Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well

Subject: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 02:12 PM

Hey, anyone got the lyrics to this one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 04:11 PM

Not 'The Star of Sunday's Well'?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: GUEST,^&*
Date: 28 Sep 10 - 06:21 PM

The Star of Sunday's Well or The Gaol of Clonmel?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 10:17 AM

No not the Star of Sundays Well(Great song) - The Gaol of Sundays Well

I have only seen a verse of it in 'The companion to Irish Traditional Music' by Fintan Vallely.

Heres all I got:

The magistrate next morning called me a Jezabelle,
I told him that I wasn't and that he could go to hell
You cannot speak to me like that, you cause me to compel
to send you back to prison up in Sunday's Well

Any help would be appreciated

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 10:24 AM

Can't help with the words, but there is a historic gaol in Sunday's Well, Cork City:

http://www.corkcitygaol.com/index.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 29 Sep 10 - 10:47 AM

Jimmy Crowley wrote the article in the Companion so he'd be the best man to ask.

Matthew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sundays Well
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Sep 10 - 03:28 PM

The spelling should probably be Jezebel.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 30 Sep 10 - 03:58 PM

I could perhaps have added something more to my earlier post to explain that Jimmy Crowley contributed a short article on the songs of Cork City to Fintan Vallely's Companion to Irish Traditional Music. He quoted the lines which our Guest has posted as an extract from the song 'The Gaol of Sunday's Well' - a song about the old Cork City Gaol which is now a heritage centre, God bless us all!

There is a very good website for Jimmy Crowley, but I can't see any easy way there to contact the man himself directly or even indirectly. There must be somebody around here who could pass on the request to Jimmy.

Jim Dixon may well be right about the correct spelling of 'Jezebel'; but I think that 'Jezabelle' spelling carries the particular flavour of a Cork accent. Jim is a far, far braver man than I to challenge a Cork man or woman in a question of orthography, or of any matter at all!

Matthew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Sep 10 - 08:07 PM

The book by Fintan Vallely with the verse was published in 1999, New York University Press.
Haven't found the complete lyrics. In the song, the spelling is Jezabelle (p. 357).

Digression: Name Jezibel. Variant spellings-
Jezebel(le), Jezibel(le), Jezabelle, Yzabel(le), Izabelle, Jezebel, etc.

A three-storey Georgian is for sale at 35 Sundays Well Road, Cork.

The old Cork City gaol is now a heritage centre and museum.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 01 Oct 10 - 11:24 AM

I was following Bonnie Shaljean's link above, and I was fascinated to discover this on the same website:- Cork City Gaol - Testimonials.

Now Frank O'Connor has written in his autobiography 'An Only Child' that his own imprisonment at the Women's Gaol in Sunday's Well came as something of a relief to him during the Irish Civil War, since he thereby escaped some of the insanity which he saw all round him. However in general I don't recall many examples of prisoners who have left favourable comments on their conditions. So, since we can't find the song our Guest is looking for, surely the best thing we can do is to supply one in which famous prisoners express their heartfelt gratitude for the hospitality they have received.

First up should be Brendan Behan's missing masterpiece 'How Dear To Me Is The Auld Triangle'!

Matthew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Artful Codger
Date: 01 Oct 10 - 08:24 PM

Along the lines of Peter Bellamy's "Norwich Gaol"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 02 Oct 10 - 04:08 AM

Nice one, Codger! Yes, I think that Peter Bellamy's song shows exactly the right spirit!

"When e'er we fancy bathing, we paddles in the drains,
And when we want a concert, we rattles of our chains,
And when we want a banquet, we drink sludge and call it ale,
If you want a good time, commit a crime, and come to Norwich Gaol!"

Matthew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Gaol of Sunday's Well
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 13 Oct 10 - 11:10 AM

I've noticed that Jimmy Crowley is Guest of Honour at the South Roscommon Singers Festival being held at Knockcroghery from Friday 22 October to Sunday 24 October 2010. He is presenting an "Ethnographical Expedition of Cork City - collecting the Urban Ballads" on the Friday night, so that might be a good opportunity to ask him about "The Gaol of Sunday's Well".

Looks like a good weekend for those who can make it.

Matthew