Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)

Subject: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST,Ron
Date: 11 Aug 04 - 09:23 PM

There is a song that says somehwer in Ireland 1880 about a son that leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in the US
and every 10 yr or so some one writes to tell him what he is missing and the births in his family

please help

ron

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Aug 04 - 09:26 PM

Hi, Ron - it's Kilkelly (click here), by Peter Jones.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Aug 04 - 09:27 PM

Hmmmm. Three minute response time....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST,ron
Date: 11 Aug 04 - 10:14 PM

Yes Joe that is it thanks

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 06:40 AM

Worlds most dreary song.

eric

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 06:40 AM

Mudcat threads are getting shorter by the day.
Are we getting our money's worth we ask.... ;O)
Quack!!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 07:13 AM

This is the first time I had heard of this song. The words are very moving especially considering they are based on actual letters of the time. I don't suppose the Irish were having a merry old time during the potato famine so I think the use of the word "dreary" to describe this song somewhat offensive. History ain't always merry but its still part of our culture and tradition.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 10:08 AM

I can imagine this song being 'dreary' sung by SOME people . I first heard it song by Gill Berry ,and it nearly had ME in tears , her delivery was so moving . There are songs which HAVE to be done RIGHT ,
by the RIGHT singer to get the full effect .

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 10:11 AM

The Famine was in the 1840s, but why quibble...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 10:56 AM

yes why quibble but if you must..... whilst the worst famine was 1845-48, there were further outbreaks of blight - as mentioned in the song, and deaths from hunger continued over the proceeding years. People were living at such a low level of subsistence it was a continuing danger. So the dates cited for the famine in Ireland are a moot point.

Leadfingers, your point is a good one. Kathryn Williams version of Leonard Cohen's Hallejullah is so beautiful but in the wrong hands it would probably induce suicide!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: GUEST,ron
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 09:15 PM

it is a sad song but it tells a story that has gone on in Ireland for 500 yrs
boys leaving to seek their fortunes and forgeting their roots

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From:
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 12:58 AM

I don't think too many Irish forget their roots. It's kind of thrown in their faces every March 17th!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: PoppaGator
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 05:28 PM

I disagree about the song being "dreary."

I am very glad to be reminded of it. It's been a year or more since I heard it on the radio and was moved nearly to tears. And, believe me, I don't cry easily. I have no idea whose rendition it was that I heard, but it was very effective.

It seemed pretty obvious, without hearing any spoken introduction, that the lyricist had probably paraphrased actual letters -- it just seemed to ring too true to be fiction.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: David Ingerson
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 05:45 PM

Well, George, I'm sure you're aware that what's thrown in their faces (and ours) every March is an instant mashed potatoes version of their roots--after it's been wrung dry by Madison Ave.

There were two Irish immigration centers in Oregon during the 19th century--Lakeview and Harney Counties--where Irish sheep hearders gathered. Now there is nothing of Irish culture there--no language, no music, no customs--other than family names and maybe a Danny Boy sung on March 17.

I'm sure glad it's been preserved elsewhere!

BTW, when I perform Kilkelly, Ireland, I have to sing it 3 or 4 times right before I perform or I can't get through the last verse--especially the last line--without tears.

Slainte,

David

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song
From: David Ingerson
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 05:48 PM

Oops! That's herders. I imagine they heard them, too, but that was not their main occupation. :-)

David

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: GUEST,'nother guest
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 07:54 PM

I know it fills up 8 minutes of a set nicely and yiz love to hear the moving sounds of yourselves singing it, but it's touching ONCE. After that, it's done to death and dreary!!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 08:44 PM

I also don't think it's dreary. I used to make people cry in college by playing them that song. It IS one of those songs whose magical effect dulls with constant exposure, so it's best not to sing it or hear it every day. But it is intensely moving and effective, especially the first time you hear it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: belfast
Date: 14 Aug 04 - 07:49 AM

Well, well. Some find it moving, others find it dreary. Some people like the song, some don't. Really fascinating but obviously we need an expert to tell us the "correct" response to the song.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 04 - 09:53 PM

it is similar to the song " Scorn not his simplicity"
it is a great song
does any one have a "midy "Tune File for Kilkelly

thanks
ron

Tiocfai ar Law

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: Pogo
Date: 22 Aug 04 - 06:07 PM

I heard that song ages ago on a documentary and it really pulled the heartstrings. So it was based on actual letters then? How sad... I imagine that all too often that was indeed the norm; that once you had left Ireland it would be quite unlikely you'd ever see it or your loved ones again.

I am of Scottish/Irish descent. Kilkelly makes me appreciate the courage and sacrifices of those immigrants even more...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Aug 05 - 04:58 PM

was in the 1840s, but problems with the rot continued for long after

Subject: RE: Tune Req: An Irish Song (Kilkelly)
From: GUEST,soldier
Date: 05 Aug 05 - 05:07 PM

Its a ballad to remind people that hardship and heartache are often the incentive that thrust people into new lives, and new countries...
I agree, overplayed the song wears, but the message is consistent and if you dont listen to it for a while so that its fresh....its not because you forgot the story...
I wish people today would write ballads to their sons...and daughters
to their families...to remind them and the nation of what it takes
and has taken to keep our Nation of varied cultural parents alive...
To remind them that war without moral conviction, is a painful shore on which we strand a generation. And that sometimes it is the price
we pay for the right to sing, and listen to "dreary" songs of a fathers love for his far away son.....