Lyr Req: Tarry Flynn (Shay Healy)

Subject: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Sophie
Date: 05 May 99 - 04:53 AM

Looking for the rest of this song about the Tarry Flynn in Patrick Kavanagh's novel. I don't think it is actually by Kavanagh himself. The only other bit I remember is something along the lines of "you're writing poetry and are not working and does anybody care?" I probably mangled that, but well. Can anyone help? Cheers, Sophie

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Alice
Date: 05 May 99 - 09:29 AM

hmmm. never heard of this, but I'd be interested in getting the lyrics/song, too.

alice flynn

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Philippa
Date: 11 May 99 - 05:45 PM

i've heard it...mmm who recorded it, the Ludlows? The Johnstons? the Jolly Tinkermen?
oh you're a rascal Tarry flynn, you're writing poetry instead of [cutting corn?]/Roving around the fields all day/Won't you ever work or won't you ever stay?
...maybe that will jog someone's memory

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Sophie
Date: 12 May 99 - 07:48 AM

That's the one!! Please please, jog memories, jog! It'll be ever so much appreciated. Sophie

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Philippa
Date: 12 May 99 - 02:06 PM

all I can do for you now, sophie, is to keep this thread on screen a bit longer. Raglan Raod, to be found in the Digital Tradition database, has words by Patrick Kavanagh to a tradtiional tune, Fainne Geal an Lae (The Dawning of the Day)
does anyone know Tarry Flynn?

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 12 May 99 - 03:01 PM

I had a quick look at the text today - but had forgotten what exactly the question was! There is certainly nothing reembling "You're a rascal Tarry Flynn..." in it. All I can think of is that it may have been written for a stage adaptation. I'll see if I can find out.

Regards

Subject: ADD: Tarry Flynn (Shay Healy)
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 12 May 99 - 08:05 PM

TARRY FLYNN
(Healy/Kavanagh)

Is there a man that cares
That I might be spared
Such a life of drudgery
Of digging clay
Tossing cocks of hay
Wishing all the day
That somehow I could be free

CHORUS
O you are a rascal, Tarry Flynn
You're writing poetry instead of digging drills
Strolling around the fields all day
Won't you ever work or won't you ever stay?

O mother, can't you see
That the farming life
It was never meant for me
To reap and sow
I don't want to know
But to Dublin go
For that's where my life should be.

CHORUS

Don't come to say goodbye
Mothers always cry
Shake my hand and set me free
When fame has come
To my Dublin home
Maybe then you'll come there and visit me.

CHORUS

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

---

Note from Joe Offer (27 May 2013): I have received an e-mail from Shay Healy, confirming that he wrote this song. He says, "'Tarry Flynn,' [WAS] written to the air of An Fallagin Muineach (The Munster Cloak)." I don't know if the additional attribution to novelist Patrick Kavanagh is correct or appropriate, so I'll leave it until that can be clarified.
Contact information: Shay Healy, Oisin/ Bardis Music, 9 Prince of Wales Terrace, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Here's what I hear on the Johnny McEvoy recording, which is almost the same as what's posted above:

TARRY FLYNN
(Healy/Kavanagh)

Is there a man that cares
That I might be spared
Such a life of drudgery,
Of digging clay,
Tossing cocks of hay,
Wishing all the day
That somehow I could be free?

CHORUS
O you're a rascal, Tarry Flynn,
You're writing poetry instead of digging drills;
Strolling around the fields all day,
Won't you ever work, or won't you ever stay?

O mother, can't you see
That the farmer's life,
It was never meant for me;
To reap and sow
I don't want to know,
But to Dublin go,
For that's where my life should be.

CHORUS

Don't come to say goodbye,
Mothers always cry;
Shake my hand and set me free.
When fame has come
To my Dublin home,
Maybe then you'll come there someday and visit me.

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 12 May 99 - 08:10 PM

Bobby

Great! Source?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 13 May 99 - 05:16 PM

I've got two versions of it. One is an old 45 rpm single, possibly by Johnny McEvoy, from the late 60s. The other is on some album or other stuck in the cupboard, but I can't remember which one. I might even go and look!

Vinyl and I have had a parting of the ways at the present time - my deck is now no longer made, and the problem of finding something compatible with the rest of my stuff seems to be problematic.

It's one of those things I still sing from time to time, so I've always apparently kept the words somewhere amongst the grey matter. The tune is a variant of a well-known one, but so well known that I'm buggered if I can think of its title at the moment. A nudge in the right direction would be appreciated.

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin (again)
Date: 13 May 99 - 05:45 PM

Yes, indeed, peering through the dust, it was Johnny McEvoy on the Target label (made in the Republic of Ireland), but distributed by Pye Records (Sales) Ltd, first published 1968, 7N.17472.

The song is apparently credited to (Healy). However, the song on the other side (the A side) is called 'Nora', and is credited -

(words O'Casey, music trad.) (from The Plough and The Stars).

As I can't listen to 'Nora', and I can't bring it to mind, I'm not sure whether the information printed on the record is, as the technical wording has it, arse about face, bearing in mind earlier postings about 'Tarry Flynn'.

I haven't ploughed through the albums to find and compare the information there - I can't remember which album it was at all.

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Philippa
Date: 13 May 99 - 05:54 PM

The label is right, a chara. Shay Healy is a contempory song writer. I think he composed an Irish Eurovision entry; it might have even been "What's another year?" which was a winner for Johnny Logan (and for Ireland).
Nora is in one of Sean O'Casey's plays, evidently titled "The Plough and the Stars". The tune is "Maggie" which I think was American although it's now associated with Ireland. I think the following verse is from "Nora", but maybe it's from "Maggie" in which case I'm writing the wrong name in the lyrics:
Our dreams they have never come true, Nora
Our dreams they were not meant to be
Since I first said I loved only you, Nora
And you said you loved only me

I think a more recent recording (or Nora, not Tarry Flynn) than McEvoys was made by Maura O'Connell.

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 15 May 99 - 12:11 PM

Gura mie ayd son shen - thanks for that, Philippa. I'd misunderstood something I'd seen earlier on in the thread.

Can you put me out of my misery as regards the title of the well-known tune that the Tarry Flynn tune is based on? I still haven't managed to remember. I could well find out tonight, but I'd have to remember to ask someone - life is just one problem after another.

Anyway, I eventually found the album version. It's a 1976 album on Homespun Records (Dublin-based and associated with Outlet Records of Belfast) by a band called Blackthorn (HRL 118) - four men from Belfast and one from Dublin.

No details of Tarry Flynn on the album cover, but the record label itself credits '(Healy/Kavanagh)'.

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Philippa
Date: 15 May 99 - 02:54 PM

na h-abair e, a chara.
I'm humming the tune of Tarry Flynn to myself and I notice the similarity with an Fhallaing Mhuineach (I'm not so sure of the title, but it sounds something like that anyway)
I remember Blackthorn. Fiddler Brian Sutherland came to live and work in Derry.
now I've got your attention, Bobby Bob, there's a query for you at the bean eudach thread

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Sophie
Date: 19 May 99 - 09:34 AM

Philippa and Bobby Bob,

Thanks ever so much for the lyrics and additional info. Me happy bunny :-) Cheers, Sophie P. S. Recognised "Nora" as the song "Maggie" song by Maura O'Connell on old De Danann album. Indeed.

Subject: ADD: An Fhaillingín Mhuimhneach
From: Philippa
Date: 24 Aug 99 - 04:12 PM

a song with a tune resembling Tarry Flynn:

An Fhaillingín Mhuimhneach

Fallaing ar fhallaing 'sí an fhaillingín Mhuimhneach í.
Fallaing ar fhallaing 'sí an fhaillingín Mhuimhneach í.

cúrfa/chorus:
Fallaing ar fhallaing 'sí an fhaillingín Mhuimhneach í.
Fallaing chrua chasta 'snár chasa sí choich' orainn.

Fográim an fhallaing,
Is iomaí dath daor uirthi,
Tá dubh agus dearg
glas-uaine 'gus buí inti.

Dá mb'agam an fhallaing
ní thabharfainn don phíobair' í
Is túisce do chraithfinn
mar easair fé' chaoirigh í.

copied from RTÉ (Irish state broadcasting company) - "Radio Scoile 1975"
Fallaing = mantle, cloak
I didn't do the accents in html; I hope they survive long-term

---

Click to Play (joeweb)

Subject: An FhaillingínMhuimhneach
From: Philippa
Date: 24 Aug 99 - 07:56 PM

aat least one spelling error above:
cúrfa' should read 'curfá' (chorus)

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Craig
Date: 24 Aug 99 - 10:43 PM

Aah, I think it's somewhere in there.

Craig

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Philippa
Date: 25 Aug 99 - 07:00 AM

where is it? the error I thought I did point out was: cúrfa, which should be curfá. I had typed quotation marks around my examples, and that exercise seems to have deleted them!

Subject: TUNE ADD: An Fhallaingin mhuinhneach
From: alison
Date: 02 Sep 99 - 08:13 AM

Thanks to Philippa...Here's the tune she gave the words for above

---

Click to Play

---

ABC format:

X:1
T:An Fhallaingi/n Mhuimhneach
M:3/4
Q:1/4=100
K:C
G6|C2CDEC|D2DEFD|C2CDEG|F2D2B,2|C2CDEC|D2DEFE|
G2GABG|F2D2C2|c2cdcB|G2c2dd|e2d2c2|B2c2d2|
e2d2c2|B2GABG|GFDGFD|D2C3C||

slainte

alison

Subject: Lyr Add: TARRY FLYNN
From: GUEST,JS
Date: 17 Jun 05 - 05:27 AM

The lyrics are (although there is one gap where I can't recall the beginning of a sentence - sorry):

Chorus
Oh You're a rascal Tarry Flynn
You're writing poetry instead of digging drills
Strolling around the fields all day
Won't you ever work or won't you ever stay?

Verse 1
Is there a man who cares that I should be spared
All this life of drudgery?
BLANK..........shaking shooks of hay, wishing all the day
That some hour I could be free

Chorus

Verse 2
Oh mother can't you see that this farmer's life
It was never meant for me
To reap and sow I don't want to, no
But to Dublin go
For that's where my life should be

Chorus

Verse 3
Don't come to say goodbye -mothers always cry
Shake my hand and set me free
When fame has come to my Dublin home
Maybe then some day
You'll come up and visit me

Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: GUEST,john williams
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 01:11 PM

Cam some one confirm if the song by johnny macevoy was written by PK or Shay Healy and is it about PK if Healy wrote it? Thanks

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: MartinRyan
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 03:18 PM

By SH about PK.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: GUEST,JB
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 06:28 AM

If my memory serves me correctly, the melody of the Tarry Flynn song as recorded by Johnny McEvoy is similar to the tune "The Spanish Cloak", recorded on a very eary Finbar and Eddi Fury LP, possibly one of their first LPs.

Regards

JB

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: MartinRyan
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 07:55 AM

JB
Yes - AKA "An Falaingín Muímhneach", its Irish name. Always reminds me of a section of Rodriguez' Concierto de Aranjuez.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyric req: You're a Rascal, Tarry Flynn.
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 10:22 AM

Johnny McEvoy has a double CD album out with both Tarry Flynn and Nora, along with a bunch of other good songs on it.

When I first heard Nora, I thought Johnny was singing Maggie but was reluctant to sing a love song to someone with that name and so changed it for political reasons (Maggie Thatcher)! Then Seamus Kennedy set me straight on the use of the quite similar words in the play. Actually, I'm sorry I wasn't right---it makes a great story.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tarry Flynn (Johnny McEvoy)
From: GUEST,m ni cathail
Date: 13 May 09 - 06:19 PM

can get the song here http://www.myspace.com/michaelblackmusic

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tarry Flynn (Johnny McEvoy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 May 09 - 11:43 PM

From Billboard (magazine), Vol 80, No 8, Feb 24 1968, page 44:

Both sides of Johnny McEvoy's new single which he launched on "The Late, Late Show," have theatrical connections. "Nora" is from Sean O'Casey's "The Plough and the Stars"; "Tarry Flynn," penned by local folksinger Shay Healy, was inspired by the P. J. O'Connor play based on the late Patrick Kavanagh's novel of that name.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tarry Flynn (Johnny McEvoy)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 09 - 12:06 AM

A friend of mine usede to sing a song called Come to me Love to the tune of the Spanish Cloak and my mother had the Tarry Flynn single which I really liked but I'd never put the two together till now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tarry Flynn (Johnny McEvoy)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 15 May 09 - 03:11 AM

Just to tidy up: earlier in this thread, I referred to the similarity between The Munster Cloak air and part of a Rodrigo piece. That shoud be Granados's Jota.

Regards