Lyr Add: The Old House

Subject: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Big Tim
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 03:25 AM

THE OLD HOUSE (1935) Words and music by (Sir) Frederick O'Connor (1870-1943)

Lonely I wander through scenes of my childhood,
They call back to memory those happy days of yore,
Gone are the old folk, the house stands deserted,
No light in the windows, no welcome at the door.

Here's where the children played games on the heather,
Here's where they sailed their wee boats on the burn,
Where are now? Some are dead, some have wandered,
No more to their home shall those children return.

Lone is the house now and lone is the moorland,
The children are scattered,the old folk are gone,
Why stand I here, like a ghost and a shadow?
"Tis time I were moving, 'tis time I passed on.

As recorded by Sir Thomas Allen on his album "Songs My Father Taught Me".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Brakn
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 05:48 AM

Great song. I love the way Jimmy Crowley does this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Big Tim
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 05:58 AM

I haven't heard Jimmy Crowley's version, will look out for it. Recorded by John McCormack in November 1939, more recently by The Irish Tenors (sung by Anthony Kearns).

As far I can discover, Sir Frederick O'Connor was an Englishman, a high ranking military man. The song is said to recall an old cottage in Ireland in which his childhood nanny lived.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Brakn
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 06:32 AM

There's a bit about O'Connor here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Big Tim
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 07:48 AM

So he was Irish after all. Good! (The bit about the nanny is taken from the Sir Thomas Allen album sleevenotes).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From:
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 01:48 PM

Josef Locke also sings a beautiful rendition of this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old House
From: Swave N. Deboner
Date: 01 Apr 05 - 10:45 PM

So does John McDermott, on his "Danny Boy" album.