Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhondda

Subject: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From:
Date: 07 Jul 97 - 11:24 PM

I need the lyrics to these songs. Can anyone help me? Thanks

Subject: Lyr Add: FAREWELL TO THE RHONDDA^^^
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 08 Jul 97 - 06:07 AM

copy&pasted from: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto//SI-songbook4-art.html

FAREWELL TO THE RHONDDA

CHORUS: Farewell ye colliery workers, the muffler and the cap
Farewell ye Rhondda valley girls, we never will come back
The mines they are a-closin', the valleys they're all doomed
There's no work in the Rhondda boys, we'll be in London soon

My father was a miner, and his father was before him,
He always had been proud to work the coal
Since they fell 'neath Provin's axe,
All the lads have had the sack
So away to work in England we must go!

No more the chapel singin', that long ago has left us
And the public house no more the miner's songs
For the boot wheels they are stoppin',
And the populations' droppin'
And I can't afford to stay here very long

Trehearve and Teralvye, Talleyfinley and Tenobbit
Trastreondda and Semfentra, all adieu
For I can no longer wait
While Parliament debates
So a fond farewell I bid to all of you!

CHORUS 2X

BTW: I wouldn't trust all their words. For example, where they write "boot wheels" I hear "pit wheels". Wolfgang^^^

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 28-Jun-02.

---

This was the version harvested for the Digital Tradition. Some corrections were made in the 2002 version of the database.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: SEAN SOUTH OF GARRYOWEN
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 08 Jul 97 - 06:59 AM

SEAN SOUTH OF GARRYOWEN (also to the same tune, Roddy McCorley):

'Twas on a dreary New Year's Eve when the shades of night fell down.
A lorry load of volunteers approached a border town.
There were men from Dublin and from Cork, Fermanagh and Tyrone,
But the leader was a Limerick lad, Sean South of Garryowen.

And as they moved along the street up to the barrack door,
They scorned the danger they would meet, the fate that lay in store.
They were fighting for old Ireland, to save their very own,
And the leader of that gallant band was South of Garryowen.

But the sergeant foiled their daring plan; he spied them through the door.
From the guns and all the rifles too, a hail of death did pour,
And when that awful night was o'er two men lay cold as stone.
There was one from near the border and one from Garryowen.

No more he'll hear the seagull cry or the murmuring Shannon's tide,
For he fell beneath a northern sky, brave O'Hanlon by his side.
He's gone to join that gallant band of Plunkett, Pierce and Tone,
Another martyr for old Ireland, Sean South of Garryowen.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 28-Jun-02.

Subject: Lyr Add: FAREWELL TO THE RHONDA
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Jul 97 - 07:40 AM

http://www.wuerzburg.de/gym-siebold/u_heiligenthal/folkdir.htm, a German site with some folk songs, brought this version with quite different name spelling from the one above. I have no idea whom to trust more. Wolfgang

FAREWELL TO THE RHONDA

[zurück]

(Ein Lied, welches die schwierige wirtschaftliche Situation im Rhonda Valley in Südwales nach der Schließung der Kohlebergwerke besingt. - Ein echter "Ohrwurm" - nach Aussage ehemaliger Schüler! Das Rhonda Valley war die Wiege der Industriellen Revolution im 19. Jahrhundert. Die dort abgebaute Kohle ist von höchster Güte und wurde als sog. steam coal zur Befeuerung von Dampfmaschinen und Dampflokomotiven benötigt. Mit dem Verschwinden der Dampfmaschine aus dem industriellen Prozeß und dem Ende des Dampfzeitalters nahm auch der Bedarf an Steinkohle ab. Daher mußten viele Bergarbeiter in den Industriegebieten Englands neue Arbeit suchen.)

Well me father was a miner and his father was before
And they always had been proud to work below
But since they fell `neath Robin's axe
All the lads - have got the sacks
And away to work in England we must go.

Farewell the colliery worker, the muffler and the cap.
Farewell you Rhonda valley girls we never will come back
The mines they are a-closing and the valleys are all doomed.
There's no work in the Rhonda boys, they'll be in London soon.

No more the chapel singing, for that long ago has left us,
In the public house, no more the miners song.
For the population's dropping as the pit-wheels are a-stopping,
And I can't afford to stay here very long.

Treherbert and Triorki, Donni Pandi and Tennowit,
Istand Rhonda, Tom Pentrae all adieu,
For I can no longer wait, while parliament debates,
So a fond farewell I'll bid to all of you.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 28-Jun-02.

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: LaMarca
Date: 08 Jul 97 - 06:53 PM

Just a confirmation, Bobby, is the tune for Roddy McCorley also used for Farewell to the Rhonda?

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: Wolfgang
Date: 09 Jul 97 - 03:58 AM

No, LaMarca, Farewell to the Rhondda is a completely different tune at least in the only version I have. I have never heard this tune with any other song yet. Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: Bobby O'Brien
Date: 09 Jul 97 - 07:51 AM

It amazes me how many songs have the same air to them. Sean South and Roddy McCorley is just a minor example of this in Ireland. The following songs all share the same basic air: Along the Faughanside, Wind that Shakes the Corn, Galtee Mountain Boy, Hills of Glen Swilly, Boys of Tuam Bridge (now these are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. )

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 09 Jul 97 - 08:34 AM

and we could start a whole new thread for songs to the tune of Villikins and his Dinah.

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: LaMarca
Date: 09 Jul 97 - 03:26 PM

Wolfgang (or anyone else), can you line out the tune for "Farewell to the Rhondda" in sol-fa or ABC or some other notation? My husband and I perform a lot of industrial/work songs, both traditional and recent, and I'd like to learn "Rhondda". I vaguely remember hearing the song ages ago in my Guiness-soaked Irish-American bar days, but can't really remember the tune. Also, does anyone know who the author is/was? It sounds like a fairly recent song from the first wave of British/Welsh pit closings.

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: John
Date: 09 Jul 97 - 07:22 PM

Hi La Marca et al,

I have a slightly raunched Lp which contains this song (Farewell to Rhondah). This would be a great opportunity for me to try my hand at ABC or similar, but I am a bit mystified by the playing software. Please see my thread on Gypsy Music and ABC.

If a more experienced soul doesn'e fill the breech first I will give it a go.

Cheers John

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: Wolfgang
Date: 10 Jul 97 - 03:59 AM

LaMarca, it is a beautiful song and I'd love to know it is sung (last time I heard it was in Slattery's in Dublin, years ago). I have not the slightest idea how to send the music except in the old way (music cassette). I would be glad to do that if you do not mind mailing me your adress. So if you do not get the music some other way (from John, e.g.) you can mail me: [e-mail].

I'll post the author and other information here tomorrow. The records with Mick Moloney (Farewll to the Rhondda is on his "We have met together", I'd say) usually have a perfect documentation.

Subject: RE: Sean South of Garryowen/Farewell to the Rhnda
From: Wolfgang
Date: 11 Jul 97 - 04:11 AM

The information on Farewell to the Rhondda given on the record cover: Frank Hennessey from the Hennesseys Folk Group wrote this at the time of the miner's strike in 1972. Cheers Wolfgang