(Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs

Subject: (URGENT: HELP REQUIRED)IRISH FOLK SONGS
From: GUEST,RAY
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 01:42 PM

To whom it may concern,

Can you help me please

I am seeking help to write background introductions for Irish Folk Songs, which I intend to use in a book I am compiling at the moment.

Below is an example of the type of introductions I have written to date.

BRENNAN ON THE MOOR
(The Author of this song is unknown) Brennan was a highway
man who robbed in counties Cork and Tipperary and in
the Kilworth Mountains near the town of Fermoy, he
was hanged between 1804 and 1810

CARRICKFERGUS
(The Author of this song is unknown) This song was first known as The Sick Young Lover. The song as it evolved may be a combination of two songs, one English and one Irish. A broadsheet containing both English and phoenetic Irish verses was printed by Haly in Cork. Haly of Cork printed circa 1830.* It is a very
evocative tune set in Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim

The songs I seek help in writing similar introductions for are as follows

A Rainy Night In Soho
A Pair Of Brown Eyes
Boston Rose
Dirty Old Town
Fiddlers Green
Flight Of The Earls
Gra Mo Chroi
Home Boys Home
Streets Of New York
Take Me Up To Monto
The Big Strong Man
The Boys From The County Armagh
The Dying Rebel
The Irish Rover
The Man From Mullingar
The Rare Ould Times
The Spanish Lady
The Star Of The County Down
Whiskey On A Sunday

If you feel you can me with my request please contact me at the following e-mail address [e-mail]

i would greatly appreciate your assistance.

Kind regards,

Raymond.

Subject: RE: (URGENT: HELP REQUIRED)IRISH FOLK SONGS
From: Allan C.
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:04 PM

For what it may be worth, "highway man" should be one word, as in, "highwayman".

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:08 PM

Song Origin's Permathread

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:11 PM

Same question, last week

Origins of Irish Folk Songs

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:39 PM

Hmmm. According to :

Introduction to my Irish Ballads

You've been making this request since 2001. Answer is still to look in the Forum discussions. We've had a lot of discussions over the years covering many of these songs. We collected the links together into the one thread, Song Origins - Permathread, which is given above. Have you gone through those discussions yet? Once you do, if there is still information you need, re-post to this thread or the one you created last week.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:48 PM

You might also look for information in DT Attirbution - Authors Wanted. Some of the songs, such as Rare Ould Times, are still in copyright and the author's name(s) may not be in the DT, but given in this thread.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:54 PM

The thread from last week was:

Origins of Irish Folk Songs

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: 8ch(pl)
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 02:59 PM

Hi George,

It's Glen from Harbour folk.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: GUEST,Learaí na Láibe
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 07:31 PM

Hi George

That Song Origin's Permathread is a brilliant resource and so easily accessible. I believe you're mostly responsible. Great work and well done.

Learaí na Láibe

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 10:13 PM

Ray, have you ever looked at the responses in the other threads? It's best not to expect e-mail replies. Also, it's best to discuss particular songs in threads that pertain to the song itself. Long lists like this tend to get less of a response. Besides, you'll find much of this information has already been posted.
Please experiment a bit and learn how to use our Filter and search engines before you start another thead like this.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Pene Azul
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 10:21 PM

I have incorporated the information from the Song Origins Permathread into our thread groups.
Groups pertaining to song origins can be found in Song Origins & Info (also in the Quick Links).

Jeff

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From:
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 12:52 AM

Jeff, it's still better to utilize the Lyric Knowledge Search. I noticed on the one song "Whiskey on a Sunday", the Song Origins and Info link doesn't link to any of the Seth Davis threads which are a lot of the Mudcat threads on this song.

Leara, thanks. I started the ball rolling. I wanted to have a central thread to place links to the various threads which discussed the backgrounds or origins of a lot of the songs. We kept seeing requests, though not as extensive as the list that Ray started posting in 2000. I suspect if he'd taken a gander at some of the threads in the Permathread, or Jeff's Song Origins, he'd have most of the answers by now. Oh well. Thanks for the kind words, Leara.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Noreen
Date: 08 Jul 03 - 07:47 AM

email sent

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 06:56 AM

there is a song containing lyrics " down the offaly way" anybody know it?

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:24 AM

' Dirty Old Town ' is NOT Irish, if you need an introduction all you need say is that it was written By Ewan MacColl about his home town, Salford.

Dave H

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Emma B
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:31 AM

in addition -

'Whiskey On A Sunday' is NOT Irish and it isn't even the title!

The song is called 'Seth Davy', who was a busker in liverpool, and was written by Glyn Hughes.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Emma B
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:36 AM

and also for the record

'Fiddler's Green' was written and copyrighted by John Connolly, a Lincolnshire (English) songwriter who also wrote 'Punch and Judy Man'

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:37 AM

I am pretty sure that of the original list a fair few are not actualy Irish, including, I beleive -

Dirty Old Town
Fiddlers Green
Home Boys Home
The Big Strong Man
The Irish Rover (I think this was written by an Englishman)
The Spanish Lady
Whiskey On A Sunday

I could be mistaken of course but I suspect they are all songs covered by Irish artists rather than Irish in origin. Often included on compilations of course and sold to unsuspecting tourists:-)

DeG

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 10:48 AM

I don't think you're mistaken, David. I'm pretty sure that none of those you've noted are Irish....but than I've had people *insist* to me recently that Kate Rusby "is a lovely Irish singer"!!!

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Emma B
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 11:01 AM

Home Boys Home is 'related' to a number of other traditional songs including The Oak and the Ash, Home Dearie Home, Rosemary Lane and the bawdy Bell Bottom Trousers
It is almost certainly English in origin!

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Jeri
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 11:06 AM

You are answering a query posted in July 2003, which probably HAS been answered if you follow the links provided.

The thread was refreshed by a GUEST asking "there is a song containing lyrics 'down the offaly way' anybody know it?" I'm guessing there might be just a wee Mondegreen in there.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 03:43 PM

The fact that it is 7 years old does not make the list any less wrong does it? Or has the length of time made all those song Irish?

BTW is the wee modegreen Irish as well?

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:45 PM

Variety, surely? Offaly (note capital (Birr)) is fine.

Regards
p.s. If anything it's a monde-green-white-and-gold.

Subject: RE: (Urgent: Help Required) Irish Folk Songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 10 Apr 10 - 05:56 PM

All that said, I don't know the song - but will make enquiries among my midland friends.

Regards