of the Green,” “ The Shan Van Vocht,” “ Willy Reilly ” ; and lastly, the Anglo-Irish ballads, written within the last century. Poets who have contributed the best work in this class are Ferguson, Griffin, Davis and Callanan. It is with this third series of ballads that we are chiefly occupied in the text.
SONGS OF THE GAEL-FOURTH SERIES-A Collection of AngloIrish Songs and Ballads-WEDDED TO OLD TRADITIONAL IRISH AIRS. Printed in 1922
WITH this Fourth Series of Songs of the Gael I bring to a close the work on which I have been engaged. That work was the fitting to old Irish traditional airs of many beautiful Anglo-Irish songs and ballads which until now have never been wedded to music. Another object I had in view was the bringing together into one collection, with their music, very many songs which had been written to old Irish airs, but which were scattered through many books and private collections. As a mere anthology these four Series of Songs of the Gael will be found to be a treasure house. But it is principally as an effort to popularize hundreds of beautiful old Irish airs hitherto unmated with words, and to do a like service for fine songs hitherto unmated with music, that the collection will be valued.
In this Fourth Series there* are upwards of one hundred songs wedded for the first time to old Irish music. Taking the four books or Series which have been now published it will be found that over three hundred songs, which had never been sung, are now found united to old traditional airs. These songs are all “ racy of the soil.55
Davis, in his essay on Irish songs, said that “ Ireland does not rank low in songs. She is far above England, or Italy, or Spain, and equal to Germany.55 He thought her below Scotland. That estimate was formed in 1842-1845. Since that time, a host of song-vrriters have added to the lustre of the Irish name: William Rooney (1873-1901), “ Leo 55 (18461870), .Frances Brown (died 1879), R. D. Joyce (1830-1883), P. J. M‘Call (1861-1918), John Locke (1847-1889), Michael Hogan, “Bard of Thomond ” (1832-1899), Allingham (18241889), “ Ethna Carbery ” (died 1902), John Hand (1845-1903), “ Conaciensis” (Mathew F. Hughes, 1834-1895), Michael Scanlan, born in Co. Limerick, one of the most gifted of the Irish American poets (born in 1836), C. J. Kickham (1825-1882), Doheny (1848), William Collins, born in Strabane (1838-1890), John Boyle (1822-1885), Arthur Forrester, born in Ballvtrain, Co, Monaghan, 1850, died in 1895 in South Boston, USA., Dora Sigerson, who died a few years ago, and many others.
We have still living amongst us song- writers whose work would have gladdened the heart of Davis, such as Dr. George Sigerson and Frank Fahy. Even in the outburst of patriotic effort against alien rule since 1916 poets have arisen who voiced Ireland’s claims. I need only mention the names of Brian O’Higgins, Maev Cavanagh, and the noble men who died for Ireland --Patrick Pearse, T. MacDonagh, T. Ashe, Plunket — and the writers of the two fine songs, “ Pearse to Ireland ” and “ She our Mother.” In fact, so luxuriant has been the crop of writers since Davis’s time that I have largely drawn upon them in these pages.
And what Davis wrote of as a want in all Irish songs before his day — -that is, the want of strictly national lyrics — we have supplied to us in this collection. To them I venture to apply the words of that illustrious Irishman : “ They are full of heart and reality. They are not written for the stage. They are the slow growth of intense passion and simple taste. Love, mirth, and patriotism are, not the ornaments , but the inspiration of these songs. They are full of personal narrative, streaming hopes and fears, bounding joy in music, absolute disregard for prettiness, and, then, they are thoroughly Irish.” Sweet, noble, and varying between pastoral, love, joy, wailing, and war songs. Such are the selections which I have endeavoured to gather within the pages of Songs of the Gael .
Whilst aiming at making this collection high-class, my object also was to make it popular. I have excluded rigorously the class of song and ballad condemned by Davis in which one “ finds bombast, or slander, or coarseness, united in all cases with false rhythm, false rhyme, and conceited imagery.55
The verse -writers whom Thomas Davis longed to see arise will, I think, be found to be those whose names are recorded in my pages : “ If they be poets — if they be men who have grown up amid the common talk and pictures of nature — the bosomed lake amid rocks — the endless sea, with its roaring and whispering fringes — the bleak moor, the many- voiced trees, the bounding river — if they be men who have loved passionately, and ardently hated — generous in friendship, tranced by sweet or maddened by strong sounds, sobbing with unused strength and fiery for freedom and glory — then they can write the lyrics for every class in Ireland.”
Evidently Davis had in mind such men as Sigerson, Rooney, “ Leo,” McCall, and women of the type of “ Eva,” Ethna Carbery, and Dora Sigerson.
I send this collection of songs forth to the Irish public as the class of lyrics which our distinguished countryman wished to see in vogue : “ Songs for the Street and Field, requiring simple words, bold, strong imagery, plain, deep passions (love, patriotism, conciliation, glory, indignation, resolve), daring humour, broad narrative, highest morals . . . and in all cases simplicity and heartiness.”
At the end of this Fourth Series I give three specimens of hymns wedded to old traditional Irish airs, just to show that many of our old airs are eminently suitable for hymn tunes. We have a large repertoire of such music to draw from. A few years ago (1917) I edited (The Educational Co., Talbot Street, Dublin) four booklets of such airs with Irish hymns, under the title of “.” This shows what can be done, and what a rich store- house of materials we have got. One has only to listen to the beautiful congregational singing at the monthly meetings of the “ CuaIacc ITIuipe,” under the direction of the Rev. C. O’Flynn, in Cork Cathedral, to see the superiority of old traditional Irish music over the modern English hymn- tune.
With the issue of the four Series of Songs of the Gael and the two books of Irish Songs with music, entitled “ Ceot Ap SitipeAp ” and “Ap gCeol which have been also given
to the public, the children of the Gael can no longer plead a dearth of suitable concert songs as an excuse for falling back on the mawkish, unwholesomely sentimental, un-Irish rubbish of the music-hall variety.
Let us hope that the songs of our native Irish writers — in the language, Irish or English, which each one may be master of — and the music of our native land, now within easy reach of all, will be as widely sung as they deserve. Of the one and of the other we assuredly have good reason to be proud.
PAT)RUi5 bneAtiiAc.
St. Peter’s, Phibsboro’,
Dublin, August 15, 1922.
List of song titles in the book.
Adieu to Belashanny . . . . . .192
A Dream of the Future . . . . .110
A Flight Across the Sea . . . .195
A Nation Once Again ...... 319
An Exile’s Song ...... 307
A Night Out . . . . . .74
Annie Dear ....... 100
A Patriot of the Tyrol ...... 304
A Song for the Pope ...... 2
A Song of Graun’ya Waile ..... 138
A tlbAil mo Suit ...... 120
-Avonree, The . . . . . . .124
Billy Byrne of Ballymanus . . . . .40
Bold Fenian Men, The . . . . . .104
Boys are Coming Home, The . . . . .32
Brigid Cruise to Carolan . . . . .70
Brigid O’Malley ...... 200
By Memory Inspired . . . . . .100
Cahir O’Dogherty’s Message ..... 332
Change, The . . . . . . .102
Christmas Memories ...... 230
Clan of Mac Caura, The ..... 270
Colleen Rue, The . . . . . . 44
Cormac and Mary . . . . . .152
Cushla Machree . . . . . .50
Dark Maid of the Valley, The . . . . .64
Dearest Mary . . . . . .70
Dear Florence . . . . . .12
Dear Harp of My Country ..... 330
Deirdre’s Farewell . . . .189
Dew each Trembling Leaf Enwreathed, The . . 108
Dirge of O’Sullivan Bear
Donal Kenny ....... 298
Dying Mother’s Lament, The ..... 208
Eileen O’More — I. ...... 204
Eileen O’More — II. ...... 267
Ellen Bawn ...... 218
English and Irish Eyes . . . , .198
Fair Hills of Erin O, The . . . . . 27G
Fairies are Dancing, The . . .52
Farewell ....... 86
Farewell, Lovely Erin ...... 106
Father Murphy of Co. Wexford . . .150
Gather Together, True Men All . . . .30
Geraldine’s Daughter, The . . . . .57
God Bless the Brave ...... 204
Good Old Cause, The ...... 214
Grania Waile ....... 36
Grave of Mac Caura, The . . . . .48
Green and the Gold, The. . . . .234
Green Woods of Truagh, The . . . . .62
Hand in Hand ....... 312
Harper, The ....... 286
Hawthorn Trees, The . . .144
He Came from the North ..... 156
Here Goes for My Native Land .38
Home Again ....... 146
Hope for Our Own Native Land .136
Horseman of Dunrone, The ..... 240
How Fair is the Sun on Loch Gara ! . . 320
I am a Poor Stranger ...... 24
If I had Thought 282
In this Calm, Sheltered Villa .92
Irish Emigrant, The ... 252
Irish Emigrant, The . . 254
Irish Girl’s Song, The ... 246
Irish Maiden’s Song, The . . . . .88
Irish Mother in the Penal Days, The . . . .82
Irish Wife, The . . . 274
I Sit on the Hold of Moyallo ..... 258
I was the Boy for Bewitching Them .... 212
Kevin Barry ....... 281
Kilruddery Hunt, The ...... 8
Kitty’s Toys ....... 94
Lady Marguerite, The . . . .184
Lament of the Ejected Irish Peasant .... 142
Last Friends, The. ...... 102
^Last Bard of Kincora, The . .34
Like Morning’s Rosy Dawn ..... 244
Live Not Slaves ...... 22
Long, Long Ago ...... 148
Long, Long Have I Wandered . .154
Love and War ....... 58
Love-Dreams . . .180
Lovely Loch Lein ...... 330
Lovely Sweet Banks of the Suir, The . . .118
Love’s Longings ...... 262
Mallow Spa Glen, The ...... 60
Mary of Carrick ...... 310
Mary of Meelick ..... 226
Men in Jail for Ireland, The ..... 249
Men of Eighty-two, The . . . . .334
Men of To-day, The ...... 202
Minstrel’s Walk, The . .186
Molly Asthore . . . . . . .98
Monks of Erin, The ...... 296
My Anna’s Eyes . . .256
My Bonny Cuckoo ...... 7
My Darling Una Bawn ...... 170
My Hope ....... 178
My Life is like the Summer Rose .... 220
My Owen Bawn . . . . .16
My Pagan Pat O’Leary . . . .54
My Trip over the Mountains .... 324
Niamh ....... 290
Night was Still, The . . . . .80
Nora ....... 224
Norah, the Pride of Kildare ..... 228
O Eire, My Country ! . . . . . . 222
O Erin, My Country ! . . . . . . 295
64 Oh ! Blame not the Bard ” . . . . .326
Old Boreen, The ...... 278
Old Days, The ...... 173
O My Bird ....... 26
O ! Sing Me not that Song Again . . . .68
O’Sionnach’s Daughter . . . . . .66
Our True Men ....... 140
Peggy Browne ....... 217
Pilgrim Harper, The . . . . . .160
Priests of Ninety-Eight, The ..... 292
Question, The ....... 128
Reaper’s Song, The ...... 316
Rebel Heart, The . . . . . .328
Rebel’s Sermon, The ...... 288
Returning Exile’s Song, The . . . .84
Rory Dali’s Lamentation ..... 322
Scent of an Irish Rose, The ... 260
Shall I ? . . • .301
Shule Aroon .... 272
Silken Thomas ...••• 46
Sleep On ..... 90
Slievenamon . . . • • .19
Song of An Exile .•••• 237
Song of the Convict, The . .79
Song of the Peasant Wife . . . . .210
Songs of The Nation , The ..... 134
Star of Evening Arose, The . . . . .182
St. Patrick’s Day ...... 4
Sword of the Saxon, The . . . . .116
Talk by the Blackwater . . . . .14
Voice of Song, The ...... 176
Watch and Wait ...... 168
Wedding, The ....... 28
West’s Asleep, The ...... 284
White’s Daughter of the Dell ..... 232
Wild Geese, The ...... 104
Wild Wintry Weather, The . . . . .122
Winter it is Past, The . . . . . .120
Young Man’s Dream, The . . . . .96
HYMNS
Tears on Thy Sacred Face, my God .... 338
The Peaceful Name of Mary ..... 340
St. Brigid ....... 342
WITH this Fourth Series of Songs of the Gael I bring to a close the work on which I have been engaged. That work was the fitting to old Irish traditional airs of many beautiful Anglo-Irish songs and ballads which until now have never been wedded to music. Another object I had in view was the bringing together into one collection, with their music, very many songs which had been written to old Irish airs, but which were scattered through many books and private collections. As a mere anthology these four Series of Songs of the Gael will be found to be a treasure house. But it is principally as an effort to popularize hundreds of beautiful old Irish airs hitherto unmated with words, and to do a like service for fine songs hitherto unmated with music, that the collection will be valued.
In this Fourth Series there* are upwards of one hundred songs wedded for the first time to old Irish music. Taking the four books or Series which have been now published it will be found that over three hundred songs, which had never been sung, are now found united to old traditional airs. These songs are all “ racy of the soil.55
Davis, in his essay on Irish songs, said that “ Ireland does not rank low in songs. She is far above England, or Italy, or Spain, and equal to Germany.55 He thought her below Scotland. That estimate was formed in 1842-1845. Since that time, a host of song-vrriters have added to the lustre of the Irish name: William Rooney (1873-1901), “ Leo 55 (18461870), .Frances Brown (died 1879), R. D. Joyce (1830-1883), P. J. M‘Call (1861-1918), John Locke (1847-1889), Michael Hogan, “Bard of Thomond ” (1832-1899), Allingham (18241889), “ Ethna Carbery ” (died 1902), John Hand (1845-1903), “ Conaciensis” (Mathew F. Hughes, 1834-1895), Michael Scanlan, born in Co. Limerick, one of the most gifted of the Irish American poets (born in 1836), C. J. Kickham (1825-1882), Doheny (1848), William Collins, born in Strabane (1838-1890), John Boyle (1822-1885), Arthur Forrester, born in Ballvtrain, Co, Monaghan, 1850, died in 1895 in South Boston, USA., Dora Sigerson, who died a few years ago, and many others.
We have still living amongst us song- writers whose work would have gladdened the heart of Davis, such as Dr. George Sigerson and Frank Fahy. Even in the outburst of patriotic effort against alien rule since 1916 poets have arisen who voiced Ireland’s claims. I need only mention the names of Brian O’Higgins, Maev Cavanagh, and the noble men who died for Ireland --Patrick Pearse, T. MacDonagh, T. Ashe, Plunket — and the writers of the two fine songs, “ Pearse to Ireland ” and “ She our Mother.” In fact, so luxuriant has been the crop of writers since Davis’s time that I have largely drawn upon them in these pages.
And what Davis wrote of as a want in all Irish songs before his day — -that is, the want of strictly national lyrics — we have supplied to us in this collection. To them I venture to apply the words of that illustrious Irishman : “ They are full of heart and reality. They are not written for the stage. They are the slow growth of intense passion and simple taste. Love, mirth, and patriotism are, not the ornaments , but the inspiration of these songs. They are full of personal narrative, streaming hopes and fears, bounding joy in music, absolute disregard for prettiness, and, then, they are thoroughly Irish.” Sweet, noble, and varying between pastoral, love, joy, wailing, and war songs. Such are the selections which I have endeavoured to gather within the pages of Songs of the Gael .
Whilst aiming at making this collection high-class, my object also was to make it popular. I have excluded rigorously the class of song and ballad condemned by Davis in which one “ finds bombast, or slander, or coarseness, united in all cases with false rhythm, false rhyme, and conceited imagery.55
The verse -writers whom Thomas Davis longed to see arise will, I think, be found to be those whose names are recorded in my pages : “ If they be poets — if they be men who have grown up amid the common talk and pictures of nature — the bosomed lake amid rocks — the endless sea, with its roaring and whispering fringes — the bleak moor, the many- voiced trees, the bounding river — if they be men who have loved passionately, and ardently hated — generous in friendship, tranced by sweet or maddened by strong sounds, sobbing with unused strength and fiery for freedom and glory — then they can write the lyrics for every class in Ireland.”
Evidently Davis had in mind such men as Sigerson, Rooney, “ Leo,” McCall, and women of the type of “ Eva,” Ethna Carbery, and Dora Sigerson.
I send this collection of songs forth to the Irish public as the class of lyrics which our distinguished countryman wished to see in vogue : “ Songs for the Street and Field, requiring simple words, bold, strong imagery, plain, deep passions (love, patriotism, conciliation, glory, indignation, resolve), daring humour, broad narrative, highest morals . . . and in all cases simplicity and heartiness.”
At the end of this Fourth Series I give three specimens of hymns wedded to old traditional Irish airs, just to show that many of our old airs are eminently suitable for hymn tunes. We have a large repertoire of such music to draw from. A few years ago (1917) I edited (The Educational Co., Talbot Street, Dublin) four booklets of such airs with Irish hymns, under the title of “.” This shows what can be done, and what a rich store- house of materials we have got. One has only to listen to the beautiful congregational singing at the monthly meetings of the “ CuaIacc ITIuipe,” under the direction of the Rev. C. O’Flynn, in Cork Cathedral, to see the superiority of old traditional Irish music over the modern English hymn- tune.
With the issue of the four Series of Songs of the Gael and the two books of Irish Songs with music, entitled “ Ceot Ap SitipeAp ” and “Ap gCeol which have been also given
to the public, the children of the Gael can no longer plead a dearth of suitable concert songs as an excuse for falling back on the mawkish, unwholesomely sentimental, un-Irish rubbish of the music-hall variety.
Let us hope that the songs of our native Irish writers — in the language, Irish or English, which each one may be master of — and the music of our native land, now within easy reach of all, will be as widely sung as they deserve. Of the one and of the other we assuredly have good reason to be proud.
PAT)RUi5 bneAtiiAc.
St. Peter’s, Phibsboro’,
Dublin, August 15, 1922.
List of song titles in the book.
Adieu to Belashanny . . . . . .192
A Dream of the Future . . . . .110
A Flight Across the Sea . . . .195
A Nation Once Again ...... 319
An Exile’s Song ...... 307
A Night Out . . . . . .74
Annie Dear ....... 100
A Patriot of the Tyrol ...... 304
A Song for the Pope ...... 2
A Song of Graun’ya Waile ..... 138
A tlbAil mo Suit ...... 120
-Avonree, The . . . . . . .124
Billy Byrne of Ballymanus . . . . .40
Bold Fenian Men, The . . . . . .104
Boys are Coming Home, The . . . . .32
Brigid Cruise to Carolan . . . . .70
Brigid O’Malley ...... 200
By Memory Inspired . . . . . .100
Cahir O’Dogherty’s Message ..... 332
Change, The . . . . . . .102
Christmas Memories ...... 230
Clan of Mac Caura, The ..... 270
Colleen Rue, The . . . . . . 44
Cormac and Mary . . . . . .152
Cushla Machree . . . . . .50
Dark Maid of the Valley, The . . . . .64
Dearest Mary . . . . . .70
Dear Florence . . . . . .12
Dear Harp of My Country ..... 330
Deirdre’s Farewell . . . .189
Dew each Trembling Leaf Enwreathed, The . . 108
Dirge of O’Sullivan Bear
Donal Kenny ....... 298
Dying Mother’s Lament, The ..... 208
Eileen O’More — I. ...... 204
Eileen O’More — II. ...... 267
Ellen Bawn ...... 218
English and Irish Eyes . . . , .198
Fair Hills of Erin O, The . . . . . 27G
Fairies are Dancing, The . . .52
Farewell ....... 86
Farewell, Lovely Erin ...... 106
Father Murphy of Co. Wexford . . .150
Gather Together, True Men All . . . .30
Geraldine’s Daughter, The . . . . .57
God Bless the Brave ...... 204
Good Old Cause, The ...... 214
Grania Waile ....... 36
Grave of Mac Caura, The . . . . .48
Green and the Gold, The. . . . .234
Green Woods of Truagh, The . . . . .62
Hand in Hand ....... 312
Harper, The ....... 286
Hawthorn Trees, The . . .144
He Came from the North ..... 156
Here Goes for My Native Land .38
Home Again ....... 146
Hope for Our Own Native Land .136
Horseman of Dunrone, The ..... 240
How Fair is the Sun on Loch Gara ! . . 320
I am a Poor Stranger ...... 24
If I had Thought 282
In this Calm, Sheltered Villa .92
Irish Emigrant, The ... 252
Irish Emigrant, The . . 254
Irish Girl’s Song, The ... 246
Irish Maiden’s Song, The . . . . .88
Irish Mother in the Penal Days, The . . . .82
Irish Wife, The . . . 274
I Sit on the Hold of Moyallo ..... 258
I was the Boy for Bewitching Them .... 212
Kevin Barry ....... 281
Kilruddery Hunt, The ...... 8
Kitty’s Toys ....... 94
Lady Marguerite, The . . . .184
Lament of the Ejected Irish Peasant .... 142
Last Friends, The. ...... 102
^Last Bard of Kincora, The . .34
Like Morning’s Rosy Dawn ..... 244
Live Not Slaves ...... 22
Long, Long Ago ...... 148
Long, Long Have I Wandered . .154
Love and War ....... 58
Love-Dreams . . .180
Lovely Loch Lein ...... 330
Lovely Sweet Banks of the Suir, The . . .118
Love’s Longings ...... 262
Mallow Spa Glen, The ...... 60
Mary of Carrick ...... 310
Mary of Meelick ..... 226
Men in Jail for Ireland, The ..... 249
Men of Eighty-two, The . . . . .334
Men of To-day, The ...... 202
Minstrel’s Walk, The . .186
Molly Asthore . . . . . . .98
Monks of Erin, The ...... 296
My Anna’s Eyes . . .256
My Bonny Cuckoo ...... 7
My Darling Una Bawn ...... 170
My Hope ....... 178
My Life is like the Summer Rose .... 220
My Owen Bawn . . . . .16
My Pagan Pat O’Leary . . . .54
My Trip over the Mountains .... 324
Niamh ....... 290
Night was Still, The . . . . .80
Nora ....... 224
Norah, the Pride of Kildare ..... 228
O Eire, My Country ! . . . . . . 222
O Erin, My Country ! . . . . . . 295
64 Oh ! Blame not the Bard ” . . . . .326
Old Boreen, The ...... 278
Old Days, The ...... 173
O My Bird ....... 26
O ! Sing Me not that Song Again . . . .68
O’Sionnach’s Daughter . . . . . .66
Our True Men ....... 140
Peggy Browne ....... 217
Pilgrim Harper, The . . . . . .160
Priests of Ninety-Eight, The ..... 292
Question, The ....... 128
Reaper’s Song, The ...... 316
Rebel Heart, The . . . . . .328
Rebel’s Sermon, The ...... 288
Returning Exile’s Song, The . . . .84
Rory Dali’s Lamentation ..... 322
Scent of an Irish Rose, The ... 260
Shall I ? . . • .301
Shule Aroon .... 272
Silken Thomas ...••• 46
Sleep On ..... 90
Slievenamon . . . • • .19
Song of An Exile .•••• 237
Song of the Convict, The . .79
Song of the Peasant Wife . . . . .210
Songs of The Nation , The ..... 134
Star of Evening Arose, The . . . . .182
St. Patrick’s Day ...... 4
Sword of the Saxon, The . . . . .116
Talk by the Blackwater . . . . .14
Voice of Song, The ...... 176
Watch and Wait ...... 168
Wedding, The ....... 28
West’s Asleep, The ...... 284
White’s Daughter of the Dell ..... 232
Wild Geese, The ...... 104
Wild Wintry Weather, The . . . . .122
Winter it is Past, The . . . . . .120
Young Man’s Dream, The . . . . .96
HYMNS
Tears on Thy Sacred Face, my God .... 338
The Peaceful Name of Mary ..... 340
St. Brigid ....... 342
