Snowy Breasted Pearl Irish Song Lyrics And Chords
Written by George Petrie. Recorded by Paddy Reilly , The Wolfe Tones , John McCormack to name a few , The song dates back to 1855. The Wolfe Tones play this old folk song in the key of C#. And here's the sheet music for snowy breasted pearl which is a lovely tune to play on the tin whistle.
Snowy Breasted Pearl Song Words And Chords In C Major
There's[C] Collen[Am] fair as[C] May for a year and for a [G7]day
I have[C] sought by eve[Am]ry[F] way her[G7] heart to [C]gain.
[C]There's no art of[Am] tongue or[C] eye, fond youths with maidens[G7] try
But I've[C] tried with[Am] ceaseless[F] sighs[G7] yet tried in[C] vain
If to[C] France or[Am] far off to[Em] Spain she'd[G] cross the watery[Em] main
To[F] see her face[D7] again the seas I'd[G7] brave
For if 'tis[C] heavens[Am] decre[C]e that mine she may notG7] be
May the[C] Son of[Am] Mary[F] me in[G7] mercy[C] save
Oh thou blooming milk-white dove,
To whom I've given true love,
Do not ever reprove my constancy;
There are maidens would be mine, with wealth in land or kine,
If my heart would but incline to turn from thee;
But a kiss with welcome bland, and a touch of thy fair hand,
Are all that I demand would'st thou not spurn,
For if not mine dear girl, oh snowy breasted pearl,
May I never from the fair with life return.
There's[C] Collen[Am] fair as[C] May for a year and for a [G7]day
I have[C] sought by eve[Am]ry[F] way her[G7] heart to [C]gain.
[C]There's no art of[Am] tongue or[C] eye, fond youths with maidens[G7] try
But I've[C] tried with[Am] ceaseless[F] sighs[G7] yet tried in[C] vain
If to[C] France or[Am] far off to[Em] Spain she'd[G] cross the watery[Em] main
To[F] see her face[D7] again the seas I'd[G7] brave
For if 'tis[C] heavens[Am] decre[C]e that mine she may notG7] be
May the[C] Son of[Am] Mary[F] me in[G7] mercy[C] save
Oh thou blooming milk-white dove,
To whom I've given true love,
Do not ever reprove my constancy;
There are maidens would be mine, with wealth in land or kine,
If my heart would but incline to turn from thee;
But a kiss with welcome bland, and a touch of thy fair hand,
Are all that I demand would'st thou not spurn,
For if not mine dear girl, oh snowy breasted pearl,
May I never from the fair with life return.
Snowy Breasted Pearl Lyrics And Guitar Chords In G
There's[G] Collen[Em] fair as[G] May for a year and for a [D7]day
I have[G] sought by eve[Em]ry[C] way her[D7] heart to [G]gain.
[G]There's no art of[Em] tongue or[G] eye, fond youths with maidens[D7] try
But I've[G] tried with[Em] ceaseless[C] sighs[D7] yet tried in[G] vain
If to[G] France or[Em] far off to[Bm] Spain she'd[D] cross the watery[Bm] main
To[C] see her face[A7] again the seas I'd[D7] brave
For if 'tis[G] heavens[Em] decre[G]e that mine she may not[D7] be
May the[G] Son of[Em] Mary[C] me in[D7] mercy[G] save
There's[G] Collen[Em] fair as[G] May for a year and for a [D7]day
I have[G] sought by eve[Em]ry[C] way her[D7] heart to [G]gain.
[G]There's no art of[Em] tongue or[G] eye, fond youths with maidens[D7] try
But I've[G] tried with[Em] ceaseless[C] sighs[D7] yet tried in[G] vain
If to[G] France or[Em] far off to[Bm] Spain she'd[D] cross the watery[Bm] main
To[C] see her face[A7] again the seas I'd[D7] brave
For if 'tis[G] heavens[Em] decre[G]e that mine she may not[D7] be
May the[G] Son of[Em] Mary[C] me in[D7] mercy[G] save
When we talk about the great American singers of the 20th century, the name that's often forgotten is that of John McCormack.
It's true that McCormack was born in Ireland in 1884 and that he died there in 1945, but the spellbinding tenor had his greatest success in America and became a U.S. citizen in 1919. He was signed by Victor, an American record company, in 1914, after British companies had dismissed his potential. He was booked by Charles Wagner, an American concert promoter who transformed McCormack from a would-be opera star into a pop star singing ethnic folk songs.
In the process, McCormack created a distinctively American genre: the Irish Immigrant Song. In his wake came such Irish-American singers as Morton Downey, Dennis Day, Phil Regan, Christopher Lynch, Frank Parker, James Melton, Pat Harrington and Bing Crosby. Crosby, for one, frankly admitted that his two biggest influences were McCormack and Al Jolson.
Some of the numbers McCormack sang were ancient Irish folk songs rearranged to fit the big bands and big halls of the American vaudeville circuit-and to feed the homesick hunger of Irish-American audiences. There was something about the purity of McCormack's tenor and the way it broke on just the right note that sated the audience's hunger like no other.
When he sang "Kathleen Mavourneen" (heard here in a 1927 re-recording of the 1911 original), his big, comfortable tenor seemed to glow with the scene of the sun rising over the green hill and a lark flitting from tree to tree outside an Irish cottage. "Mavourneen" is the Gaelic word for "my darling," and when McCormack addressed her, urging her to awake so they can spend their last few hours together before he leaves to board a ship for America, his voice cracked with ache without losing its luscious tone. This combination of an idealized homeland and a painful separation would be repeated again and again.
Many of McCormack's other songs were written by Tin Pan Alley writers born and raised in the U.S. These professional tunesmiths were trying to imitate the vaudeville versions of Irish ballads and jigs and instead came up with something new and homegrown. Like so much American music, the Irish Immigrant Song could never have happened without raw materials imported from across the Atlantic, but it could never have blossomed anywhere but in America.
McCormack's example inspired a younger generation to devote themselves to this new genre. The singer who imitated him most closely and most successfully was Christopher Lynch (1921-94). Born and raised in Ireland's County Limerick, Lynch became McCormack's protégé during the old man's last years in Ireland. The young man moved to the U.S. in 1946 to become the resident Irish tenor on the "Voice of Firestone" radio show, where he stayed till 1954. He sang the songs for the film The Hills of Ireland and recorded for RCA and Columbia. But like his mentor, Lynch was classically trained and often performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.
Here we hear Lynch tackle five of McCormack's favorite songs: "The Rose of Tralee," "A Ballynure Ballad," "A Little Bit of Heaven," "The Minstrel Boy" and "I Met Her In The Garden Where The Praties Grow." Over string arrangements that are a tasteful compromise between classical and vaudeville influences, Lynch's high tenor (even higher than McCormack's) warbles with the limpid tone that can easily slide into affection or regret. When Lynch pays tribute to the colleen he met in "the garden where the praties grow," his enthusiasm for the simplicity of a farm girl who doesn't wear a fancy "Grecian bend" gown or a fancy "chignon" hairdo in her potato field is matched by the appealing simplicity of his delivery.
Morton Downey, Phil Regan, Dennis Day and Frank Parker were a different kind of Irish tenor. They were born too late for the heyday of the vaudeville era, but they eagerly embraced vaudeville's twin killers: movies and radio.
Morton Downey (1901-85) grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut, and caught the tail end of vaudeville. He sang for a while with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and starred in the Manhattan show, Palm Beach Nights. He made his first movie in 1929, became a popular radio guest in the '30s, and hosted the TV show, Star of the Family, in the '50s. His son, Morton Downey Jr., later became famous as the host of a right-wing TV talk show.
But the father is remembered mostly as the pop singer who recorded hits for ARC, Decca and Columbia and was voted America's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. His influence was so widespread that Bill Kenny, the lead tenor of the Ink Spots.
When we talk about the great American singers of the 20th century, the name that's often forgotten is that of John McCormack.
It's true that McCormack was born in Ireland in 1884 and that he died there in 1945, but the spellbinding tenor had his greatest success in America and became a U.S. citizen in 1919. He was signed by Victor, an American record company, in 1914, after British companies had dismissed his potential. He was booked by Charles Wagner, an American concert promoter who transformed McCormack from a would-be onera star into a
cited Downey as one of his heroes and recorded a version of "My Wild Irish Rose" as a tribute. Downey was also a prolific songwriter who authored such titles as "All I Need is Someone Like You," "California Skies" and "That's How You Spell Ireland."
He sings the latter number here as well as two songs associated with McCormack ("Molly Brannigan" and "My Wild Irish Rose") and two songs associated with Crosby ("Where the River Shannon Flows" and "The Same Old Shillelegh"). This last song, which refers to the traditional Irish cudgel made of polished oak, transforms the brawling Irishman from a negative stereotype into a positive one, much as "Clancy Lowered the Boom" would do.
Phil Regan (1906-96), who grew up in Brooklyn, was nicknamed "The Singing Cop." because he often played a New York cop or a similar happy-go-lucky Irishman who was apt to burst into song in such movies as 1934's Sweet Adeline, 1939's She Married a Cop and 1946's Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. With a voice as handsome as his face, Regan updated such Irish Immigrant standards as "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "A Sweet Irish Sweetheart of Mine" in the big-band arrangements of the '30s and 40s.
Dennis Day (1916-1988) was born as Eugene McNulty in New York but adopted his stage name when he broke into radio. He was hired as the obligatory Irish tenor on "The Jack Benny Show" in 1939 and won an even bigger role when he imitated a naïve teenager in his high tenor and cracked up the host with taglines such as "Yes, please" and "Gee, Mr. Benny."
He worked on and off with Benny-in both radio and TV-until 1974, but Day also hosted his own radio show from 1946-51 and his own TV show from 1952 to 1954. He appeared in such films as 1943's The Powers Girl with Benny Goodman,
1948's Johnny Appleseed as the voice of the cartoon title character and 1950's I'll Get By with Harry James.
Day never stopped singing, though. He sang with a service band led by jazz bandleader Claude Thornhill during World War II. After the war he recorded a series of popular 78s for RCA Victor, including the #8 hit, "Mam'selle," in 1947, as well as the top-25 hits "Clancy Lowered the Boom" in 1949 and "Christmas in Killarney" in 1950. This album includes his hit version of "Clancy Lowered the Boom" plus his boyish versions of songs associated with Crosby: "St. Patrick's Day Parade," "How Can You Buy Killarney" and "Galway Bay."
Day replaced Kenny Baker as the in-house crooner on The Jack Benny Show just as Baker had replaced Michael Bartlett in 1935 after Bartlett had replaced Benny's original Irish tenor, Frank Parker, in 1934. Parker was a transitional figure in Irish- American music, more Irish than Downey or Day and more American than McCormack or Lynch. He is best known for his version of "Danny Boy," the best known song of the Irish Immigrant genre (heard here with its often omitted second verse).
The traditional melody is called "The Londonderry Air" after the town (a.k.a. Derry) in Northern Ireland where the plaintive tune was first transcribed by Jane Ross in 1855. The wistful music is so alluring that more than 200 different lyrics have been set to it. The lyric that stuck, however, was written in 1913 by Frederick Weatherly, a British lawyer who never set foot in Ireland.
The melody may have come from Ireland and the words from England, but "Danny Boy" acquired its mythology in the United States. It was there that generations of Irish immigrants responded with watery eyes to Weatherly's imagery of the uillean pipes echoing from mountain to vale to call Ireland's long-departed children back home.
In fact, any person of any nationality who had ever left his or her parents behind could feel the tug of this parental plea for a child to visit the old homestead one more time-or at least the graveside if it comes to that. As a result "Danny Boy" has been recorded by everyone from Count Basie and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama to Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe, from Kiri Te Kanawa and Eric Clapton to Tony Bennett and James Galway & the Chieftains, from Elvis Presley and Rufus Wainwright to Bing Crosby and Morton Downey (but not, strangely enough, by John McCormack). Geoffrey Himes, 2006
It's true that McCormack was born in Ireland in 1884 and that he died there in 1945, but the spellbinding tenor had his greatest success in America and became a U.S. citizen in 1919. He was signed by Victor, an American record company, in 1914, after British companies had dismissed his potential. He was booked by Charles Wagner, an American concert promoter who transformed McCormack from a would-be opera star into a pop star singing ethnic folk songs.
In the process, McCormack created a distinctively American genre: the Irish Immigrant Song. In his wake came such Irish-American singers as Morton Downey, Dennis Day, Phil Regan, Christopher Lynch, Frank Parker, James Melton, Pat Harrington and Bing Crosby. Crosby, for one, frankly admitted that his two biggest influences were McCormack and Al Jolson.
Some of the numbers McCormack sang were ancient Irish folk songs rearranged to fit the big bands and big halls of the American vaudeville circuit-and to feed the homesick hunger of Irish-American audiences. There was something about the purity of McCormack's tenor and the way it broke on just the right note that sated the audience's hunger like no other.
When he sang "Kathleen Mavourneen" (heard here in a 1927 re-recording of the 1911 original), his big, comfortable tenor seemed to glow with the scene of the sun rising over the green hill and a lark flitting from tree to tree outside an Irish cottage. "Mavourneen" is the Gaelic word for "my darling," and when McCormack addressed her, urging her to awake so they can spend their last few hours together before he leaves to board a ship for America, his voice cracked with ache without losing its luscious tone. This combination of an idealized homeland and a painful separation would be repeated again and again.
Many of McCormack's other songs were written by Tin Pan Alley writers born and raised in the U.S. These professional tunesmiths were trying to imitate the vaudeville versions of Irish ballads and jigs and instead came up with something new and homegrown. Like so much American music, the Irish Immigrant Song could never have happened without raw materials imported from across the Atlantic, but it could never have blossomed anywhere but in America.
McCormack's example inspired a younger generation to devote themselves to this new genre. The singer who imitated him most closely and most successfully was Christopher Lynch (1921-94). Born and raised in Ireland's County Limerick, Lynch became McCormack's protégé during the old man's last years in Ireland. The young man moved to the U.S. in 1946 to become the resident Irish tenor on the "Voice of Firestone" radio show, where he stayed till 1954. He sang the songs for the film The Hills of Ireland and recorded for RCA and Columbia. But like his mentor, Lynch was classically trained and often performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy.
Here we hear Lynch tackle five of McCormack's favorite songs: "The Rose of Tralee," "A Ballynure Ballad," "A Little Bit of Heaven," "The Minstrel Boy" and "I Met Her In The Garden Where The Praties Grow." Over string arrangements that are a tasteful compromise between classical and vaudeville influences, Lynch's high tenor (even higher than McCormack's) warbles with the limpid tone that can easily slide into affection or regret. When Lynch pays tribute to the colleen he met in "the garden where the praties grow," his enthusiasm for the simplicity of a farm girl who doesn't wear a fancy "Grecian bend" gown or a fancy "chignon" hairdo in her potato field is matched by the appealing simplicity of his delivery.
Morton Downey, Phil Regan, Dennis Day and Frank Parker were a different kind of Irish tenor. They were born too late for the heyday of the vaudeville era, but they eagerly embraced vaudeville's twin killers: movies and radio.
Morton Downey (1901-85) grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut, and caught the tail end of vaudeville. He sang for a while with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and starred in the Manhattan show, Palm Beach Nights. He made his first movie in 1929, became a popular radio guest in the '30s, and hosted the TV show, Star of the Family, in the '50s. His son, Morton Downey Jr., later became famous as the host of a right-wing TV talk show.
But the father is remembered mostly as the pop singer who recorded hits for ARC, Decca and Columbia and was voted America's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. His influence was so widespread that Bill Kenny, the lead tenor of the Ink Spots.
When we talk about the great American singers of the 20th century, the name that's often forgotten is that of John McCormack.
It's true that McCormack was born in Ireland in 1884 and that he died there in 1945, but the spellbinding tenor had his greatest success in America and became a U.S. citizen in 1919. He was signed by Victor, an American record company, in 1914, after British companies had dismissed his potential. He was booked by Charles Wagner, an American concert promoter who transformed McCormack from a would-be onera star into a
cited Downey as one of his heroes and recorded a version of "My Wild Irish Rose" as a tribute. Downey was also a prolific songwriter who authored such titles as "All I Need is Someone Like You," "California Skies" and "That's How You Spell Ireland."
He sings the latter number here as well as two songs associated with McCormack ("Molly Brannigan" and "My Wild Irish Rose") and two songs associated with Crosby ("Where the River Shannon Flows" and "The Same Old Shillelegh"). This last song, which refers to the traditional Irish cudgel made of polished oak, transforms the brawling Irishman from a negative stereotype into a positive one, much as "Clancy Lowered the Boom" would do.
Phil Regan (1906-96), who grew up in Brooklyn, was nicknamed "The Singing Cop." because he often played a New York cop or a similar happy-go-lucky Irishman who was apt to burst into song in such movies as 1934's Sweet Adeline, 1939's She Married a Cop and 1946's Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. With a voice as handsome as his face, Regan updated such Irish Immigrant standards as "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" and "A Sweet Irish Sweetheart of Mine" in the big-band arrangements of the '30s and 40s.
Dennis Day (1916-1988) was born as Eugene McNulty in New York but adopted his stage name when he broke into radio. He was hired as the obligatory Irish tenor on "The Jack Benny Show" in 1939 and won an even bigger role when he imitated a naïve teenager in his high tenor and cracked up the host with taglines such as "Yes, please" and "Gee, Mr. Benny."
He worked on and off with Benny-in both radio and TV-until 1974, but Day also hosted his own radio show from 1946-51 and his own TV show from 1952 to 1954. He appeared in such films as 1943's The Powers Girl with Benny Goodman,
1948's Johnny Appleseed as the voice of the cartoon title character and 1950's I'll Get By with Harry James.
Day never stopped singing, though. He sang with a service band led by jazz bandleader Claude Thornhill during World War II. After the war he recorded a series of popular 78s for RCA Victor, including the #8 hit, "Mam'selle," in 1947, as well as the top-25 hits "Clancy Lowered the Boom" in 1949 and "Christmas in Killarney" in 1950. This album includes his hit version of "Clancy Lowered the Boom" plus his boyish versions of songs associated with Crosby: "St. Patrick's Day Parade," "How Can You Buy Killarney" and "Galway Bay."
Day replaced Kenny Baker as the in-house crooner on The Jack Benny Show just as Baker had replaced Michael Bartlett in 1935 after Bartlett had replaced Benny's original Irish tenor, Frank Parker, in 1934. Parker was a transitional figure in Irish- American music, more Irish than Downey or Day and more American than McCormack or Lynch. He is best known for his version of "Danny Boy," the best known song of the Irish Immigrant genre (heard here with its often omitted second verse).
The traditional melody is called "The Londonderry Air" after the town (a.k.a. Derry) in Northern Ireland where the plaintive tune was first transcribed by Jane Ross in 1855. The wistful music is so alluring that more than 200 different lyrics have been set to it. The lyric that stuck, however, was written in 1913 by Frederick Weatherly, a British lawyer who never set foot in Ireland.
The melody may have come from Ireland and the words from England, but "Danny Boy" acquired its mythology in the United States. It was there that generations of Irish immigrants responded with watery eyes to Weatherly's imagery of the uillean pipes echoing from mountain to vale to call Ireland's long-departed children back home.
In fact, any person of any nationality who had ever left his or her parents behind could feel the tug of this parental plea for a child to visit the old homestead one more time-or at least the graveside if it comes to that. As a result "Danny Boy" has been recorded by everyone from Count Basie and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama to Johnny Cash and Bill Monroe, from Kiri Te Kanawa and Eric Clapton to Tony Bennett and James Galway & the Chieftains, from Elvis Presley and Rufus Wainwright to Bing Crosby and Morton Downey (but not, strangely enough, by John McCormack). Geoffrey Himes, 2006
