Lyr Add: All I Remember (Mick Hanly)

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL I REMEMBER (Mick Hanly)^^
From: Big Mick
Date: 26 Jul 99 - 10:38 PM

The thread about growing up Catholic made me think of one of my favorite songs on the subject. It was written by Mick Hanly and it is a reflection on a boy growing up Catholic. This one is about an Irish kid, but those of you that are roughly my age, that is on the cusp of Vatican II, will get a kick out of it.
Some translations:
bualadh bas = applause
lámh = hand
lámh eile = the other hand

ALL I REMEMBER
Mick Hanly

I was raised on a rocking horse, sweets and bualadh bas,
Fifty wild boys to a room,
sing lámh, lámh, eile, the dish ran away with the spoon
Black shoes and stockings, for those who say don't, blue is the colour outside
God made the world, the snake tempted Eve and she died.
Wild Christian Brothers, sharpening their leathers
Learn it by heart that's the rule
All I remember is dreading September and school

CHORUS:
And they made me for better or worse,
the fool that I am or the wise man I'll be
And they gave me their blessings or curse
it wasn't their fault I was me,
Not the one that you see.

The priest in confession, condemns my obsession
with thoughts that I did not invite
I mumble and stutter, he slams down the shutter goodnight (eh, bye now)
Stainless as steel, Lord you know how I feel
Someone shoot me while my soul it is clear
I don't think I'll last, but my vow to abstain was sincere
Arch-confraternity men to the fight raise up your banners on high
Searching for grace, securing my place when I die

CHORUS

God he kept a very good eye on me
Stared form the frame in the night time he frightened me
found me in the long grass so often he died on me.

Ballrooms of romance, in Salthill and Mallow,
I stood like John Wayne at the wall.
Lined up like cattle, we wait to do battle and fall
You can't wine and dine her, in an old Morris Minor
but ask her before it's too late, I stood on girl's toes,
And accepted rejection as my fate.
Oh drink was my saviour, it made me much braver
but I couldn't hold it too well,
I slipped on the porch, It ruined my approach when I fell

CHORUS

Subject: RE: LYR ADD:All I Remember
From: Penny S.
Date: 27 Jul 99 - 04:00 AM

Mick, I don't know what to say about that. Not brought up Catholic (though knowing quite a few), that is an alien and terrifying world. My friends were either not in convent schools, or post Vatican II. I have read accounts of course, but verse speaks more directly.

What a way to bring people to God.

Penny

Subject: RE: LYR ADD:All I Remember
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Jul 99 - 04:15 AM

Well, I suppose I brushed upon that sort of upbringing at times, but that's not the experience I had with most of the priests and nuns who were in my life when I was growing up. We had just enough of those weirdo priests and nuns to give a good measure of comic relief. The rest of them were truly extraordinary people. The song does seem to illustrate the way that many people "grew up Catholic," but I'm wondering if maybe they got hung up on the bad priests and nuns, and didn't notice the good ones.
Ever notice how a lot of people like to dwell on the negative side of life? They spend their lives looking for evidence to support their complaints.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: LYR ADD:All I Remember
From: Big Mick
Date: 27 Jul 99 - 08:12 AM

Actually, I found the song funny. I guess I did see the good ones and this song was intended to be a funny look at what Joe describes. I also find it a funny look at the clutzy teen years. Hanly's description of ballrooms of romance just cracks me up. I think it was meant to be self deprecating humour, and I could relate to it. If you heard it sung, I think you would find it the same.

Mick

Subject: RE: LYR ADD:All I Remember
From: Penny S.
Date: 27 Jul 99 - 01:13 PM

Sorry for getting it wrong, Mick. Actually, I think that is a period thing, not a Catholic thing. Protestant houses had texts such as "Thou God Seest Me", and cultivated fear. And I didn't go to school with nuns, but some of the single ladies who taught there could easily have been the sort who made girls grow up afraid.

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: All I Remember (Mick Hanly)
From: GUEST,Shay
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 02:58 AM

Just arriving at this conversation 22+ years later, Mick, Penny and Joe. I felt it was time to sing this song.

Being born, raised and educated in Ireland, every line in it rings true for me, apart from being at a dance in Mallow and having a Morris Minor. Yeah, that's me. I more than survived those years, as did Mick Hanley, I think.

And Christy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: All I Remember (Mick Hanly)
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 06:40 AM

'I'm wondering if maybe they got hung up on the bad priests and nuns, and didn't notice the good ones.
Ever notice how a lot of people like to dwell on the negative side of life? They spend their lives looking for evidence to support their complaints.
-Joe Offer- '

I suppose twentytwo years on plenty of evidence about the crimes of the priests and nuns has emerged. It's hardly 'dwelling on the negative' to see it was more than a few bad priests and horrible nuns. Ofcourse it's just as easy to sat some people prefer to be in denial.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: All I Remember (Mick Hanly)
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Nov 21 - 07:48 AM

No one has to do anything about the stuff that goes right.