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Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye
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Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye |
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Subject: Lyr Add: YE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND From: Charley Noble Date: 27 Mar 03 - 01:46 PM Notes from The Housing Songbook: The experience of returning home for immigrants could be bitter in the extreme, especially so in 19th century Ireland. In the following song the native son learns that while he was gone, his widowed mother was evicted and had died in the poorhouse. In his rage the young man avenges his mother's death by murdering her former landlord and he then flees Ireland to lead the life of a wandering exile. LANDLORDS OF IRELAND, YE (Source: Irish-American named Wild, late 19th century In Folksongs of Australia Adapted by Charles Ipcar in 1981 Tune: traditional "The Range of the Buffalo") I went unto America, that sweet land of the free, But returning in a few short years this news the priest told me, Me mother'd been evicted and it caused me heart to mourn, For she had in the poorhouse died in those years while I was gone. Then a fearful venom seized me and with me right hand raised on high, I swore by me creator, her landlord he must die; The night was dark and stormy when I rode to where he dwelled, The pistol drew, that tyrant slew, and I sent his soul to Hell! That turned me to a wanderer, that caused me for to roam, Far from me native Ireland, far from me mother's home; When that day of judgment comes, when all our race is run, May God forgive the venom shown by this poor widow's son. So, ye landlords of Ireland, no matter where ye be, When you meet your fate as he did then old Ireland will be free; The American lands are helping, with their eagle's golden wings, But the harp of dear old Ireland is a mass of broken strings. Anyone else run across more information on this old ballad? Cordially, Landlady's Daughter, not to be confused with Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: David Ingerson Date: 27 Mar 03 - 06:28 PM Interesting and passionate song. Thanks for posting it. What is the Housing Songbook? Google doesn't know a thing about it and neither do I. Sounds like something worth investigating. David |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 27 Mar 03 - 08:05 PM David- Sigh! It's one of those continuous grant projects which probably never will be completed because no publisher in his/her right mind would publish it. I have fun keep an updated list of my favorite 100 songs, with samples as far back as the 16th century. Well, there are also a few references to more ancient texts but not really songs. "Ye Landlords of Ireland" is a good teaser which hopefully provoke a few more songs for my net. Maybe I'll dump the working draft on a website one of these days. Landlady Daughter |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: masato sakurai Date: 27 Mar 03 - 09:44 PM The Traditional Ballad Index has an entry (Ye Landlords of Ireland), without much info. ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: masato sakurai Date: 27 Mar 03 - 10:09 PM Michael Rooney sings this on OCRAS: Music from the Famine Remembrance. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 27 Mar 03 - 10:35 PM I suspect that may be a different song by the same title, also called Rotten Potatoes (see Peter Kennedy's Folktrax site for a reference). John Moulden would know. "Adapted by Charles Ipcar": in what way? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Mar 03 - 08:36 AM Malcolm- "Adapted"? Good point! Charlie can seldom resist an opportunity to "improve" a song and I don't remember what he has done to this one. I'm curious now and will look up the original photocopy and post those words. Cordially, Landlady's Daughter |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: MMario Date: 28 Mar 03 - 08:41 AM LD - While a publisher might not touch the book - These days it is not that hard to put projects like this into PDF format and offer them as downloads - either free or for sale. At least it re-distributes the information and makes it available. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Mar 03 - 08:43 AM Oh, I missed one of my footnotes in copy and pasting above: "Learned by Mike Brennan from an Irish-Australian named Wild in the early 1900's, Folksongs of Australia, pp. 224-225." LD |
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Subject: Lyr Add: YE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:41 AM Found it! Well, now I see why Charlie reworked it: Ye Landlords of Ireland (original) ("Mick Brennan was born at Birriwa in 1892. His father was an Irish immigrant who was particularly proud of the fact that he had not been assisted in any way in coming to Australia. Mick worked as a shearer most of his life. During his youth at Birriwa he learned 'Ye Landlords of Ireland' from an Irish-Australian named Wild." from FOLKSONGS OF AUSTRALIA, pp. 224-225) I went unto America, that sweet land of the free, But in short years after I returned Back to my native land; To hear the news the good priest told to me, It caused my heart to mourn – My mother in the poorhouse died And I had crossed the sea. It was then a fearful venom seized me; With my right hand to my bosom, With my left hand raised on high, I swore by my creator, That that cruel 'victed (evicting) landlord He must surely die; The night was dark and stormy, The trigger drew, the tyrant slew, His soul I sent to Hell! That turned me to a wanderer Far from my native land; That when the day of judgment comes, When all our race is run, May God forgive the venom shown By that poor old widow's son; So, you landlords of Ireland, No matter where you be, Oh, meet your fate as he did And old Ireland will be free. The American lands are helping, Their eagle, gold and wings, And the harp of dear old Ireland's Just a mass of broken strings. Regardless, Landlady's Daughter |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: David Ingerson Date: 28 Mar 03 - 06:04 PM Landlady Daughter, It sounds like you love the project but are also tired of it. Giving it a little break is sometimes just what it (and you) need, but don't give it up completely! It sounds like a very worthwhile project, one, that if it is packaged right, might interest some publishers. I'm sure you're aware of the whole genre of historical song books. Yours would fit right in. I don't know if this will help, but I've been working on a book in bits of my spare time for over 12 years (totally different subject--creative drama in the elementary classroom) and next week I hope to print out the finished proposal (about 50% of the book). It can all come together, eventually, if you keep at it! You probably already have this one: Lyr Add: The Little Thatched Cabin Sorry, no blicky. :-( David |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Bob Bolton Date: 28 Mar 03 - 06:34 PM G'day Landlady's Daughter, I guess that most readers will miss the gentle irony of Mick's remark: His father was an Irish immigrant who was particularly proud of the fact that he had not been assisted in any way in coming to Australia. By the time John Meredith collected this song (~ late 1950s) Australia was "assisting" migrants ... usually English ... to Australia, so that they had only to pay £10 for their passage (about US$30 at the time). These New Australians were commonly referred to as "Ten pound Poms" by the locals. Mick's Dad uses that, ironically, to echo the earlier "assistance" to our Irish, up the late 1860s ... transportation as convicts ... notionally for 'crimes' against the state, but ultimately for being poor Irish, in a land occupied and plundered ... and either acting in rebellion, or stealing to keep their families alive. Regards, Bob Bolton (whose only traceable Irish ancestor ... appears to have been Ned Kelly's aunt!) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Mar 03 - 07:09 PM Thanks, David, for your encouragement. The last time I seriously approached a publisher was back in the early 1980's. Of course, now I have even more songs to consider. And thanks again, Bob, for your insight into "immigration" to Australia. Have you run across any other info or variants with regard to "Ye Landlords of Ireland"? Landlady's Daughter |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Bob Bolton Date: 29 Mar 03 - 06:40 AM G'day again Landlady's Daughter, No - our Irish didn't seem to sing that much of "The Troubles" ... just buckled down and got on with doing well in a free country. There are more general songs of defiance - and earlier laments on the same lines (and even names) as The Exile's Lament ... clearly dated to earlier convict era ... pre 1840s. The Gold Rushes of the 1850s onwards totally changed Australia's character, population and ethnic mix. (Oh well, great, great, uncle Ned might have spoiled the record a little!) Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Bob Bolton Date: 29 Mar 03 - 08:10 AM G'day again Landlady's Daughter (and Charley), I've had a good listen to Mick's tune, via unbiased computer notation ... and the first half of his tune sounds a lot like Yellow Rose of Texas! What version of Range of the Buffalo do you fit to the words ... the Lomax version seems, to me, to be a very generic "Come All Ye" ... so I guess it can work for almost anything - it certainly did back then! Mick certainly seems to have bent the tune a hell of a lot in his recording. Even without hearing the field tape, I can imagine the degree of variation reqwuired to fit some of thos lines into standard phrase lengths! Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Mar 03 - 08:33 AM Bob et al- The Lomax version of "Range of the Buffalo/Come All Ye" is what I had in mind for the tune I'm proposing. I sure have trouble wrapping "Yellow Rose of Texas" around the original lines. Bob, could you send in a midi of Mick's tune as you hear it? I'm sure this song in its original form was a powerful one, and it would be exciting to find some other collected versions. Landlady's Daughter |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Landlords of Ireland, Ye From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Mar 03 - 09:15 AM Bob Bolton e-mailed me today that he is still working on this one. Does anyone else have any clues about what might be the original form of this old ballad? Landlady's Daughter |
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Subject: Tune Add: YE LANDLORDS OF IRELAND From: Bob Bolton Date: 30 Mar 03 - 07:35 PM G'day Charley, As I said in my last email: It would be interesting to see if any parallel set has turned up elsewhere in the Irish Diaspora. I do see some contextual relationship to the (earlier than-?) 1828 Plains of Emu(of the Exile of Erin genre, but written by an Irish convict from the south-west, rather than one from the north-east) that I posted to Mudcat a year or two back. I'll be contacting friends at The National Library of Australia, folklore collection, about getting a dub of Merro's field tape of Mick Brennan - sometime today. It will need a bit of research to locate it in the reel-to-reel tapes of The Meredith Collection, but I'll let you know what I find. I'll be in Canberra, in 2 weeks or so, for the (Australian) National Folk Festival and I may be able to slip into the collections before Easter. I'll have few things on my mind, as I have other projects looming for the Bush Music Club's 50th Anniversary, late next year! Here is the tune (~?) as noted down from Mick Brennan's singing ... in Alan Foster's MIDItxt format:
This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here
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