The Easter Snow Song Lyrics And Guitar Chords
Written by Christy Moore as a tribute to Seamus Ennis. Timing 6/8.
Intro: D-A-D-A
Chorus
(D)Oh the Easter snow
(G)It has faded a(D)way
It (G)was so rare and (D)beautiful
Now it’s (A)melted (A7)back into the (D)clay
Those (G)days will be re(D)membered
Be(G)yond out (A)in the (D)Naul
(G)Listening to the (D)master's notes
As (A)gently (A7)they did (A)fall
(D)Oh the music
As (G)Seamus he did (D)play
But the (G)thaw crept over (D)mantle white
And (A)turned it (A7)back to (D)clay
Chorus (4th line beginning with ‚But’)
He (G)gazed at the embers in re(D)flection
He called (G)up lost (A)verses a(D)gain
He (G)smiled at roguish reco(D)llection
While his (A)fingers gripped the (A7)glass to stem the (D)pain
When (G)knocked on his door would always (D)open
With a (G)welcome he'd (A)bid the time of (D)day
Chorus
(D)Oh the Easter snow
(G)It has faded a(D)way
It (G)was so rare and (D)beautiful
Now it’s (A)melted (A7)back into the (D)clay
Those (G)days will be re(D)membered
Be(G)yond out (A)in the (D)Naul
(G)Listening to the (D)master's notes
As (A)gently (A7)they did (A)fall
(D)Oh the music
As (G)Seamus he did (D)play
But the (G)thaw crept over (D)mantle white
And (A)turned it (A7)back to (D)clay
Chorus (4th line beginning with ‚But’)
He (G)gazed at the embers in re(D)flection
He called (G)up lost (A)verses a(D)gain
He (G)smiled at roguish reco(D)llection
While his (A)fingers gripped the (A7)glass to stem the (D)pain
When (G)knocked on his door would always (D)open
With a (G)welcome he'd (A)bid the time of (D)day
"Bringing It All Back Home" was originally a five-part documentary film about Irish music, broadcast in 1991 by the BBC and the Irish television system RTE. Through performances and interviews, the series traced the journey of Irish traditional music from its earliest recorded history to the present day, exploring the ways in which it adapted to the changing circumstances brought about by Ireland's unique history of colonial occupation and emigration.
The unprecedented amount of music recorded for the Bringing It All Back Home series, extending from solo and ensemble traditional music and singing in Irish and English, through orchestral works, to rock and contemporary idioms, reflected the emphasis placed by the series makers Phillip King and Nuala O'Connor on music performance. The breadth of material and performers allowed for the remarkable diversity that defines Irish music to express itself across its diaspora, and the result enabled viewers and listeners to grasp the enormous cultural achievement that this signified.
These remarkable music recordings appeared in 1991 on a legendary double CD, now long out of print. In the late 1990s, producer Donal Lunny remastered the original tapes for release in the current three-CD series. In addition to all 37 tracks from the original CDs, he included several previously unissued recordings from the documentary, as well as a handful of newer performances.
Emigration, one Irish historian has noted, is a mirror in which Ireland sees itself reflect- ed. Emigration and the story of Irish music are inextricably bound together. Both tell stories of exile, displacement, resilience, and a fierce identification with Ireland. It comes as no surprise that Bringing It All Back Home is now considered a landmark television series, further acknowledged by an Emmy win in 1994. Taken as a whole, these recordings, now back in print for the first time in nearly a decade, have become an enduring classic which celebrates Irish music culture in its widest sense.
Nuala O'Connor
1. EQUINOX, composed for Bringing It All Back Home by piper Davy Spillane, is an updated version of the ancient traditional form known as the slow air. Filmed and recorded at "Cowboy" Jack Clement's studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Spillane plays uillean pipes and low whistle, with Nashville accompaniment by Albert Lee on electric guitar, Russ Barenberg on acoustic guitar, Roy Huskey, Jr. on bass, and Mark O'Connor on mandolin.
2. YOU COULDN'T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME - Luka Bloom's "You Couldn't Have Come At A Better Time" celebrates the redemptive power of love for the lonely immigrant. Recorded in concert at Maxwell's in Hoboken, Bloom plays guitar and sings with Colm Murphey on bodhran and the young American-born Eileen Ivers, later to become a Broadway sensation as soloist in Riverdance, on fiddle.
3. MORAN'S RETURN - Fiddler Nollaig Casey hails from a strong traditional background in West Cork and excels on a number of instruments as well as singing. Guitarist and producer Arty McGlynn, from Omagh, Co. Tyrone, also comes from a traditional background, though his early influences were the great jazz masters. After several years playing with Van Morrison, he revived his interests in traditional Irish music and soon became one of the most sought-after musicians in Ireland. Married since 1984, Nollaig and Arty continue to pursue their respective solo careers but spend much of their time performing as a duct. "Moran's Return," an air recorded for the documentary, appears here for the first time on compact disc.
4. ALL MESSED UP Irish singer/songwriter Pierce Turner, now hased in New York, cites plainsong and the music of Sean O'Riada among his influences. "All Messed Up" is a contemporary love song with a melodic base taken from the old Irish ballad "Sean o Duibhir an ghleanne
(Sean O'Dwyer of the glen.)" Recorded at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin, Pierce is joined by Anto Drennan on guitar and Cormac Breathnach on whistle.
5. GLENN ROAD TO CARRICK/THE WILD IRISH MAN - John Doherty was a traveling fiddler from County Donegal, on the southwest coast of Ireland. His playing has influenced a generation of Donegal fiddlers. Paddy Glackin, whose father was a Donegal man, met Doherty at an early age and learned much of his music from him. Here Paddy and his brothers Seamus and Kevin play two Doherty favorites at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin.
6. THOUSANDS ARE SAILING-Philip Chevron, of the irrepressible Celtic-rock group the Pogues, wrote "Thousands Are Sailing" as an exultant salute to Irish America, from the days of the "coffin ships" which sailed away from famine-ridden Ireland in the mid-1800s to the New York City of George M. Cohan and the prosperous Irish American community which bore J.F.K. Recorded at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin, with Chevron on guitar and vocal, Maire Breathnach, Seamas Glackin and Kevin Glackin on fiddles, Paul Moran on drums, Anto Drennan on guitar and James Delaney on keyboards.
7. COOLER AT THE EDGE - This is a modern emigrant song written in jig time by Sonny Condell. It has a distinctly Irish flavor, while at the same time adopting an imaginative modern musical approach. This track was also recorded during the Ringsend Road sessions, with Condell on vocals and guitar, Garven Gallagher on bass, Paul Moran on percussion, Pat Crowley on accordion, Robbie Oversion on guitar and Maggie Cody on backing vocals.
8. TUNES - America was only one destination for the emigrating Irish. Since the eighteenth century, small enclaves of Irish people had established themselves in the major British cities, particularly London. Emigration to London peaked in the 1950s: when flute player Roger Sherlock arrived from County Sligo in 1952, he was able to establish a band that played five nights a week. Sligo is one of Ireland's most important counties musi- cally, and Sherlock became a leading figure in London's Irish music community, playing regularly at the White Hart pub in Fulham. This collection of "Tunes" was recorded at
the White Hart for Bringing It All Back Home, with Bobby Casey. John Bowe, Tom Nagle, Ellish Byrne and Siobhan O'Donnell joining Sherlock in a rousing traditional session.
9. EASTER SNOW - Also in the 1950s, the renowned Irish piper Seamus Ennis arrived in London to work at the BBC, he married there, and stayed for a short time before returning to Ireland. "Easter Snow" was one of Ennis' favorite slow airs; it is played here by his daughter Catherine Ennis, an organist who grew up in England, with Liam O'Flynn on uillean pipes. The recording was made in the church at Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick.
studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Spillane plays uillean pipes and low tin whistle,
10. A STÓR MO CHROÍ - Sisters Rita and Sarah Keane, from County Galway, sing the heartrending emigration ballad "A Stór Mo Chroí (Oh, love of my heart)," in English. The Keanes, aunts to the great Dolores Keane, considered Ireland's finest traditional singer, have a unique singing style which evokes the loneliness and sorrow felt by many at a time when emigration from Ireland meant, in effect, exile. Bringing It All Back Home recorded the sisters, unaccompanied, at their home in Caherlistrane, Co. Galway.
11. BLUE-Dublin's rock band An Emotional Fish are joined by singer Máire Ni Bhraonáin, from the world-famous group Clannad, for this version of their international hit "Blue," recorded at The Factory in Dublin.
12. AN T-AISÉIRÍ - One of the few hymns to have survived in the Irish language, "An T-Aiséir" cele- brates the resurrection of Christ. Noirín Ní Riain, who learned this hymn from a version by the great Irish tradi- tional singer Joe Heaney, has been interested in liturgical music for many years and has made several recordings with the monks of Glenstal Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in County Limerick. She sang "An T-Aiséir" with the monks in the Church of Glenstal Abbey for Bringing It All Back Home.
13. DON'T LET OUR LOVE DIE- The experience of emigration, which influenced so much in Irish music culture, also enriched it, acting as a force for renewal and an inspiration. The Bringing It All Back Home producers found these forces at work in the "Nashville sessions." Here in "Cowboy" Jack Clement's studio, Irish traditional musicians and singers met with American players from mixed traditional and contemporary music backgrounds. The Everly brothers, Don and Phil, mix country, traditional and pop in their version of the 1930s pop hit "Don't Let Our Love Die." According to Don Everly, the lasting influence of Irish traditional music on American folk and popular music can be heard in "harmony singing...in the pipes too, you can hear those sounds."
14. OPERATOR- Formed in Spiddal, County Galway, as "De Danann" in 1974, De Dannan has been at the forefront of the contemporary/traditional Celtic music scene for some twenty-five years. The group's instrumental core of Alec Finn (heard here on harmonica and bouzouki) and Frankie Gavin (flute, fiddle and piano) has anchored a series of world-class players and lead singers over the years, including Maura O'Connell, Mary Black and Dolores Keane. Enthusiastically blending traditional and contemporary elements from across the folk music world is a De Dannan specialty, as you'll hear on this joyful rendition of the American gospel number "Operator." This version, filmed in Harlem for the series but never released, also features lead singer Eleanor Shanley and percussionist Roderic Morris, with backing vocals arranged and performed by New York gospel singers Lucille Oliver, Bambi Jones and Pam Johnston.
15. CAROLAN'S FAREWELL TO MUSIC - The harp is the official emblem of Ireland, and the seven- teenth century was the great era of Irish harp music. The instrument of that day was strung with wire and plucked with the fingernails, and harpers were much sought after as court musicians to the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. The last and greatest of these
harper-composers was the blind Turlogh Carolan, or O'Carolan, who wrote many famous tunes for his patrons. It was in the home of patroness Mrs. McDermottroe that the dying Carolan is said to have written his final piece. Máire Ní Chathasaigh performs the appropriate- ly poignant slow air "Carolan's Farewell to Music" on a harp which features the characteris- tic curved front pillar of the old Irish instrument. The recording was made in one of Ireland's great houses, Bantry House, in County Cork.
The unprecedented amount of music recorded for the Bringing It All Back Home series, extending from solo and ensemble traditional music and singing in Irish and English, through orchestral works, to rock and contemporary idioms, reflected the emphasis placed by the series makers Phillip King and Nuala O'Connor on music performance. The breadth of material and performers allowed for the remarkable diversity that defines Irish music to express itself across its diaspora, and the result enabled viewers and listeners to grasp the enormous cultural achievement that this signified.
These remarkable music recordings appeared in 1991 on a legendary double CD, now long out of print. In the late 1990s, producer Donal Lunny remastered the original tapes for release in the current three-CD series. In addition to all 37 tracks from the original CDs, he included several previously unissued recordings from the documentary, as well as a handful of newer performances.
Emigration, one Irish historian has noted, is a mirror in which Ireland sees itself reflect- ed. Emigration and the story of Irish music are inextricably bound together. Both tell stories of exile, displacement, resilience, and a fierce identification with Ireland. It comes as no surprise that Bringing It All Back Home is now considered a landmark television series, further acknowledged by an Emmy win in 1994. Taken as a whole, these recordings, now back in print for the first time in nearly a decade, have become an enduring classic which celebrates Irish music culture in its widest sense.
Nuala O'Connor
1. EQUINOX, composed for Bringing It All Back Home by piper Davy Spillane, is an updated version of the ancient traditional form known as the slow air. Filmed and recorded at "Cowboy" Jack Clement's studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Spillane plays uillean pipes and low whistle, with Nashville accompaniment by Albert Lee on electric guitar, Russ Barenberg on acoustic guitar, Roy Huskey, Jr. on bass, and Mark O'Connor on mandolin.
2. YOU COULDN'T HAVE COME AT A BETTER TIME - Luka Bloom's "You Couldn't Have Come At A Better Time" celebrates the redemptive power of love for the lonely immigrant. Recorded in concert at Maxwell's in Hoboken, Bloom plays guitar and sings with Colm Murphey on bodhran and the young American-born Eileen Ivers, later to become a Broadway sensation as soloist in Riverdance, on fiddle.
3. MORAN'S RETURN - Fiddler Nollaig Casey hails from a strong traditional background in West Cork and excels on a number of instruments as well as singing. Guitarist and producer Arty McGlynn, from Omagh, Co. Tyrone, also comes from a traditional background, though his early influences were the great jazz masters. After several years playing with Van Morrison, he revived his interests in traditional Irish music and soon became one of the most sought-after musicians in Ireland. Married since 1984, Nollaig and Arty continue to pursue their respective solo careers but spend much of their time performing as a duct. "Moran's Return," an air recorded for the documentary, appears here for the first time on compact disc.
4. ALL MESSED UP Irish singer/songwriter Pierce Turner, now hased in New York, cites plainsong and the music of Sean O'Riada among his influences. "All Messed Up" is a contemporary love song with a melodic base taken from the old Irish ballad "Sean o Duibhir an ghleanne
(Sean O'Dwyer of the glen.)" Recorded at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin, Pierce is joined by Anto Drennan on guitar and Cormac Breathnach on whistle.
5. GLENN ROAD TO CARRICK/THE WILD IRISH MAN - John Doherty was a traveling fiddler from County Donegal, on the southwest coast of Ireland. His playing has influenced a generation of Donegal fiddlers. Paddy Glackin, whose father was a Donegal man, met Doherty at an early age and learned much of his music from him. Here Paddy and his brothers Seamus and Kevin play two Doherty favorites at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin.
6. THOUSANDS ARE SAILING-Philip Chevron, of the irrepressible Celtic-rock group the Pogues, wrote "Thousands Are Sailing" as an exultant salute to Irish America, from the days of the "coffin ships" which sailed away from famine-ridden Ireland in the mid-1800s to the New York City of George M. Cohan and the prosperous Irish American community which bore J.F.K. Recorded at Ringsend Road Studios, Dublin, with Chevron on guitar and vocal, Maire Breathnach, Seamas Glackin and Kevin Glackin on fiddles, Paul Moran on drums, Anto Drennan on guitar and James Delaney on keyboards.
7. COOLER AT THE EDGE - This is a modern emigrant song written in jig time by Sonny Condell. It has a distinctly Irish flavor, while at the same time adopting an imaginative modern musical approach. This track was also recorded during the Ringsend Road sessions, with Condell on vocals and guitar, Garven Gallagher on bass, Paul Moran on percussion, Pat Crowley on accordion, Robbie Oversion on guitar and Maggie Cody on backing vocals.
8. TUNES - America was only one destination for the emigrating Irish. Since the eighteenth century, small enclaves of Irish people had established themselves in the major British cities, particularly London. Emigration to London peaked in the 1950s: when flute player Roger Sherlock arrived from County Sligo in 1952, he was able to establish a band that played five nights a week. Sligo is one of Ireland's most important counties musi- cally, and Sherlock became a leading figure in London's Irish music community, playing regularly at the White Hart pub in Fulham. This collection of "Tunes" was recorded at
the White Hart for Bringing It All Back Home, with Bobby Casey. John Bowe, Tom Nagle, Ellish Byrne and Siobhan O'Donnell joining Sherlock in a rousing traditional session.
9. EASTER SNOW - Also in the 1950s, the renowned Irish piper Seamus Ennis arrived in London to work at the BBC, he married there, and stayed for a short time before returning to Ireland. "Easter Snow" was one of Ennis' favorite slow airs; it is played here by his daughter Catherine Ennis, an organist who grew up in England, with Liam O'Flynn on uillean pipes. The recording was made in the church at Glenstal Abbey, County Limerick.
studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Spillane plays uillean pipes and low tin whistle,
10. A STÓR MO CHROÍ - Sisters Rita and Sarah Keane, from County Galway, sing the heartrending emigration ballad "A Stór Mo Chroí (Oh, love of my heart)," in English. The Keanes, aunts to the great Dolores Keane, considered Ireland's finest traditional singer, have a unique singing style which evokes the loneliness and sorrow felt by many at a time when emigration from Ireland meant, in effect, exile. Bringing It All Back Home recorded the sisters, unaccompanied, at their home in Caherlistrane, Co. Galway.
11. BLUE-Dublin's rock band An Emotional Fish are joined by singer Máire Ni Bhraonáin, from the world-famous group Clannad, for this version of their international hit "Blue," recorded at The Factory in Dublin.
12. AN T-AISÉIRÍ - One of the few hymns to have survived in the Irish language, "An T-Aiséir" cele- brates the resurrection of Christ. Noirín Ní Riain, who learned this hymn from a version by the great Irish tradi- tional singer Joe Heaney, has been interested in liturgical music for many years and has made several recordings with the monks of Glenstal Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in County Limerick. She sang "An T-Aiséir" with the monks in the Church of Glenstal Abbey for Bringing It All Back Home.
13. DON'T LET OUR LOVE DIE- The experience of emigration, which influenced so much in Irish music culture, also enriched it, acting as a force for renewal and an inspiration. The Bringing It All Back Home producers found these forces at work in the "Nashville sessions." Here in "Cowboy" Jack Clement's studio, Irish traditional musicians and singers met with American players from mixed traditional and contemporary music backgrounds. The Everly brothers, Don and Phil, mix country, traditional and pop in their version of the 1930s pop hit "Don't Let Our Love Die." According to Don Everly, the lasting influence of Irish traditional music on American folk and popular music can be heard in "harmony singing...in the pipes too, you can hear those sounds."
14. OPERATOR- Formed in Spiddal, County Galway, as "De Danann" in 1974, De Dannan has been at the forefront of the contemporary/traditional Celtic music scene for some twenty-five years. The group's instrumental core of Alec Finn (heard here on harmonica and bouzouki) and Frankie Gavin (flute, fiddle and piano) has anchored a series of world-class players and lead singers over the years, including Maura O'Connell, Mary Black and Dolores Keane. Enthusiastically blending traditional and contemporary elements from across the folk music world is a De Dannan specialty, as you'll hear on this joyful rendition of the American gospel number "Operator." This version, filmed in Harlem for the series but never released, also features lead singer Eleanor Shanley and percussionist Roderic Morris, with backing vocals arranged and performed by New York gospel singers Lucille Oliver, Bambi Jones and Pam Johnston.
15. CAROLAN'S FAREWELL TO MUSIC - The harp is the official emblem of Ireland, and the seven- teenth century was the great era of Irish harp music. The instrument of that day was strung with wire and plucked with the fingernails, and harpers were much sought after as court musicians to the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. The last and greatest of these
harper-composers was the blind Turlogh Carolan, or O'Carolan, who wrote many famous tunes for his patrons. It was in the home of patroness Mrs. McDermottroe that the dying Carolan is said to have written his final piece. Máire Ní Chathasaigh performs the appropriate- ly poignant slow air "Carolan's Farewell to Music" on a harp which features the characteris- tic curved front pillar of the old Irish instrument. The recording was made in one of Ireland's great houses, Bantry House, in County Cork.
