Subject: Lyr Add: O THE DAYS OF THE KERRY DANCING (Molloy)
From: Alice - PM
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 11:11 AM

Here are the 4 verses altogether. The third verse changes keys and slows down (piu lento) and also changes tune. The first two verses are bright and lively (vivace), and the fourth verse, same tune as the first two, is sung lento, sadly, in the beginning, then speeds up at "when the boys". I considered singing this in my program at the Victorian Ball last week, but decided to do "The Lass With the Delicate Air" instead. As it turned out, I didn't have time to sing The Lass.

O THE DAYS OF THE KERRY DANCING
words and music by James Lyman Molloy
1837-1909


1. O the days of the Kerry Dancing,
O the ring of the piper's tune!
O for one of those hours of gladness
Gone, alas! like our youth, too soon.
When the boys began to gather,
In the glen of a summer night,
And the Kerry piper's tuning
Made us long with wild delight;


O, to think of it, O to dream of it,
Fills my heart with tears.
O the days of the Kerry Dancing,
O the ring of the piper's tune!
O for one of those hours of gladness
Gone, alas! like our youth, too soon.


2. Was there ever a sweeter colleen,
In the dance than Eily Moore!
Or a prouder lad than Thady,
As he boldly took the floor:
"Lads and lasses to your places,
Up the middle and down again,"
Ah, the merry hearted laughter
Ringing thro the happy glen.


O, to think of it, O to dream of it,
Fills my heart with tears.
O the days of the Kerry Dancing,
O the ring of the piper's tune!
O for one of those hours of gladness
Gone, alas! like our youth, too soon.


(piu lento, tune & key change)
3. Time goes on, and the happy years are dead.
And one by one, the merry hearts have fled.
Silent now is the wild and lonely glen,
Where the bright glad laugh
Will echo ne'er again.
Only dreaming of days gone by,
Fills my heart with tears!


(back to same tune as verse 1 and 2)
4. Loving voices of old companions
Stealing out of the past once more,
And the sound of the dear old music,
Soft and sweet as in days of yore:
When the boys began to gather
In the glen of a summer night,
And the Kerry piper's tuning
Made us long with wild delight;


O, to think of it, O to dream of it,
Fills my heart with tears.
O the days of the Kerry Dancing,
O the ring of the piper's tune!
O for one of those hours of gladness
Gone, alas! like our youth, too soon.





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Subject: RE: TUNE ADD - NEED LYRICS: The Kerry Dances
From: Alice - PM
Date: 30 Jul 99 - 11:15 AM

By the way, my source is the sheet music published by Warner Brothers, who now own the copyright. They are posted here for educational puposes only.