The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #69447   Message #1179825
Posted By: GUEST,Storyteller
06-May-04 - 07:23 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Easy and Slow
Subject: RE: History of 'Easy and Slow'
From Red Roses for Me © Sean O'Casey, 1942

Act 3

....Brennan [o' the Moor] sighs; then plays a few preliminary notes on the melodeon to make sure it is in tune. He begins to sing in a voice that was once a mellow baritone, but now is a little husky with age, now and again quavering a little on the higher notes in the song.

(singing)

I stroll'd with a fine maid far out in th' counthry,
Th' blossoms around us all cryin' for dew;
On a violet-clad bench, sure, I sat down beside her,
An' tuck'd up my sleeves for to tie up her shoe.
An' what's that to anyone whether or no
If I came to th' fore when she gave me th' cue?
She closed her eyes tight as she murmur'd full low,
Be good enough, dear, for to tie up my shoe.

**********************************************

Th' hawthorn shook all her perfume upon us,
Red poppies saluted, wherever they grew,
Th' joyous exertion that flaunted before me,
When I tuck'd up my sleeves for to fasten her shoe.
An' what's it to anyone, whether or no
I learn'd in that moment far more than I knew,
As she lifted her petticoat, shyly and slow,
An' I tuck'd up my sleeves for to fasten her shoe.

The heathery hills were all dancin' around us,
False things in th' world turn'd out to be thrue,
When she put her arms round me, an' kiss'd me an' murmur'd,
You've neatly an' tenderly tied up my shoe.
An' what's that to anyone whether or no,
I ventur'd quite gamely to see th' thing through,
When she lifted her petticoat, silent and slow,
An' I tuck'd up my sleeves for to tie up her shoe.

It would seem that the world owes the Old Lady From Giggleswick a vote of thanks for her transformation of this song.