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Straw Poll _ Your help needed
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Subject: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mick Lowe Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:04 PM This is something of a major undertaking.. namely to find the most popular/known Irish song.. world wide that is. Now that doesn't mean the favourite song known/sung by us in the know, so to speak (though it does count in the overall scheme of things), more the likes of what your postman or butcher, or fellow work colleages think of when you ask them the question "Name an Irish song".. it's the "Number One" Irish song amongst the vox pop I am I'm trying to identify.. So if you are willing to participate in this and ask everyone you know and/or come into contact with during the daily grind of either earning a living, picking up groceries or dropping off the loved ones at school.. please let me know either via this thread or emailing me direct at mick@prof.co.uk I am extremely interested in any feedback this can generate from those countries not naturally associated with Irish music.. And before I leave you with this mamoth task.. I should say.. although I appreciate and emjoy readiong through the various threads here on the mudcat.. and those of you who know me will appreciate this request.. I have of late had my pc stolen, so preferably I'd appreciate you sending any results to my email address as I can't readily access the mudcat.. Having said which.. the cat will be the first place to know whatever results this straw poll may produce. I thank you in anticipation.. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: SingsIrish Songs Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:14 PM However, should posts wind up here instead of being emailed, I, assuming my role as "personal assistant" will gather and forward any results to our "Prof" Mick.... Cheers! Mary |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mick Lowe Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:30 PM I know you're there for me Mary.. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Paul G. Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:41 PM Mick (and Mary): Two songs come immediately to mind...first, in the butcher and mailman category would be "Danny Boy"...Second, from the personal category would be "Star of the County Down" pg |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:43 PM What's an Irish song?
I think there's a good chance that whatever song topped the poll wouldn't actually be Irish anyway.
For example - "I'll take you home again Kathleen" started as Austrian; "Wild Rover" is English (Norfolk) in origin; "Willie McBride" is Australian by an English emigrant. And then there's all those Tin Pan Alley American Irish songs like "When Irish eyes are smiling" or "MacNamara's band"... |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: John in Brisbane Date: 27 Feb 00 - 07:52 PM In the time honoured Irish tradition I'll start the bookies' tote on this:
Danny Boy - 2/1 Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: JamesJim Date: 27 Feb 00 - 09:40 PM I'd to with "Danny Boy." My favorite is "Roddy McCorley," but I'm not sure the average American would know that one. Jim |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Sorcha Date: 27 Feb 00 - 09:45 PM It's gotta be Danny Boy, and none of them know that it's the Derry Air.(no comments please, on derriere) |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST Date: 28 Feb 00 - 12:03 AM Probably "Danny Boy" although the song isn't Irish. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Sorcha Date: 28 Feb 00 - 12:07 AM Well, the context/content is. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Feb 00 - 12:37 AM G'day all, Yeah, Danny Boy seems to fit today's definition of an irish song. As I said yesterday on another thread (ASCAP ...&c), the author, Fred. E. Weatherly was an Oxford tutor, author of books on logic and a Bristol lawyer ... as well as sometime lyric writer. Danny Boy, to a tune collected in Derry by Miss J. Ross of Limavardy, was composed in 1911 and flopped in England. He sent a copy to his (~sister?) in American in 1913 and it succeeded beyond belief ... no comment! Regard(les)s, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Feb 00 - 12:42 AM G'day again, Oops! that was the "Looking for sheet music for Danny Boy" thread. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: alison Date: 28 Feb 00 - 12:43 AM Star of the County Down, and Danny boy. slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Sorcha Date: 28 Feb 00 - 01:18 AM I have seen provenances on Danny Boy that say 1) it was from a female lover to a male lover, 2) mother to son, and 3) father to son. Anybody really know? And Weatherly was hoping to write lyrics that would stop the Troubles? Any truth to that? It is a love-er-ly melody, if it weren't so overworked. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Dave (the ancient mariner) Date: 28 Feb 00 - 07:56 AM When Irish Eyes are Smiling Wild Rover Mountains of Mourne Star of The County Down Whiskey in the Jar Such a vast array of choices it would be hard to pick. Yours,Aye.Dave |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Bill in Alabama Date: 28 Feb 00 - 08:25 AM Danny Boy When Irish Eyes Are Smiling Whiskey in the Jar Endearing Young Charms Based on personal observations of what the old folks sang when I was growing up in the Appalachians. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: kendall Date: 28 Feb 00 - 08:27 AM Kevin Barry by a nose |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Bert Date: 28 Feb 00 - 09:36 AM Probably Danny Boy but I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned Galway Bay. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST,Aldus Date: 28 Feb 00 - 09:38 AM As well as Danny Boy...there is Christmas in Kilarney...Galway Bay and the ubquitous Wearing of The Green.. However, pergaps the most widely known and sung is the Wild Colonial Boy.AreEndearing Young Charms and Willie McBride really thought of as Irish songs ? |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Crowhugger Date: 28 Feb 00 - 09:42 AM Amongst those I've asked (1 spouse, 2 friends who don't mind a phone call at this hour of the morning) For recognizable words: Danny Boy unanimous. For tune: 2 DB, 1 for the Irish Washerwoman, but with campfire words (Oh, O'Really is dead and O'Reilly don't know it, O'Reilly is dead and...hey, I didn't write them! And kids love it.) |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mooh Date: 28 Feb 00 - 09:45 AM No question, Danny Boy is the one. It's the one about a plumber, right? "...the pipes, the pipes are calling..." Sounds best after most of your blood is replaced by alcohol. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mick Lowe Date: 28 Feb 00 - 05:26 PM Thanks Crowhugger At least you understood what it is I would like to do with this straw poll.. i.e. you asked some people. As much as I appreciate the other comments, it's not really creating a big enough sample for it to be a meaningful poll... So here are the "rules" if you care to join in. 1) You ask 10 people to name an Irish song.. these people can be anyone you know or meet.. i.e. family, friends, the person on the check-out counter at the gas station. 2) Make a note of the responses you get 3) send them to me 4) I'll tally them up 5) No cheating..LOL 6) ..optional... if you know any of the 10 above persons well enough to get them to ask a further 10.. please, please, please do so. 7).. another optional.. If you feel like asking more than 10 please feel to do so We don't need any reasons why any given song is nominated, just the title will do. McGrath one of the reasons for wanting to carry out this little experiment is to see what "misconceptions" there are out there in the big bad world with regards to "Irish" music.. (Between you and me, I'm expecting "non-Irish" material to be filling the top slots.. good job no one's listening)... And finally (yes I've droned on).. since you seem preoccupied with discussing Danny Boy, anyone care to bet on what the Featured Song on Prof's Pages is going to be for March? Thanks now to any of you who take up the challenge Mick.. p.s. Don't worry if you can't find 10 people to ask and I'd be very interested if we could get some feedback from countries other than UK + US.
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Amos Date: 28 Feb 00 - 05:33 PM I asked a couple of alternative personalities, and they voted for Roddy M'corley, The Rising of the Moon, The Old Orange Flute, The Rocks O'Bawn, and Kelly, the Boy from Killairn, with one vote for Fiddler's Green. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: SingsIrish Songs Date: 28 Feb 00 - 07:42 PM I am laughing here....thinking, also, that the most voted song will be "non-Irish"....I mean there are lots of grand Irish-American tunes out there that make the list. But as with lots of things non-Irish...ie Guinness to name one, it took/takes the Irish to make them famous!!!!........BIG SMIRK! Interesting comment you made, McGrath, re I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen starting out Austrian......it is my understanding that the lyrics at least were penned by an American fellow whose wife was off to Ogdensberg, NY visiting a (sick?) family member. And I wish I had the source material handy to give precise info. Anyroadup, Mick Lowe, I shall commence my polling come tomorrow... Mary Kate |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Crowhugger Date: 28 Feb 00 - 11:56 PM My measly 3 opionions are Canadian. (Here, we think that it's NOT the same country as the USA. Except when watching TV.) |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST,Sian in Wales Date: 29 Feb 00 - 04:40 AM Just as an interesting aside ... I fully accept that Irish Washerwoman is considered an archetypal Irish tune. It tis, indeed it tis. But, on purely an historical note, it was written by a Welshman for (if memory serves) Queen Elizabeth 1. Title: Sidanen. Sian |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 29 Feb 00 - 05:20 AM Thread creep warning: Crowhugger, It's been a long time since my campfire days but I remember that song as: O'Reilly is dead and his brother don'ty know it His brother is dead and O'Reilly don't know it They're both of them dead And they're in the same bed And neither one knows that the other is dead RtS |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: paddymac Date: 01 Mar 00 - 05:31 AM Well, I raised the question last night with a dozen folks through the evening at the "family table" in my favorite Italian restaurant. The group was comprised of people with a mix of ethnic backgrounds, and half of them were native Italians with as yet limited English. They all mentioned "Danny Boy" & "Molly Malone". Three of them also mentioned "Irish Washerwoman", but didn't know the name and had to sing a few bars. And there was a different set of three who similarly mentioned "Garryowen". One of them referred to it as "that cavalry song". |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: sophocleese Date: 01 Mar 00 - 10:23 AM Well I polled all the straws in my kitchen drawer and although they are a lot shorter none of them mentioned any Irish song. I'll try asking other mothers when I pick my kids up at school. I'll e-mail you the results when I've done that.
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Sabra Date: 02 Mar 00 - 12:24 AM My demographics are a little bit strange here...I asked a lot of people under 25, and those results were scary (didnt specify FOLK song you see) Under 25 year olds either A)didnt know one at all (6) or B)mentioned the group House of Pain (3) oh..and 1 16 yr old girl said "any kind of Jig" Among the over 25 set I got the following responses: A)When Irish Eyes are Smiling (3) B)Danny Boy(2) and I had one vote for a song by a Scots band called the Procalimers (I think it's called "500 Miles"?) at any rate--I had an interesting time asking--sorry the results were so weird! |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST,Seamus Kennedy Date: 02 Mar 00 - 01:37 AM As a professional Irish entertainer for the last 30 years or so here in the U.S., I can say that my Most Commonly Requested Songs are: Danny Boy, The Black Velvet band, When Irish Eyes are Smiling, Galway Bay, An Irish Lullabye, The Wild Colonial Boy, and yes, God bless Shel Siverstein who never wrote a bad song - the Unicorn! |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mick Lowe Date: 03 Mar 00 - 07:37 PM many thanks to you who have taken on the challenge.. and you're quite right Sabra, no one said anything about folk or traditional music/songs.. the idea is to find the most commonly recognised Irish song, world wide.. if that turns out to be Brown Eyes by Van Morrison (personally I would prefer a track by the Saw Doctors), then so be it.. I think I have mentioned what I already suspect the result will be judging by the number of requests I have had for the music.. but we shall see I've also been amused by some of the threads posted here.. though I guess this thread is going to get rather large, so I'm wondering whether to start 2 more.. one purely for poll results and the other for witty and social observations.. providing Dick et al doesn't think I would be wasting valuable server space in doing so... Perhaps a better idea would be that you send "serious" results to me via email .. mick @prof.co.uk and continue to provide joy and merriment with that wonderful brand of mudcat humour, here.. As I mentioned before.. the mudcat will be the first place the final results are published.. Thanks again to all who have been out and about asking unsuspecting folk.. Mick
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Osmium Date: 06 Mar 00 - 06:49 PM Anything by Stiff Little Fingers beats the shit iut of any of the above. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Osmium Date: 06 Mar 00 - 06:53 PM Whether Irish or Whether no It took the Irish to make it so And all you other nationalities can thank your lucky stars that it is so! Completely unbiased opinion. |
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: Mick Lowe Date: 06 Mar 00 - 07:04 PM Osmium I'd perhaps take you to task re Stiff Little Fingers .. they aren't a patch on the Saw Doctors which are far and away the best band ever, irrespective of what category you want to define.. But having said which the purpose of this is to try and find what "Joe Soap" out there in non-music land thinks of when you ask him to name an Irish song.. Rather than the song itself, I'm more interested in the popular concept surrounding songs Irish.. I personally believe, as I said beofre in this thread.. I expect the "winner" not to be strictly Irish.. I want evidence to support a theory I have about the idealised view the world at large has about Irish music. Mick
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Subject: RE: Straw Poll _ Your help needed From: GUEST,The Beanster Date: 06 Mar 00 - 07:15 PM Speaking as an average American...lol...I'd say it's gotta be "Danny Boy" with "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" at second place. 90% of the songs you folks named here, I've never heard of. You're all way too knowledgable for me (!) but Danny Boy sprung to mind right away. That leads me to believe that other average Americans might think along the same lines... |
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