Lyr Req: Blind Man O'Carolan

Subject: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 11:04 PM

I'm always a sucker for a song using O'carolan's music. I used to own a cassette of The Dubliners singing a song to the tune of Planxty Irwin (Erwin?) which is a tribute to O'Carolan, and has a chorus "Blind man O'Carolan, where is your monument...."

If anyone can supply the words, I'll do the easy part and post the tune.

Regards
John

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 15 Apr 99 - 11:15 PM

Found this on an earlier thread. It doesn't answer my question but may inspire some others to seek out O'Carolan's music.

Regards
John

Subject: RE: Planxty? From: Barry Finn Date: 05-Sep-98 - 10:38 PM

O'Carolan composed only one song/tune in the traditional style, "Bridget Cruise" after his first love, his other estimated 200 pieces were in what became his style, Planxty. He was the first of the great harpers (& last of the great Bards) to write in this non traditional way. Some of his tune/songs are known by names & Planxties, an example "O'Rouke's Noble Feast" is also "Planxty O'Rourke". He was besides the greatest of harpers, also a singer & many of his tunes were written with accompanying words. Recently (maybe the past ten years) Seamus Connelly has been recording, he is probably the worlds best Irish fiddler interprerting O'Carolan's music today, to hear him play a piece by O'Carolan is magical & mystical, every thing gets silent, great musicians put down their instruments, eyes start to flutter & close as a dreamy sound starts to take you back in time to place long ago so pleasant that you could get lost in the sound & listen forever. Barry

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: Lesley N.
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 06:17 AM

Funny thing is according to Donal O'Sullivan - Carolan's biographer, Carolan himself probably never used the term Planxty...

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From:
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 01:58 PM

And when writing in English he refered to himself as Carolan, not O'Carolan.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: Lesley N.
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 03:30 PM

I used to get a lot of mail about Carolan v. O'Carolan. So I devoted some space to it. It's here.

Subject: Lyr Add: O'CAROLAN TRIBUTE
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Apr 99 - 09:18 PM

Here you go, John. The song you are referring to is called "O'Carolan Tribute" and it is indeed set to "Planxty Irwin". I believe the words were written by one of the Furey's. They have it in their "The Furey's & Davey Arthur Song Book" available from Soodlum's. The book says the song is "Dedicated to the great Sean O'Riada without whom the name of O'Carolan would never have come to the surface."

O'CAROLAN TRIBUTE

I sat and I thought of a man O'Carolan
who played for kings and lords and ladies
To near him play O' must have been wondrous
to feel his music played at his command.
And the people spoke of your mighty Godly gift
bestowed on you when you were a boy
for to play the harp with your magical fingers
to compose such music that left no desire

And blind man O'Carolan where is your monument
Build it so high that the world it can see
All the people now have their music
thro' a blind harpist that's helped them to see

O'Carolan's Concerto was your tribute
You wrote it so people could remember your name
The 'Big Hills' 'The Small Hills" was your beauty
a conversation between two hills

And Carolan O' blind man you wrote such masters
To show the people you've found our hearts
And you gave our music a new beginning
And from the people it will never part

Then a mighty man whose name was O'Riada
Awakened the people from out of their sleep
And O'Carolan's music it was a part of him
A man I remember, a man I admired.

he spoke of your with great admiration
He played your music with grace and with style
And we'll remember you Sean O'Riada
We will remember you for a long time.

And blind man O'Carolan
He was your monument
He built it so high that the world it can see
And through O'Riada we can be thankful
He's shown us a blind man that's helped us to see

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 07:41 PM

Mick, thanks so much for the lyrics - I haven't heard this in years. I'll post the tune in the next day or so, and if it's not too heretical will also transpose it to a more singable key.

BTW are you able to provide an indication as to which of the lyrics correspond to the A and B parts of the tune. At first glance it's not obvious to me.

Regards
John

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 08:36 PM

The first "b" part or chorus is:

And blind man O'Carolan where is your monument Build it so high that the world it can see All the people now have their music thro' a blind harpist that's helped them to see

That part is written in musical score in the book. As I look at the rest of the song, which is just written below the score, it does indeed show to be a bit confusing. Based on the sentence structure it seems to indicate that it stays with the "A" part until you reach the last verse:

And blind man O'Carolan He was your monument He built it so high that the world it can see And through O'Riada we can be thankful He's shown us a blind man that's helped us to see

I haven't heard a recording of the Furey's doing this song, so I can't say for sure if they intended for the first "B" part to be repeated every couple of verses or not. Now you have me intrigued and I am going to find a CD of the Furey's so I can hear it. And the score shows the song being done in the key of D.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Blind Man O'Carolan
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 18 Apr 99 - 09:46 PM

Here is my try, goodness knows how this will format.

Regards
John

O'CAROLAN TRIBUTE

(1) I sat and I thought of a man O'Carolan
who played for kings and lords and ladies
To near him play O' must have been wondrous
to feel his music played at his command.

And the people spoke of your mighty Godly gift
bestowed on you when you were a boy
for to play the harp with your magical fingers
to compose such music that left no desire

Chorus

And blind man O'Carolan where is your monument
Build it so high that the world it can see
All the people now have their music
thro' a blind harpist that's helped them to see

(2) O'Carolan's Concerto was your tribute
You wrote it so people could remember your name
The 'Big Hills' 'The Small Hills" was your beauty
a conversation between two hills

And Carolan O' blind man you wrote such masters
To show the people you've found our hearts
And you gave our music a new beginning
And from the people it will never part

Repeat Chorus

(3) Then a mighty man whose name was O'Riada
Awakened the people from out of their sleep
And O'Carolan's music it was a part of him
A man I remember, a man I admired.

he spoke of your with great admiration
He played your music with grace and with style
And we'll remember you Sean O'Riada
We will remember you for a long time.

Chorus Variant

And blind man O'Carolan
He was your monument
He built it so high that the world it can see
And through O'Riada we can be thankful
He's shown us a blind man that's helped us to see