Lyr/Tune Add: Christmas Eve (Alfie Duggan)

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: CHRISTMAS EVE (from Alfie Duggan)
From: David Ingerson
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 02:46 PM

Here's a song I recorded and transcribed from Alfie Duggan's singing in 1982. I'm pretty sure he wrote the song (and so probably has a copyright on it). Alfie lived in Dublin at the time (and is Irish himself), so this is a bona fide Irish song. ;- )   I've sung it probably every Christmas since I got it because it keeps on being requested and is great fun for the singer and audience. It deserves a wider audience.

Alfie, if you're out there, thanks for this song. It's great fun to sing (and hear)! And please feel free to make any corrections, especially in the first two lines.

Christmas Eve
by Alfie Duggan

One Christmas Eve to Bethlehem, Joe and me we made our way
The frost was lying thick and cold and the winter winds did flay
Oh the winter winds did flay, me boys, they chilled us to the bone,
And we were there for the census sake, a hundred miles from home.

Well, Joe he knocked on the first inn door to see if there was room.
"There's nothin' I can do for yez until the first of June.
There's nothin' I can do for yez, if you're too dignified,
But if in a stable you will lay, you can step around the side."

Well now, I was nearly nine months gone, on that cold old Christmas eve.
And the tale of who the father was, sure no one would believe.
Sure no one would believe, me boys, the tale I'll tell ye now,
Of how I came to be lyin' there with a donkey and a cow.

Well, Joseph was a poor old fool who thought babies came from God.
And I didn't like to contradict, he was such a nice old sod.
He was such a nice old sod, me boys, that him I could not tell
How in early spring when small birds sing, I was met by Gabriel.

"Hail Mary, dear, you're full of grace." says Gabbie then to me.
"And I got a bit of news for you," he continued pleasantly.
"You're goin' to have a baby boy," he went on with a grin,
"And you'll be the first to have the likes, without committin' sin."

Well, it came to me as quite a shock to hear this bit a news.
And that I was goin' to have a babe, the first of the Christmas Jews.
That I was going' to have a babe, the savior of yez all.
And that's how I came to lyin' there, that evenin' in the stall.

Well, Joe was pacin' up and down and he was shakin' like a leaf,
And when the baby boy was born, oh he heaved a sigh of relief.
Says I to Joe, "Thank God for that," in accents sweet and mild,
"Yerra, Jaysus Christ," says Joesph, [spoken] and that's what we called the child.


The tune is off the shelf but I don't know its name. Here is my first attempt at ABC:

X: 1
T: ?
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Cmin

C | CGGF | _EDC C/2D/2 | _E_EDB, | C3 C |
CGGF | _ED C/2D/2 | _E_EFF | G3 G |
cGGG | F_ED F | _BFF_E | D3 C |
CGGF | _EDCD | _E_EDB, | C3 ||


Enjoy!

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: GUEST,Sonja
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 02:56 PM

Thanks for posting this, David.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 12:19 AM

I blew it in a couple spots with the ABC. The "B" leading tones in lines 1 and 4 should be B flats. Here's the corrected ABC:

X: 1
T: ?
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Cmin

C | CGGF | _EDC C/2D/2 | _E_ED_B, | C3 C |
CGGF | _ED C/2D/2 | _E_EFF | G3 G |
cGGG | F_ED F | _BFF_E | D3 C |
CGGF | _EDCD | _E_ED_B, | C3 ||

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Snuffy
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 06:40 PM

Brilliant first effort at ABC, David. Kepp going with it.

The tune is a variant of the one ususally used for the carol 'God rest ye merry, Gentlemen'

If you specify K:Cmin in ABC, it puts three flats in the key signature and then the B, E, & A are automatically assumed to be flat anyway. Putting the flats in against each note may cause some ABC programs to treat them as double flats (i.e a _ before a B that is already flat may play as A rather than Bb).

WassaiL! v

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 07:23 PM

Thanks, Snuffy.

Probably the biggest problem for me is that I don't have the software to read and test the code I'm writing and so I have to go on faith. Is there ABC shareware I can download? I suppose I should just go search for it, but if you can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 07:44 PM

There's a useful online abc tester at Concertina.net, which will it convert to midi or staff for you. I use it quite a bit, as it supports quite a lot (though not all) of the proposed new standards.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Alice
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 08:16 PM

Love it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 18 Dec 02 - 12:45 PM

Thanks for the suggestion, Malcolm. I couldn't get it to work right off but I don't have the time right now to fuss with it. I'll try again later.

Glad you liked it, Alice.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 12:58 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 23 Dec 02 - 12:16 PM

Just another couple days of visibility for this song. Then I'll let the thread die.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 24 Dec 02 - 12:23 PM

One last time. If anyone out there knows Alfie or knows of him, let him or me know. Thanks!

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Declan
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 05:57 AM

David,

I know Alfie well. A man of many talents, obviously. I'm fairly sure I've heard someone (quite possibly Alf himself) sing this song a good few years ago, but had forgotten it until I saw it here. I had know idea he wrote it himself.

If I think of it I'll mention this to Alf the next time I see him, but it might be a few months before I see him next. He lives in Ennis Co. Clare these days, where he's still playing guitar and multiple other stringed instruments and has been very much involved in something called the Fretted Instruments club down there. He has contributed to a number of CDs especially Tommy Peoples CD the Quiet Glen, on which the subtle acompaniment is the perfect backing to Tommy's brilliant fiddle playing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: David Ingerson
Date: 16 Dec 05 - 03:33 PM

This might be a good time to refresh this thread.

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Alice
Date: 17 Dec 05 - 10:11 AM

Anyone have a midi of the tune? My abc translating is kaput.

Alice

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Irish song (really): Christmas Eve
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Dec 05 - 03:28 PM

Here you are, Alice:

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Christmas Eve (Alfie Duggan)
From: GUEST,David Ingerson
Date: 23 Dec 21 - 07:35 PM

I totally forgot that I had posted the words to Alph's song, which is really called "Joe and Me." I have been in communication with Alph and have spent some good time with him and his family during the past 12 or so years. He points out that this song was co-written by David Carruthers.

As for the tune, I have no idea if my rendering of ABC was accurate but I do know that the Midi that Joe Offer posted is not the correct melody for the song. The tune is the same as "It's all for the love of a fair young maid" or maybe it's called "The Portuguese Sailor Boy" which is often sung in the Dublin area. "Joe and Me" is also posted to my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/lhKdB9NMpdQ

Cheers,

David

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Christmas Eve (Alfie Duggan)
From: GUEST,David Ingerson
Date: 26 Dec 21 - 03:23 PM

The tune, which is perfectly tailored to the song, can be heard here: https://youtu.be/lhKdB9NMpdQ
    It's not the Midi that Joe posted on 17 Dec., '05.
    It's the same tune as "The Maid of Cabra West" which is the Irish version of "She Loved a Portuguese." The latter, which is on digitrad with the words "maid of Camden (or Campden)," and which is from London, has a different tune, so don't go by the tune here on Mudcat.
    There are numerous renditions of "The Maid of Cabra West" with the Irish tune on YouTube.