Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball

Subject: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:07 PM

I would like to have the lyrics of an Irish song about the racehorse Stewball. Not the American song in 3/4 that starts "Oh Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine..." This Irish song is entirely different. It has the phrase "Monaghan gray mare" in it.

This was recorded by an Irish group a few years back. I believe all the musicians were named Tony.

I think it would be neat to string the two Stewball songs together and make a little set of them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:35 PM

This sounds great! Would love to hear the answers...

And what band has all Tonys in it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 12:40 PM

recorded by Patrick Street, e.g.. I'll have a look

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,PJ Curtis
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 01:11 PM

The original 'Stewball' recalls a race run in the Curragh of Kildare in 1790 between the horse 'Skewbald'( or Stewball) and a grey mare called 'Miss Griesel'. The race was celebrated in ballad form and the song 'The Plains of Kildare' emerged from that early ballad. The song was recorded in the mid-70s by Andy Irvine and Paul Brady(shortly after departing Planxty) and album was released my the Mulligan label. The album is now avb. on CD and is a must for those with an interest in Irish traditional music. This album is a classic. PJC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 02:33 PM

There's an earlier thread on this that I can't find now. At any rate there's an early copy of "Skewball" in the Scarces Songs 1 file on my website (www.erols.com/olsonw) and 5 copies on the Bodley Ballads website (Mudcat's Links)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Áine
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 02:55 PM

Click here for one of the earlier threads about this song (with lyrics).

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Áine
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 03:03 PM

And if you'll click here, you'll find another thread of pertinent interest.

FYI - If you go to the Forum Home page, and enter the phrase "kildare AND horse", you'll also find all the versions of the Skewball/Stewball, et al. in the Digitrad.

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 03:13 PM

Whoops, I forgot. It's Laws' Q22 and there are several version in the DT. (Search on 'Q22')

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Oct 00 - 10:50 PM

Thanks for all the responses. Having found the words, I am discouraged at how prolix they are, and how they thud along. No wonder I recall the original tune as ragged and jagged. It had to be, to disguise the unremitting rhythm.

Personal to PJ Curtis: I don't know what you take me for, but I've seen "The Secret of Roan Inish" three times, and I know that a curragh is a small boat, quite incapable of being the site of a horse race. Indeed, my DH and I are probably the only people who ever watched the movie and strained to see how the oarlocks were fashioned on the wooden boats.

"What band has only Tony's?" Well, for one, that famous early one, the Steel Ice Band.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 05:13 PM

leenia

They're usually either thole pins or simple pairs of dowels - and currach, in place names, has a different meaning.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Áine
Date: 15 Oct 00 - 05:57 PM

Rud dainséarach giota eolais.

Thanks for the info on the Curragh of Kildare, PJ. And you're absolutely right, the album/CD is a classic.

Le meas, Áine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST,Aussie Non-Member
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 06:37 AM

I DO want the klyrics to the American version "Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine. He never drank water, he only/a;ways drank wine" Can anyone help me please.

Subject: Lyr Add: STEWBALL (Yellin/Herald/Rinzler)
From: freda underhill
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 08:40 AM

STEWBALL
Yellin/Herald/Rinzler

Oh Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine.
He never drank water, he always drank wine.

His bridle was silver, his mane it was gold.
And the worth of his saddle has never been told.

Oh the fairgrounds were crowded, and Stewball was there
But the betting was heavy on the bay and the mare.

And a-way up yonder, ahead of them all,
Came a-prancin' and a-dancin' my noble Stewball.

I bet on the grey mare, I bet on the bay
If I'd have bet on ol' Stewball, I'd be a free man today.

Oh the hoot owl, she hollers, and the turtle dove moans.
I'm a poor boy in trouble, I'm a long way from home.

Oh Stewball was a racehorse, and I wish he were mine.
He never drank water,he always drank wine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 03:56 PM

Older version:
Ol' Stewball, he was a recehorse,
An' I wish that he was mine.
He never drunk water,
But he always drunk wine.
(cho: Didn' he run,Lawd--
      Run all night long, Lawd, Lawd--
      Didn' he run, Lawd; run all night long?)
His saddle, it was silver
And his bridle, it was gold;
And the value of his harness,
It has never been told.
(cho)
Well, ol' Stewball was a white horse--
'fore they painted his hair red.
And he won a great fortune
Just before he fell dead!!
(cho)
Well I owe you 41 dollars,
But I have not got it to pay.
I will pay you that 41 dollars
When ol' Stewball wins another race.
(cho)
Well I often have wondered--
What makes women love men.
Then I look back and I wonder--
What makes men love them?
(cho)

I heard this version quite a bit in my childhood (late 1940s/early'50s).    Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: ard mhacha
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 04:53 AM

Leenia the Curragh of Kildare, a large plain, has from earliest times been used as a race course.
A Currach is a small boat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish song about Stewball
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 04:14 AM

Apropos of nothing, do you know that there is a pub not far from the Curragh that keeps the arm of a boxer (Sayers - Heenan?) in a jar behind the counter?
There is also an indentation in the ground where he is said to have jumped down from the platform after one of his fights.
Jim Carroll