What I am talking about is something that might not be apparent on a recording. The singer is expressing a shared experience of history, culture, language & music to the audience. Traditionally, the singer may turn aeay from the audience or pull his hat over his head. This is not so common now as singers are more often singing into a microphone. At the end of the song, the singer will speak the last few words of the song. This is a signal to the audience that the song is over and we are returning back to reality. The singer will often break into English(a symbol of the decaying Gaeilic culture)an inject something humorous or shocking to bring the audience back to reality . A good example of this device is Joe Heaney's performace of CAILLEACH AN AIRGEAD where he ends the song by saying, "D'íosfaidh sí feoil ar Friday and Saturday"(She would eat meat on Friday and Saturday)-a shocking even sinful thing to do! I could come up with some more, but they are often missing in rcordings and more apparent in live performances if you can find them. There is a song by Darach Ó Catháin (Traditional Irish Unaccompanied Singing CAOIRIGH NA JAPS about a flock of sheep that strayed onto someone elses land. They are spotted in Africa, France, Dover England, Dakota. They are riding the ferry, eating clover, smoking cigars. Suddenly, the last line comes, spoken: "Gur dtainig siad ar ais"("-that they came home").

Brían