Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 09:27 AM

My recording of Ride on, made some years ago.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Mar 23 - 05:06 PM

I love Jimmy's songs. There, I've said it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Bill
Date: 25 Mar 23 - 04:40 PM

Questioning the horses eye colour reminds me of the song, The Tennessee Stud. It also featured a fine horse that was described as, "The colour of the sun and his eyes were green."

Some people just like horses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,David Aguirrez
Date: 29 Jan 17 - 11:15 PM

Hi guys, my experience is kind of different.
It was the year 2000, I came across this song for it was part of an assignment, to look into the comparison chart of planets, it was a astronomy class, and so I went to see this youtube link and to learn about astronomy. However, the song, which is only the music going on in the background while the comparison of the planets was been compared, enchanted me. Really, I felt in love, it really open up something spiritual for me. Ever since I became very much invested into looking for a "spiritual" journey, honestly, that background son, of Ride on, lead me to my Christian faith more strongly.
I am thankful for this son. It is as if something was "open up", as if I was free from something.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Mary
Date: 04 Nov 12 - 08:08 AM

Your comment dated 2007 says that you love the reference to that line in Jimmy McCarthy's song "Ride On" where someone mis-heard "see you" as "sea dew" and assumed that it referred to a horse. You used the term "Mondegreen" and I can't find a dictionary reference to this word. Could you give the meaning of this please? Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 02 May 12 - 09:32 AM

Does anyone really give a shit what it's about, it's good to sing and play along with, thats all that matters.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 May 12 - 05:24 AM

So often people seem to ave a need for an explanation of EVERYTHING -
Poetry and Literature is about IMAGES , not Black and white definitions

And the Dylan quote covers it completely ! "Theyre just words!" though
they ARE words that make a REALLY nice noise !!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 02 May 12 - 02:32 AM

"It's about the IRA" I'd heard that before too but earlier in this thread there is a post which quotes a passage from the song's creator in which he states it is simply a song about parting! People will see meanings in songs that they want to see but it doesn't mean that the composer saw the same thing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: s&r
Date: 01 May 12 - 12:53 PM

Oh dear guest - it's May not April...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST
Date: 01 May 12 - 12:23 PM

It's about the IRA. True you ride the finest horse = IRA. Hands light to the touch = bomb making hands. Standing 16 (1916) 1 0r 2 (1921). And so on. Hope this is off some help.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Robert
Date: 19 Jun 11 - 10:48 PM

I'm 58 and never seen a horse with green eyes so I'm assuming it's the horses rider the song is about. I'd say 16 + 1 or 2 is about 5'6" tall with green eyes. Sounds Irish to me.
Every reference I hear is to the horses rider, not the horse itself.

Robert

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,lightheart
Date: 12 Dec 10 - 01:32 PM

I'd agree to meanings are in the eye of the beholder.
I do love this song and when I sing it I think of an old sweetheart that had gone quite numpty in the upstairs.
I couldn't go with him no matter how I wanted to because I have my obligations and duties as a mum, couldn't leave, live a life wild and free.. and dangerous. 'Run your claw along my gut' is the hurt, hurt of impossible love, the worry when he's away, his agony I couldn't take away, the need to run off and do crazy things. It's agony to be with someone like that, even more not to be. Still if I had the choice I would. But I don't have that choice. And all I could do was let him go, wish him well on a dark path.
..and I enjoyed the Cruachan version too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Bernard
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 08:13 AM

Who is this impressive 9willy McBride RoH refers to?!

I believe Whistling Willie Johnson has been cured...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Ride on Hater
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 07:37 AM

I do get out Robbie but I still keep hearing these f*cking songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,^&*
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 07:36 AM

Guest ROH
You should get out more.

- or just be more careful where you go when you do get out! ;>)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 07:33 AM

Guest ROH
You should get out more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Ride On Hater
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 07:28 AM

Number three in my list of most hated song No.1 Fields of Athenry No. 2. Green Fields of France 9willie McBride)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 10:37 AM

Awesome song.
But I love the Cruachan-Version even more just my opinion.You guys, if you love the orginal you really should give Cruachan-Ride on a try ;)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 10 Sep 09 - 02:45 AM

To JHW, Sorbies are a popular brand of sheep shears.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Guest Carlo
Date: 09 Sep 09 - 12:12 PM

I just heard this song for the first time. Its simple yet very powerful, like a dream. It tells a plain story, someone left, but what of the horse? On one hand -- a horse is a horse, but they are also mystical, and there's the winged horse, where the 'claw' could mean bird-like feet as the horse takes flight.

I would imagine Mr. McCarthy meant it as a fairly simple, a vision more than a story, a dream of a woman riding off into the horizon or sky, and leaving a simple empty space on the bed. A metaphor like this means many things to many people and nothing at all, which makes it a very fine song.

No Danny Boy(ishnes) at all. Danny Boy (English lyrics) just tries to pull cheap tears. The melody is old, a different song altogether which I've heard sung in Irish by Diedre N' Flynn I believe. Its a fine old Celtic tune. It was a nostalgic song about missing a place.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Thomas
Date: 19 Jun 09 - 01:52 PM

I noticed the new verse that was added to Ride On.
In Michelle Lally's version she sings the extra line. It seemed odd to me at first because the original 'run the claw' verse is so familiar, but I think I am getting used to it now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 19 Jun 09 - 03:56 AM

From the CM 4711ers website dated 20 May 2009

'An amazing thing happened on Sin É last night.
Jimmy McCarthy told Mick of a new verse he has added to Ride On.
Exclusive to Sin É..... '

And when you ride into the night
Without a trace behind
The silver spur, the stirruped foot
Where the road does part and wind

Elfcall

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Thomas
Date: 19 Jun 09 - 03:34 AM

This song has been sung many times. It is one of Christy Moore's biggest hits, he sings it at most of his gigs and his 1984 album 'Ride On' is one of his best albums yet. You can still see the album in most record stores today because it has been reissued so many times. Jimmy Mac's version is quite different to Christy's though. In Jimmy's version the verse that sticks out would have to be 'Run the claw along my gut one last time' since Christy always says 'Run your claw'.
My thanks to SpannerOtoole for explaining the difference in these lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: JHW
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 04:54 PM

I couldn't guess how many times I've heard this sung, in sessions more than folk clubs but as much as their meaning is a mystery is the way multitudes merrily join in singing a song they presumably don't understand.
Week after week we joined in with 'The Rybuck Shearer' in Richmond's Black Lion and one night I asked "I'll never open What? Sorbies?" The question was whispered from person to person, each admitting to just muttering something that sounded like everyone else was singing!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Thomas
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 02:38 PM

I think that the verse was written as 'See Ya' but most people who cover Ride On sing it as 'See You' because this is how Christy pronounces the chorus.
I went to see Jimmy MacCarthy at the National Concert Hall in Dublin last week. Near the end of the gig he sang Ride On and said 'See You' in the chorus. It may have been when he wrote the song that it was 'See Ya' but everyone has been used to Christy's version over the years because Christy's cover is the most popular.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Gráinne
Date: 05 Apr 08 - 10:37 AM

The song is about parting - could be interpreted as the parting of lovers or the death of someone close to you. 'I could never go with you, no matter how I wanted to' could refer to perhaps an illicit affair that has to end because one person cannot give up what they have, or alternatively to somone dying and the other being left behind.
'Run your hand along my gut, one last time' I think could hint at the fact that the person feels hurt or maybe has been hurt by their lover but rather than walk away this person would prefer to stay with their lover and be hurt rather than be without them. The horse is a metaphor for a woman/ person but of course itself has connotations of beauty, strength, intelligence and of something wild that cannot be tamed.
Hope this helps xxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Inishtrahull
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 12:26 AM

Father ted had a simaliar song for the irish eurovision

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Billy Mac.
Date: 05 Nov 07 - 05:46 PM

Yes it is about someone who has lost the love of his life. Something which has sustained him and been a huge comforting presence since childhood,and now he is coming to realise that he can no longer accept
its teachings and it's hurting. 'I could never go with you no matter how I wanted to.' It's his Christian faith that he has lost, and there is an emptiness there 'I turn to face an empty space where you used to lie',and it saddens him. Thats how I would feel anyway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 10:30 AM

I don't agree with your interpretation of your vs the claw spanner. I'd see the difference as being the personal vs the impersonal. Run your claw suggests that the woman herself is hurting him whether willfully or not. The claw suggests something more like he is hurting but it's not necessarily her fault. Your claw does more sexually though whether as a corruption of a caress or to suggest she uses her nails a bit in the sack.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ride On (Jimmy MacCarthy)
From: GUEST,SpannerOtoole
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 06:28 AM

First of all , Try and listen to Jimmy's Version of the Song, It's a lot more Ride On, The lyric is run the claw along my gut one last time, not run your claw. What's the difference I hear you ask?

Run the Claw denotes Emotional Pain and Distress that Goes on.
Run your Claw denotes Physical Pain and Distress that ends quickly,

A lot of people seem to think that this a song about a horsey, it's not, it's a song about the pain of living life and life is hard, Ride on.

I'm surprised that people think the song is about a horse

True You Ride the Finest horse I've ever seen....

This sounds like the song is directed to the person on the horse and not about the horse itself.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 03:24 AM

It was Christy that changed the emphasis to seee youu. He gets away with it because he has superby timing and delivery. But when people copy him it sounds awful. You need to think about the words youre singing, and make them work for your own voice. Not just copy someone else - specially if they are Irish and you are English.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,boddah
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 03:15 AM

actually most interpretations i've heard so far used christy's version, even with 'your claw'

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:32 AM

Never could get past the 'see you' which is a short, throwaway expression, and just sounds silly stretched over two long notes the way most sing it. 'Ride On' fits the notes fine. 'See' can be the same length, but 'you' needs to be half as long to make any kind of sense.

Try saying it aloud at that pace. Sounds like the end of a game of hide and seek, not a mock-casual, heart-broken farewell.

Now if Jimmy sings 'ya' it could work - but a long 'you' is just lazy interpretation (though Christy, and Christy alone, does pull it off).

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: The PA
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:19 AM

Bob Dylan was once asked about the 'hidden meanings' in his songs, his reply was that there was none, they were just words. I suppose he should know, he wrote them?
Who cares anyway, if something sounds nice, just enjoy it - life is too short and already too complicated. But that's just my opinion.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: Big Mick
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:14 AM

Thanks for saying what I have been fighting off saying since this thread started, PA. The reason I didn't was the one Bonnie Shaljean gave. Folks just having fun, that's a good thing. But it has been said a number of times by the author, and by Christy Moore. It's just a song about a guy and a gal. Claw along the gut is just vernacular, and pretty sexy vernacular at that.

Love the song. And I really love singing it in the right setting.

Mick

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: The PA
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:03 AM

No problem, glad to be of help. Now, everybody - walk on!!

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 08:53 AM

Probably, but it's such FUN! Thanks for the info -

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: The PA
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 08:46 AM

Yep, this one of my favourite songs too.

Been involved with horses professionally and competitively for almost 50 years.

''16.1 or 2''   Height of horse, 16 hands - 1 inch, 16 hands - 2 inches. A hand being a measurement of 4 inches.

In all 50 years of owning horses a hoof pick has always been known as a hoof pick and nothing else.

Never heard of sort of equestrian equipment at all referred to as a 'claw'.

'Walk on' is a common term used to ask a horse to walk from a standstill. Often used when schooling and backing a young horse.
Never heard of the expression 'ride on' used in this connection.

I just thought it was a song about some bird on a horse and a bloke who fancies her but cant have her for whatever reason. Do you think we sometimes try to make things more complicated than they are.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 04:29 AM

One of my favourite songs ever is 'The Bright Blue Rose'. Christy Moore will occasionally sing it but it's a very special song to him and I think he'll only play it if someone from the audience suggests it. Read what he says about it in his book.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 04:25 AM

JMac is one of my idols. It was his songs that got me into Irish music. I've got all of his CDs and love his songs very much and rather resent your assumption that I don't know what I'm talking about.

'Away with the fairies' isn't an insult where I come from. I do, however, think that he uses words he likes the sound of and the meaning is often secondary. Nothing wrong with that. It wasn't meant as a criticism.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,cobra
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 04:25 PM

"I love Jimmy MacCarthy's songs but he is a bit away with the fairies."

Well, fair play to you, Chris Murray!

I also happen to think he is a bit "away with the fairies" but, unlike your insinuation, I think that in a good way.

He is a very spiritual sort of an individual. Someone above made reference to his book "Ride On" and I would commend that to anyone. In it he write about his life and about his lyrics.

The fairies were lucky to have him for company and I, for one, feel lucky to have been exposed to his exquisite poetry.

Chris Murray, I am sure you did not mean any offence to the man. BUt I would encourage you to listen to (and read) the man's own words. It may just help you to offer a rather more informed opinion.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 08:01 PM

Ah no Chris B, it's a lovely song. A seriously overplayed song and an occasionally butchered one, but you can't deny it stirs some emotions up. (Having said that, I'd tend to have a similar opinion of Danny Boy.)

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 12:46 PM

I think JMac's lyrics don't always make much sense because he likes the sound that they create, rather than the meaning. The phonemes in "Run the claw along my gut" create a harsh cruel sound. The meaning is irrelevant.

Rather like those Japanese t-shirts that just have words on because people like the shape of the words. The meaning doesn't matter.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 26 Mar 07 - 07:42 AM

Awful song. 'Danny Boy' for hippies.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: Declan
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 02:29 PM

Interestingly, Sea Dew's quote confirms that Jimmy wrote "Run the claw along my gut".

So if it isn't a grooming implement, what is it? Anyone got any ideas?

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Chris Murray
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 01:26 PM

I love Jimmy MacCarthy's songs but he is a bit away with the fairies.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: Declan
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 11:01 AM

Getting your hands and feet mixed up could lead to all sorts of complications.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,Bardan
Date: 25 Mar 07 - 08:29 AM

But that must be hands rather than feet. I mean sixteen hands is common enough I think. (No expert or anything). I find it hard to imagine a sixteen foot horse. You'd have to climb out the bedroom window to get on its back.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: GUEST,teachers pest
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 09:59 AM

Standing 16 one or two with eyes wild and green,is how i sing it.

Subject: RE: Irish Song; 'Ride On'
From: Mo the caller
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 07:25 AM

The implement is a hoof pick.
I liked the thought of a 16'1" high horse, too 16 hands surely.