The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14602   Message #722112
Posted By: Leeder
03-Jun-02 - 11:49 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Daniel O'Connell and His Steam Engine
Subject: RE: Daniel O'Connell & His Steam Engine
Yes, O.J. Abbott's version, titled "Daniel O'Connell", is in "Traditional Singers and Songs from Ontario", Folklore Associates/Burns & MacEachern (1965), p. 50, notes at p. 171. Edith doesn't repeat the "future generations" story here, and I suspect she hadn't heard it yet. She says she hadn't found the song in any British or American collection, but it was in oral circulation in Ireland, as Luke Kelly had learned it from Liam Clancy, who learned it from a "countryman".

O.J. Abbott's version is also on his Folkways LP, "Irish and British Songs from the Ottawa Valley", made from Edith's field recordings of him (he never made a studio recording). It's probably still available on cassette from Smithsonian Folkways. O.J. was one of the greatest traditional singers you'll ever hear. He knew so many songs, and sang them really well, especially when you consider that he was discovered at the age of 85. He's on Edith's other compilations as well.