Hi

Below are the completed song lyrics with gaps filled in by myself and 'Balachbui'

I have a few questions;
1) Does anybody know the name of the songwriter?

2) In the context of a horse harness what precisely is a 'hames'?

In parts of Ireland we say "He made a hames of it" or alternatively "he made a horse's collar of it" to describe when somebody makes a poor attempt at something. i.e. "He made a compete hames of painting the wall, he got whitewash every where" or "She made a horse's collar of the dinner, the spuds were hard and the joint was burned to a crisp"

3) Anybody know the origin of this turn of phrase?

4) Does GUEST,Balachbui come from around Spiddle, Rossaveal or the Aran Islands? and did he/she ever cure or eat a 'Balach Buí'?


THIS STORY I TELL YOU IS TRUE
(J. Reidy?)

1. Come stroll for a while through my mem'ry,
And I'll tell you of time long ago,
When we walked to school summer and winter,
Barefoot through the fields we would go.
I remember our little thatched cottage,
And the half-door led into the hall,
The crane o'er the fire in the kitchen,
And the grandfather clock on the wall.

CHORUS:
Oh, the stout it was cured with a poker,
And poteen they said cured the flu.
The bacon it hung from the ceiling,
Sure, the story I tell you is true.

2. We went in the trap to mass, Sundays
And granddad he'd wear his best hat
When the priest he would serve from the altar
And the women in diff'rent seats sat.
Matchmaking was part of tradition,
And the rambling house filled up at night
When the tailor would tell the ghost stories,
Oh, the children would shiver with fright.

3. I remember the sound of the anvil.
And the burning horse hooves we would smell
When we passed the forge door in the evening'
With water we fetched from the well.
We spanciled the cows before milking
Tied the horse to the wall through the shoe
His collar and hames his winkers and reins
And the harness we kept it like new

4. For miles to the fair in the darkness
With our animals we walked with delight
When the wheelin' and dealin' was over,
Everyone waited round for the fight.
Now I hope that in telling this story,
I haven't detained you too long;
But there is so much more I can tell you
Someday in some other song.

The tune is nearly the same as "Rosin the Beau."