ADD: Road to Drumleman (Mitchell/Cuffe)-chords?

Subject: Lyr Add: ROAD TO DRUMLEMAN (Cuffe/Mitchell)
From: Goodfellow
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 10:54 PM

Hi I've had this tune stuck in my head since visiting Scotland a few weeks back. I'm trying to work out the chords to Ossian's (Tony Cuffe's) version of this song. The recording I have is in F with simple C and Bb and Fsus chords fitting in but with a lot more going on, but with all the interesting instrumentation I'm having trouble figuring out just what some of the chords are ...any body know this version.

ROAD TO DRUMLEMAN
(Tony Cuffe and Willie Mitchell)

Oh the springtime returns to the Lagan again
And the lark sweetly sings o'er the green fertile plain
And I'll tak' the road that is dearest to me
The road to Drumleman that winds tae the sea

For I've made many friends there on every green mile
And the folk always greet me with a wave and a smile
If I spent all my days here it's happy I'd be
On the road to Drumleman that winds to the sea

For we sat roon the fireside when the winter winds blew
And we laughed and we sang till the night was weel through
Then we had a good dram and a wee cup o' tea
For the road to Drumleman that winds to the sea

And the lang summer days when we tramped the hills o'er
Or spent hours at the Eenans o' Creggan's wild shore
And the soft summer twilight made shadows to flee
From the road to Drumleman that winds to tae the sea

Oh these days passing swiftly bring changes I know
And as time marches on from this place I must go
But I'll always remember while the heart beats in me
The road to Drumleman that winds tae the sea

By Tony Cuffe and Willie Mitchel of Cambleton Scotland

---

https://nirinlynch.bandcamp.com/track/the-road-to-drumleman

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Help working out Road to Drumleman
From: radriano
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 11:38 AM

This is a good one, Goodfellow. I've always wanted to work it out but always seem to get sidetracked with other stuff. It's been on my back burner for years. Sorry I can't help with chords but here are the notes about the song from Tony Cuffe's solo cassette, I think. I copied the lyrics into my songbook but neglected to include which album the quote is from.

"Written by Willie Mitchell of Campbeltown in 1948 and refers to the village of Drumleble, situated between Campbeltown on the east coast of Kintyre and Machrihanish on the west coast. Tony Cuffe got the words of the song from Gordon Macauley of Campbeltown and put his own melody to it. The original tune has since been printed in "Tocher" magazine (summer of '79) along with a comprehensive article on Willie Mitchell and his songs."

radriano

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Help working out Road to Drumleman
From: fogie
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 11:58 AM

I've played it for years. I use DAGDAD Capo2. Its difficult to write down what I do here but the chords are approx. D G Em D/ D Bm E7 A/ G D Em A/ G D A7 D. I'll think about it more overnight and get back to you. Try this There might be F#m in there, I cant think in chords when I'm in open tunings.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Help working out Road to Drumleman
From: Emma B
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 04:56 PM

The words,tune and chord are printed in Folksongs from the Highlands published by Taigh na Teud 1987 The chords given there are - D Em G D / D Em D Em / Em Fsharp m D Em A7 / D Fsharp m Em D A7 D A lovely song and very evocative, I've walked the road several times but not since the Forestry Commision planted the usual souless seried ranks of conifers

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Help working out Road to Drumleman
From: Goodfellow
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 10:46 PM

Thanks to both of you.... I'm getting closer ...working it out on 12-string and mandolin... I'm not sue what the tuning or instruments all are on the recording I have ... but maybe I'll post once I get the base line worked out ... it does seem to fit roguly with these chords when I sing it I'll check it out with the recording it seems like many of the chords are variations with added 4ths 2nd etc...

Thanks again for the help

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST,Godfrey
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 12:29 AM

I just saw this post and it's already a month old, so don't know what kind of interest level there is in taking this further, but here goes for what it's worth.

Tony Cuffe tabbed some details of this tune out for six string guitar for me sometime back in 1993 or so. He was teaching me his Celtic guitar style during visits to his home in Arlington, Ma.

As I coincidence, a week ago, I copied Tony's notes on that song for my brother, who expressed and interest in it.

I don't remember what the original instrument on the album recording was, either a mando' or tenor guitar, I think, but Tony tabbed out the main patterns for me and noted chord changes in the lyrics for six string guitar.

I don't have any of that with me at the moment, but can retrieve it and post more details if people express further interest.

For now, I remember that he used chords in open G tuning, which simplified the left-hand work. I have his notes on chord forms in open C (which he used frequently), Open G and Am also.

= Godfrey

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 23 Aug 11 - 05:43 AM

Tony used to play an instrument called a tiple, which had 8 strings in 4 pairs like a mandolin. I seem to remember him playing that for this song when he was with "Ossian".
There are some non-commercial recordings of Tony - and many others - on a website called "Raretunes".

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 11 - 05:52 PM

Thanks to y'all. Lisa ;o)

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST,Callum
Date: 19 Jan 14 - 12:46 PM

Thanks for this, folks. Godfrey, if you ever see this I'd be most interested in seeing the notes and tabs you mention.

Cheers,

Callum.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jul 14 - 05:09 AM

I'm capping on 3 and playing
F♯m Em G D / F♯m Em G A / G D Em A / G D Em A D

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe)
From: GUEST,Michael Doran
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 04:58 PM

This is my arrangement for this beautiful song.

The Road to Drumleman

(D)Oh the springtime re(Em7)turns to the (G)Lagan (D)again
And the lark sweetly (Em7)sings o'er the (G)green fertile (A)plain
And (G)I'll tak' the (D)road that is dearest to (a)me
The (G)road to (D)Drumleman that (Em7)winds tae the (D)sea

Subject: RE: ADD: Road to Drumleman (Tony Cuffe) - chords?
From: GUEST,#
Date: 28 Mar 21 - 07:59 PM

https://ukuland.com/songs/39785-malinky-the-road-tae-drumleman.html

https://ukuland.com/songs/39785-malinky-the-road-tae-drumleman.html

The chords shown are for ukes, but a chord's a chord ;-)

Subject: RE: ADD: Road to Drumleman (Mitchell/Cuffe)-chords?
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 01:45 PM

Here's a YouTube video of Tony Cuffe singing this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acCBvF-VYdE

I've typed out the notes in Noteworthy Composer. This is in the key of G.

G Oh the springtime re-
D* turns to the
Em lagan a
D* -gain And the
G lark sweetly
D sings o'er the
G green fertile
D plain and I'll
G tak' the
D* road that is
G dearest to
D me The
G road to
D Drum-
G leman that
G winds tae the sea.

The intro has dissonances and complex chords, but when he sings, the harmony is simpler, as above. There are three places (*) where the notes of the melody are C-B-A. Well, no chord goes with that. I simply tried a D chord, letting the C note make it a D7 and stepping carefully during the B. You might try a D7.

Some commenter on a YouTube said that name of town isn't Drumleman, it's Drumleghbhmvan (or similar.) However, any streetwise folkie knows that 'leman' is middle English for sweetheart, and that Drumleman is the stuff of fantasy.

Although it's been a while, thanks all for the pretty tune.

Subject: RE: ADD: Road to Drumleman (Mitchell/Cuffe)-chords?
From: Reinhard
Date: 29 Mar 21 - 02:04 PM

Similar to what's above posted on 16 July 2002, the liner notes of Tony Cuffe's album "Sae Will We Yet" say:

"Drumleman is the old, traditional, pronounciation of Drumlemble, a village located on the Mull of Kintyre between Campbeltown and Machrihanish."

And according to Wikipedie the Scottish Gaelic name of Drumlemble is Druim Leamhan.