Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn

Subject: Lyr Req: Identify this song?
From: GUEST,Sean
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 10:34 AM

I'm wandering if anyone might be able to help me identify a song from a few half remembered details from hearing it on the radio. The only lyrics I can remember are something like, "I'm afraid you'll ne'er be able ere the rise of gallant [unknown]". The voice was a man's with a warm but slightly gritty baritone, possibly Scottish but it could have been Irish. Any suggestions? I've trawled my memory, my record collection and the internet and can't find anything that matches!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?
From: Rozza
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 10:45 AM

Rocks of Bawn?

"I'm afraid you'll ne'er be able
To plough the rocks of Bawn."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 10:58 AM

I'm afraid you'll ne'er be able ere the rise of gallant

Rocks of Bawn, first page of the sheet music at that link to Google books.

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: THE ROCKS OF BAWN
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 11:20 AM

The Rocks Of Bawn
Here it is, lyrics and Chords Courtesy of Martib Dardis's Irish song site unitedirelandtripod.i.e


Come[D] all you[A] loyal[D] he[A]ros and listen[G] on to [D]me
Dont[A] hire with any farmer 'till you[G] know what your work will[A] be
You will rise up early in the morning from the[G] clear day till the[A] dawn
And you[D] never[A] will be[D] able[A] for to plough the [G]rocks[A] of[D] Bawn

My shoes they are worn and my stockingh they are thin
My heart is always trembling now for fear they might give in
My heart is always trembling now from the clear daylight 'till dawn
And I never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn

Rise up gallant Sweeney and get your horses hay
And give them a good feen of oats before they start the away
Dont feed them on soft turnip sprigs that grow on your green land
Or they never will be able for to plough the rocks of Bawn

My curse upon you Sweeney boy you have me nearly robbed
You're sitting by the fireside now your feet upon the hob
You're sitting by the fireside now from the clear daylight 'till the dawn
And you never will be able now to plough the rocks of Bawn

I wish the sergeant major would send for me in time
And place me in some regiment all in my youth of prime
I'd fight for Ireland's glory now from the clear daylight 'till the dawn
Before I would return again to plough the rocks of Bawn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: Noreen
Date: 02 Oct 12 - 07:39 PM

...and also in the Mudcat's very own Digital Tradition database: THE ROCKS OF BAWN

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: Harmonium Hero
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 08:37 AM

I've been thinking about this one myself recently. The only person I've heard singing it is Liverpool's Bruce Scott. It's a good'un.
John Kelly.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GloriaJ
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 08:47 AM

The classic version of this was sung by Joe Heaney - you'll probably find it on youtube or elsewhere. Of course, its a very well known irish song, and particularly popular with the irish community who came over to england in the 1950s

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 08:49 AM

It would be nice if the OP returned with a yea or nay.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST,Sean
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 11:10 AM

Here I am. That's the song! Thanks everyone for your help. It was Heaney's version I heard. I had actually gone through 'The Voice of the People' but for some reason must have missed it. Anyway, mystery solved, thanks again all.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 03:03 PM

Thank you, Sean.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST,Seaking at sea without a cookie
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 03:05 PM

Pat Clancy sings this on the'Live at Carnegie Hall' album. Wonderful version.

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: Gurney
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 04:13 PM

Sean Cannon used to sing it. You could ask him if you go to see The Dubliners.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Oct 12 - 05:06 PM

This is MacColl's introduction to the song as sung on series 'The Song Carriers' by Colm Keane of Glink, Connemara.
Jim Carroll

"When it comes to describing work and commenting, either directly or obliquely, on the labourer's attitude to it, folksong has no rivals.    Here, the realistic approach is a prime necessity and it would appear that the subject is the exclusive property of the people who actually do the work.
The early 19th-century seamen working on the packet ships, clippers and East-India tea-wagons did not see themselves as
jolly jack tars- that is a landsman's concept.    For them, it was hard-tack and bluenosed mates, long voyages and short rations.    In the same way, songs made up by farm labourers often reflect the countryman's love-hate relationship with the land.    This is particularly true of the West of Ireland songs.      To the hired farm-labourer working the submarginal lands of the west coast where they had learned to subsist on rocks, bogs, salt-water and sea-weed, the .land was an enemy compared with which even the British army appeared as a refuge. The following song expresses this attitude perfectly. "The Rocks of Bawn", sung by Colm Keane of Glinsk, Connemara."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 13 - 03:48 PM

Tune is same as that of the (in)famous Connemara Gaelic gem, "Amhrán Mhainse" (also Amhrán Mhuinse, Amhrán Mhuighinse).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Nov 13 - 05:44 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJqQCYqnO_o

Great take there from John Jones.

Arcady does one also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGPDW1bupQ

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 13 - 12:41 AM

I've sung it for several decades, and always treasured the song.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Identify this song?-Rocks of Bawn
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 13 Nov 13 - 12:55 AM

I remember the great Seamus Ennis singing it also.

~M~