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Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran

13 Oct 98 - 08:27 AM (#41505)
Subject: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Ciaran

Can anybody help with the English translation of a sean nos song - possibly sung by De Danaan - The Shores Of Lough Bran ?

Slan go foill !


13 Oct 98 - 11:07 AM (#41518)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Martin Ryan

Not sure if it's a translation - I doubt it. I'll see if I can find words.

Regards


04 Dec 98 - 12:56 PM (#47993)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Ciaran

Help! Still looking .... Does ANYBODY out there have a copy that they can listen to and transcribe for me ?

Pleeeeeeasssseeee??!!!


04 Dec 98 - 01:21 PM (#47997)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Frank McGrath

If somebody can jump in and post the lyrics today - please fire ahead. But if not be patient - I'll have them in a few days for you.

There are many variations so I cannot promise to give you an exact translation of what you heard before but all the versions I have heard in English are magic and should be sung unaccompanied for the proper effect.

So hold tough good man and your request will be answered shortly from one source or another.

Frank McGrath
Nenagh Singers Circle
www.geocities.com/broadway/alle


09 Dec 98 - 09:44 AM (#48686)
Subject: Lyr Add: SHORES OF LOUGH BRAN^^
From: Wolfgang Hell

I don't know where I have this from, but it seems to be a transcription from the DeDannan recording.

SHORES OF LOUGH BRAN

Sit you down, loyal comrade, sit you down for a while
'til I spend my last hours 'round Erin's Green Isle
come fill up your glasses and we'll drink hand in hand
for tomorrow I'll be leaving the shores of Lough Bran.

There's my father and mother you can now hear them cry
with their tears bewailing would moisten your eye
but I will assist them, please God, if I can
far away from lovely Erin and the shores of Lough Bran.

In the incoming morning I will bid you adieu,
to Leitrim, Drumshanboe and sweet Carrick too
but no matter what fortune I might make far away
my thoughts shall be with you by night and by day.

My thoughts shall be with you while life's course is banned
far away from lovely Erin and the shores of Lough Bran.

Wolfgang


09 Dec 98 - 11:01 AM (#48697)
Subject: Lyr Add: SHORES OF LOUGH BRAN^^
From: Brack&

Another version

Come sit down comrades with me for a while
For I'm spending my last hours in Erin's green isle
Fill up your glasses - let you drink when you can
For tomorrow I'll be sailing from the shores of Lough Bran

Our fathers before us were forced for to roam
'Twas the laws of coercion drove them from their home
But the Lord made for Ireland a scheme and a plan
That sent our sons roaming like wild geese from Lough Bran

There's my father and mother, you can now hear them sigh
With their tears bewailing, it would moisten your eyes
But I will assist them please God, if I can
Far away from lovely Erin and the shores of Lough Bran

On the incoming morning I will now bid "Adieu"
To Leitrim, Drumshanbo and sweet Carrick too
But no matter what fortune I may make far away
My thoughts shall be with you by night and by day

Regards Mick Bracken


09 Dec 98 - 11:07 AM (#48700)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: jodro

and he may be the lover of her but I still love him that,s the first bit


10 Dec 98 - 03:29 AM (#48802)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Ciaran

Thankyou all - this is what I've been waiting for !! The only bit I'm not sure about though is:

....shall be with you while life's course is banned

What does that mean ???


10 Dec 98 - 03:59 AM (#48804)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Brack&

Ciaran, I would think that it means, that normally, life's course would be to live where you were born, but if freedom was banned, and you couldn't live with that, you may be forced to "roam". Regards Mick Bracken


10 Dec 98 - 09:57 AM (#48830)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Ciaran

Thanks Mick, I guess I can handle that...but could it be: .....while life's course is spanned ???


10 Dec 98 - 10:23 AM (#48837)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Wolfgang

I'll listen tonight and tell you, what I hear


12 Dec 98 - 09:13 AM (#49150)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Wolfgang

I hear DeDannan singing "spanned" and The Boys of the Lough (Life at Passim) singing "banned".

Wolfgang


14 Dec 98 - 05:10 AM (#49389)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Ciaran

Well - who am I to disagree with either ? I'll use 'Spanned' on a Friday and 'Banned' on a Saturday!

Thanks for the help guys....slan go foill !


26 Apr 99 - 05:11 PM (#73572)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: Daniel

If I could throw in my two cents worth,(which with inflation is worth about five bucks by now) "spanned" makes more sense. Mick's justification of "banned" seems, well, a little strained.


14 Dec 04 - 01:11 AM (#1356243)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: John in Brisbane

There's a great new recording by Sean and John Doyle. I have a WAV which I downloaded and the tune sounds very similar to another song. Can anyone enlighten please?

Regards, John


14 Dec 04 - 06:39 PM (#1357034)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: GUEST

John,
         Could it be "Farewell Enniskillen?"


14 Dec 04 - 09:17 PM (#1357138)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: John in Brisbane

It's a modally tune and it sounds like a cross between 'Salley Gardens' and 'Bunclodey'.

Regards, John


15 Dec 04 - 05:29 PM (#1357961)
Subject: RE: Looking for lyrics: The Shores Of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,David Ingerson

I heard a woman singing it in Listol (I think) in 1983 who included this as the second verse (if my memory serves):

No more will I wander 'round Harknet's (?) green hill,
Or the old spot that I loved so well that was down by the mill,
Or the old forge where I ran and leaped and oft times did stray,
To inhale the fresh breezes 'round the shores of Lough Bran.

There's an obvious problem with the rhyme in the last couplet, so I sing it:

Or the old forge where I jumped and leaped and oft times I ran,
To inhale ... etc.

Either way it goes bump there. I'd love to find the original line, which, I assume, would be as smooth as the rest of the song.

Frank's right: it is a magic song. It was this song (I should find out who sang it) included on an anthology called "A Feast of Irish Folk" that reached out and simply grabbed me many years ago. Its spell has not let go. It was the first song in the sean nos that I had ever heard and I was hooked. I knew there must be more songs like that and I soon discovered the whole world of sean nos singing. It's been my musical home ever since.

David


11 Jan 06 - 03:36 PM (#1646439)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,micheal o connollysean nos singer from muici

i sang shores of lough bran for ronan burk on clare f m and thanks two u i now got another verse go raibh maith agat


28 Feb 07 - 12:34 PM (#1981919)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,james mcphee

how can i listen to the shores of lough bran i kept trying every website i know but i cant seem to get it please can some one help me as soon as possible.


28 Feb 07 - 12:36 PM (#1981922)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,james doyle

can can you listen to it what website is it on


10 Apr 07 - 09:31 PM (#2021828)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,Brigid Donnely

David,

The person singing "The Shores of Lough Bran" on "A Feast of Irish folk" (where I also first heard it) was Dolores Keane when she was still with De Dannan.


31 Jul 07 - 12:25 PM (#2115661)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,jlinne

Delores Keane recorded this song on her album of Songs of Emmigration.
Jlinne


17 Nov 07 - 07:30 PM (#2196331)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: David Ingerson

Hey Brigid,

A belated thanks for your information.

I'll be recording the song soon and wanted to give proper credit to my source so I googled "A Feast of Irish Folk" and "The Shores of Lough Bran" and your post above came out right at the top. It wasn't until after I clicked on it that I realized I had inadvertently stumbled on someone actually answering my own question from three years ago!

Go raibh mile maith agat!

Now all I need to do is find out who sang that other verse. Anyone out there know of anyone who sings the verse beginning "No more will I wander 'round Harknet's green hill"?

I'll return in three years and maybe the answer will be waiting for me! Isn't Mudcat incredible?

Cheers,

David


04 Jan 08 - 11:24 AM (#2228297)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST

Hear the song often around our way (South Leitrim) - Never heard of Harknett's Green Hill. Farnagh is the townland around most of the lake - it's about 3k north of Carrick on Shannon beside the road to Ballinamore and Drumshanbo if ye're around that neck of the woods.   

I think the person singing it on the De Danann album might be Eleanor Shanley. She comes from nearby.


05 Jan 08 - 02:28 AM (#2228835)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: David Ingerson

Hey guest! Thanks for that info. I transcribed the verse about Harknett's green hill over 20 years ago and I have no idea how accurately I transcribed it, or, for that matter, how geographically accurate the singer was. I'll have to see if I can find that old tape and play it again to see if it might actually have been Farnagh's green hill.

I found Lough Bran on Google maps and Farnagh is indeed just to the south of it and there appears to be a fairly substantial hill just to the east of the lough, which might just be Farnagh's green hill.

Thanks again, and I'll be sure to get myself there sometime--maybe this May when I'll be in Ireland again.

David


05 Jan 08 - 08:21 AM (#2228947)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE SHORES OF LOUGH BRAN
From: GUEST,guest maggie

Hi,
I learned this version in the early 70s from a compilation LP, I'm fairly sure it was Ann Breene singing. Think Harnett is a family name?
Someone once corrected me one or two of the words I have for the third verse (second half); but I can't remember what they said - sorry!
Maggie

Sit you down loyal comrades, sit you down for a while
While I spend my last hours in Erin's Green Isle
come fill up your glasses and we'll drink hand in hand
for tomorrow I'll be leaving the shores of Lough Bran.

In the oncoming morning I'll be bidding adieu
To Leitrim, Drumshanbo and sweet Carrick too
But no matter what fortunes I may seek far away
My thoughts will be with you by night and by day.

No more will I ramble 'round Hartnett's green hills
And the place I love dearest is down by the mill
It's great fertile valley where oft times I ran
And felt the fresh breezes round the Shores of Lough Bran

There's my father and mother, you can hear them both sigh
And the tears down their pale cheeks, it would moisten your eye
But I will assist them, please God, when I can
Far away from lovely Ireland and the shores of Lough Bran.


25 Jan 08 - 03:16 AM (#2244257)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: Ross Campbell

This seems to be the version listed above (05 Jan 08), with some slight variations in the words. Completely different tune from the Dolores Keane version.

YouTube Shores of Lough Bran

Verse Three variant:-
Its green fertile valley where oft times I ran
To inhale the fresh breezes round the shores of Lough Bran.

Ross


06 Apr 24 - 02:54 AM (#4200489)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,Mike H

I'm pretty sure the line is "Farnaght's green hills" ...my children's maternal ancestors were the Moran's from Farnagh on one side of Lough Bran (and the family still has a hone there) but in various records it's also spelled Farnaght or Farnaught ...
It's a hauntingly beautiful song ... does anyone know who wrote it ?


02 Jul 24 - 07:40 AM (#4204803)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Shores of Lough Bran
From: GUEST,Mike

Believe Delia Murphy might have written this