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Info: Curragh of Kildare

DigiTrad:
CURRAGH OF KILDARE
THE IRISH LOVERS (CURRAGH OF KILDARE)
THE LAMENTING MAID (CURRAGH OF KILDARE)


Related threads:
Origins: Curragh of Kildare/The Winter It Is Past (71)
Chords: Curragh of Kildare/The Winter It Is Past (28)


Reinhard 23 Mar 20 - 11:38 PM
Steve Shaw 23 Mar 20 - 10:24 PM
Joe Offer 23 Mar 20 - 10:20 PM
meself 02 Jun 11 - 05:37 PM
Dave MacKenzie 02 Jun 11 - 05:10 PM
MartinRyan 02 Jun 11 - 05:10 PM
meself 02 Jun 11 - 05:01 PM
Dave MacKenzie 02 Jun 11 - 04:56 PM
meself 02 Jun 11 - 04:43 PM
Jim McLean 02 Jun 11 - 03:49 PM
Dave MacKenzie 02 Jun 11 - 03:20 PM
Dave MacKenzie 02 Jun 11 - 02:54 PM
Joe Offer 02 Jun 11 - 02:03 PM
RTim 27 Apr 10 - 08:09 AM
MartinRyan 31 Aug 08 - 05:14 PM
GUEST,Shortgrass 31 Aug 08 - 04:54 PM
MartinRyan 31 Aug 08 - 03:57 PM
Wizzle 30 Aug 08 - 10:00 PM
Gulliver 30 Aug 08 - 09:15 PM
RobbieWilson 30 Aug 08 - 08:41 PM
GUEST 30 Aug 08 - 07:04 PM
Compton 08 Nov 03 - 08:08 PM
Bernard 08 Nov 03 - 12:29 PM
Big Tim 08 Nov 03 - 11:23 AM
open mike 07 Nov 03 - 10:02 PM
MartinRyan 07 Nov 03 - 01:16 PM
MartinRyan 06 Nov 03 - 06:23 PM
clueless don 06 Nov 03 - 11:05 AM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 04 Nov 03 - 10:43 AM
Wilfried Schaum 04 Nov 03 - 10:33 AM
JulieF 04 Nov 03 - 05:25 AM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 04 Nov 03 - 04:42 AM
Jim Dixon 03 Nov 03 - 09:07 PM
Allan Dennehy 02 Nov 03 - 05:54 PM
RWJ 02 Nov 03 - 02:00 PM
Big Tim 01 Nov 03 - 05:21 AM
nutty 01 Nov 03 - 03:31 AM
Big Tim 31 Oct 03 - 03:44 PM
clueless don 31 Oct 03 - 02:02 PM
Leadfingers 31 Oct 03 - 12:14 PM
nutty 31 Oct 03 - 03:50 AM
GUEST,skipy 30 Oct 03 - 06:20 PM
Big Tim 30 Oct 03 - 04:40 PM
GUEST 30 Oct 03 - 04:24 PM
GUEST,Boab 30 Oct 03 - 04:23 PM
Helen 30 Oct 03 - 04:19 PM
RWJ 30 Oct 03 - 04:13 PM
pavane 11 Jul 01 - 10:44 AM
pavane 11 Jul 01 - 10:38 AM
pavane 10 Jul 01 - 07:06 PM
GUEST,Bruce O. 22 Oct 00 - 06:15 PM
Bernard 22 Oct 00 - 11:44 AM
Alice 22 Oct 00 - 11:36 AM
Bernard 22 Oct 00 - 09:21 AM
GUEST,Corinne Pomroy 22 Oct 00 - 04:49 AM
GUEST 22 Oct 00 - 04:25 AM
GUEST,Corinne Pomroy 22 Oct 00 - 04:21 AM
Bruce O. 26 Oct 99 - 01:18 PM
MudGuard 26 Oct 99 - 11:02 AM
Stewie 26 Oct 99 - 06:45 AM
Wolfgang 26 Oct 99 - 04:48 AM
Stewie 26 Oct 99 - 02:14 AM
MudGuard 26 Oct 99 - 01:39 AM
25 Oct 99 - 07:11 PM
Stewie 25 Oct 99 - 06:59 PM
Penny S 01 Jul 99 - 01:23 PM
The_one_and_only_Dai 01 Jul 99 - 08:49 AM
Penny S 30 Jun 99 - 07:35 PM
The_one_and_only_Dai 30 Jun 99 - 09:45 AM
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare
From: Reinhard
Date: 23 Mar 20 - 11:38 PM

Origins: Curragh of Kildare/The Winter It Is Past


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Mar 20 - 10:24 PM

Christy.


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Subject: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Mar 20 - 10:20 PM

Heard this at a song circle tonight. Can anybody tell me about it?

CURRAGH OF KILDARE

The winter has passed
And the summer's come at last
The small birds are singing in the trees
Their little hearts are glad
Ah, but mine is very sad
For my true love is far away from me

The ribbons I'll wear
And I'll comb back my hair
And gallants I bring I will appear
And straight I will go there
To the Curragh of Kildare
For it's there that I'll find tidings of my dear

All you who are in love
Aye and cannot it remove
I pity the pain you do endure
For experience lets me know
That your hearts are filled of woe
It's a woe that no mortal man can cure

The rose upon the briar
And the water's running clear
Brings joy to the linnet and the bee
Their little hearts are blessed
And but mine can know no rest
For my true love is far away from me

Winter has passed
And the summer's come at last
The small birds are singing in the trees
Their little hearts are glad
Ah, but mine is very sad
For my true love is far away from me

Source: https://lyrics.fandom.com/wiki/Bert_Jansch:Curragh_Of_Kildare


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: meself
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 05:37 PM

No doubt.

(Thanks MartinRyan.)


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 05:10 PM

There are some copies on Amazon.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: MartinRyan
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 05:10 PM

According to Christy Moore, he found the Burns setting, and added an Irish chorus, then stooped singing it when he found out that it may not have been original to Burns.

Not quite. He basically says that, in the early 1960's, he found a version in the PW Joyce collection, adapted it with Donal Lunny (including cobbling the chorus from two fragments of verses), swapped it to Mick Maloney for The Bleacher Lassies of Kelvinhaugh (which is how The Johnstons ended up recording it) - and then discovered the Burns ascription. At the end of the page (probably in final proof) he mentions that there is "some doubt" about Robbie Burns' authorship. Nothing to suggest he stopped singing it for that reason.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: meself
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 05:01 PM

And well over 2000 miles from where I live. I guess I will just have to remain forever baffled.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 04:56 PM

Christy explains in his book. There's a copy in Woking Public Library, which is over 200 miles from where I live.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: meself
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 04:43 PM

Just out of curiosity: why would CM have stopped singing it "when he found out that it may not have been original to Burns"?


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: Jim McLean
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 03:49 PM

A wee bit of research would have shown Christy that although the song appeared in Johnson Scots Museum, William Stenhouse, in his notes on the Museum points out that no one knew who the author was and that the meoldy (strongly associated with the C of K was already printed by James Oswald (1711 - 1769) in his Caledonian Pocket Companion. It is a bit more 'floral' than the Museum melody but Oswald was a fiddle player of great ability and he embellished the basic melody.


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 03:20 PM

I think he tells about changing 'The Winter it is Past' into 'The Curragh of Kildare' in "One Voice" (2000).


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Subject: RE: Origins: Curragh of Kildare
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 02:54 PM

According to Christy Moore, he found the Burns setting, and added an Irish chorus, then stooped singing it when he found out that it may not have been original to Burns.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Kildare
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Jun 11 - 02:03 PM

Here's a YouTube recording of The Curragh of Kildare sung by Emmett Spiceland that you might enjoy.

-Joe-


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Subject: RE: Curragh of Kildare
From: RTim
Date: 27 Apr 10 - 08:09 AM

Here is another version, which Frank Purslow published in his Foggy Dew book of songs from Hampshire & Dorset in 1974 (Page 96)

Tim Radford

THE WINTERS GONE & PAST
(Sources in Dorset - Jo. Vincent - Wareham
& Mr. Russell - Upway, plus bits from Broadsides)

The winter's gone and past,
and the summer's come at last,
And the small birds are on every tree,
And many a heart is glad, but my poor heart is sad,
Since my true love has been absent from me.

I should not think it strange,
the wide world for to range
In hoping for to find my heart's delight
But now in Cupid's chains I'm obliged to remain
And in sorrow I must spend my whole life.

I will dress myself in black,
With a fringe all around my neck,
Gold rings all on my fingers I will wear,
Then straightway I'll repair to the county of Kildare,
And some tidings I may hear of my dear.

My love is like the sun in the pleasant month of June
That do always prove constant and true
But hers is like the moon that do wender up & down
And in every month it is new.


[Here's my transcription from Purslow's Foggy Dew book, page 96 - Joe Offer]

THE WINTER'S GONE AND PAST
(Sources in Dorset - Jo. Vincent - Wareham
& Mr. Russell - Upway, plus bits from Broadsides)

The winter's gone and past,
Pleasant summer's come at last,
And the small birds sing on ev-er-y green tree,
There is many a heart is glad, Oh! but my poor heart is sad,
Since my true love has gone absent from me.

I should not think it strange,
The wide world for to range,
In hoping for to find my heart's delight;
But now in Cupid's chains I'm obliged for to remain
And in sorrow I must spend my whole life.

I will dress myself in black,
With a fringe all round my neck,
Gold rings all on my fingers I will wear,
Then straightway I'll repair to the county of Kildare,
And some tidings I may hear of my dear.

My love is like the sun in the pleasant month of June,
That do always prove constant and true;
But his is like the moon that do wender up and down,
And in every month it is new.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: MartinRyan
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 05:14 PM

GUESTShortgrass

Yep - the original song appears to be Scottish OK.

The root word appears to be "corrach", as we would now spell it. Dineen, the older standard dictionary gives its meaning as:

a morass, a marsh, a bog, a turf bog; a level low-lying plain.

That second sense applies to the our Curragh, of course.

Regards
p.s. He gives currach as an alternative spelling.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST,Shortgrass
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 04:54 PM

Wow this has been going a while. First of all as to the song. Although it has been hijacked as a Kildare song it is my understanding that the song is Scottish in origin. It tells of a woman who laments for her true love who is serving on the Curragh with the British Forces in the 19th century.
The word Curragh I have heard refers to a plain or heathland. The Curragh has often been referred to as "The Plains of Kildare". It is in fact a glacial plain formed many years ago during the ice age. It has always been associated with horse racing and military activities. The Curragh Military Camp is said to be the oldest continuously occupied camp either in the British Isles or Europe. It also many ancient raths most notably the Gibbott Rath close to the west of the Camp. There is still evidence of a road called "The Race of the Black Pig" which seemingly was an ancient thoroughfare.
Having been raised close to and spent 32 years working on the Curragh I hope these little snippets of information will be of interest to someone.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: MartinRyan
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 03:57 PM

Just to tidy up: apart from the familiar sense of coracle/boat, discussed earlier, the word "currach", in Irish, also means "marsh" - which is, I imagine, the sense from which the placename is derived. It's a bit less damp there nowadays, of course - normally!

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Wizzle
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 10:00 PM

I would love to find the music for this song, my parents are from Kildare, my mother from Newbridge and my father from Killina by the Canalnot far from Robertstown


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Gulliver
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:15 PM

Never did see the point of some of these stupid parodies...


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 08:41 PM

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

One of my absolute favourite festival nights was at Wheaton Aston a few years ago. Back on the camp site peole standing about playing, chatting singing. Mist was coming in about 2am when the curragh of kildare started drifting in, like fairy music, from a hammer dulcimer. It was serene, beautful and then it turned into Curry's of Kildare and the magic was gone. I love Les B but still struggle to forgive him for the bursting of that sublime bubble.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 07:04 PM

Curry's of Kildare are my mothers family


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Compton
Date: 08 Nov 03 - 08:08 PM

One of the pleasanter versions on record was by the Johnstons..yes, I am showing my age!!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Bernard
Date: 08 Nov 03 - 12:29 PM

Jim... 'The Brylcreem Boys' was so named because of the fashion at the time of using hair oil; Brylcreem was one very popular brand, as were Vaseline (same brand, but not the petroleum jelly!!) and Macassar.

That is why it used to be very common for armchairs to have a thick cloth draped over the back (known as an anti-macassar) to help prevent the fabric being stained!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Big Tim
Date: 08 Nov 03 - 11:23 AM

From "The Sean Bhean Bhocht" (trad Irish song)

Where will they have their camps? says the Sean Bhean Bhocht
Where will they have their camps? says the Sean Bhean Bhocht
On the Curragh of Kildare, and the boys will all be there,
With their pikes in good repair, says the Sean Bhean Bhocht.

Note: Sean Bhean Bhocht = 'poor old woman' i.e. - Ireland.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: open mike
Date: 07 Nov 03 - 10:02 PM

http://www.curragh.info/home.htm
http://www.esatclear.ie/~curragh/
http://www.curraghsons.homestead.com/

can anyone translate this site?
http://ula-kapala.art.pl/spiewnik/songs/pl/curragh_of_kildare.html

a band
http://www.curraghtraditional.com/


finally! a mention of some thing boat like!!
http://www.castlebar.ie/photos/pj/curraghproject.htm
where are casltebar, turlough, north mayo or belderg?

and here is a st. brendan reference.. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/christopher.sauvarin/Bernd_Unstaedt1.html

http://www.pbase.com/image/16695810


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: MartinRyan
Date: 07 Nov 03 - 01:16 PM

... for the BOAT..... Doh!

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 06:23 PM

Yes, currach and, less often, curragh, are both used for the both. What I was getting at is that they are both/boat related to "coracle"!

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: clueless don
Date: 06 Nov 03 - 11:05 AM

My Webster's New World Dictionary gives the "currach" spelling, but then also gives the "curragh" spelling for the Irish leather-bottomed boat. I am quite sure that I have seen the "curragh" spelling used in the past, and when I have heard the boats referred to in song, the word sounds (to my ear anyway) just like the word "Curragh" in the Curragh of Kildare. This was the source of my confusion.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 10:43 AM

Same root, different shape, basically! Currach is the Irish word.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 10:33 AM

I was going on the assumption that a curragh was a leather-bottomed boat.
Coracle?

Wilfried


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: JulieF
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 05:25 AM

This is one of the first songs that I sang solo.   I took a copy of the Irish version and only sang the verses that I really liked - then looked at 'The winter it is past' and found that I was singing that with the Irish chorus. It has one of the most wonderful verses which I think probably came from Burns alone. ( although - no doubt some one may disagree)

My Love is like the sun in the firmament doth run
And always is constant and true
His is like the moon that wanders up and down
And every month is new.

Julie


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 04 Nov 03 - 04:42 AM

...natty RAF pilots, at a guess.

There is still, of course, a military base and "place of detention" at the site.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Nov 03 - 09:07 PM

There was also a fascinating movie about that WW2 detention camp, called "The Brylcreem Boys." (I don't know why they gave it that title.) I saw it on American TV. I think it was shown in the daytime on one of the cable channels—not a very good venue. If it ever comes around again, I plan to tape it for my friends.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Allan Dennehy
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 05:54 PM

As Big Tim mentioned, the Curragh was used as a detention camp during WW2. There were 3 sections for the IRA, Allied airmen and German mariners and airman. The Germans and the Allies had a comparitavly easy time of it. They were allowed out neary every evening on parole as the war progressed. One American prisoner broke his parole and escaped to his unit in the north of Ireland. The US authorities promptly returned him to the Irish camp again! The story of the prisoners is told in a facinating book called Guests of the State.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: RWJ
Date: 02 Nov 03 - 02:00 PM

Thanks to all for your help background info is as helpfull as the words

RWJ


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Big Tim
Date: 01 Nov 03 - 05:21 AM

And this from "Irish Place Names" by Deirdrie and Laurence Flanagan:-

"CORRACH/CURRACH is one of the many Irish words for a 'swamp' or 'morass'. It appears simply as 'Curragh', Co. Waterford and with various colour-descriptions as in Curraghboy, Co. Roscommon,[i.e. from the Irish] 'currach bui' - 'yellow marsh', or, Curraghroe, Co. Roscommon - 'red marsh'...It also means simply 'low lying plain', without any presumption of it being waterlogged, and in this sense appears as 'Curragh' in Co. Kildare, with the extended meaning of 'racecourse'".                                                

The origins of many Irish place names are themselves something of a 'morass'! [I said that!]

Great song anyway!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: nutty
Date: 01 Nov 03 - 03:31 AM

The Encyclopaedia Britannica offers this .......

Curragh, The

Irish - An Currach, plain, or down, County Kildare, Ireland, noted for its excellent soils.

Some 8 square miles (22 square km) in area, the down of Kildare apparently was an ancient meeting place, and The Curragh has been just such a common since at least the 12th century. The rich pastureland is renowned for the breeding of racehorses; it is said that races were held there as early as the 1st century AD.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Big Tim
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 03:44 PM

From the "Oxford Companion to Irish History" -

The Curragh, Co. Kildare, 5,000 acres of unenclosed down land, located just east of Kildare town..."Curragh", meaning "racecourse", indicates a long standing association with horseracing, probably an adjunct to a fair...the Curragh remains a major horseracing venue today. A camp for the training of militia was established during th revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and a permanent military base in 1854".

The Curragh Camp was of course also the scene of the Curragh Mutiny (or Incident) in 1914 when a number of British Army officers threatened to resign rather than force Ulster unionists into accepting Home Rule. The Curragh was also used as an internment camp during the Irish Civil War and again during the "Emergency" - the Second World War. So, plenty of military connotations.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: clueless don
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 02:02 PM

Thank you, Big Tim, for that information! This song never made any sense to me, because I was going on the assumption that a curragh was a leather-bottomed boat.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 12:14 PM

And then of course the late and long lamented Dave Houlden of Maidenhead Folk Club had a go at this as well. His rewrite is The Curry of Kildare --- There were snakes and there was hair in the Curry of Kildare !!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: nutty
Date: 31 Oct 03 - 03:50 AM

The song as we know it today seems to be a half remembered version of the original ....as often happens.

If you look at The Irish Lovers or The Lamenting Maid highlighted at the top of this page, you will get a better understanding of what the song is about.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST,skipy
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 06:20 PM

check out the Les Barker version!
the main line goes
I'll take it for repair to Currys of Kildare (I think)
! I'll have to look for it now !


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Big Tim
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 04:40 PM

The Curragh Camp, County Kildare, was an army camp dating from the late 17th century. So, presumably that's why the girl in the song went there, following her lover who must have been a soldier.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 04:24 PM

curragh of Kildare


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 04:23 PM

Finbar and Eddie Fury have an album [which I possess somewhere in my chaotic music library}which contains 'the Curragh". Perhaps you may be lucky and get a pointer. Meantime check Robert Burns "the Winter it is Past". Maybe Michael can point to the facts, but this is obviously either a Burns original from which "the Currach' has arisen, or conversely is Burns' adaptation of the Irish song; not unusual for Burns---he did "doctor' quite a few old songs for publishing.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: Helen
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 04:19 PM

Hi RWJ,

This is the first verse & chorus. The rest is in the DT. The spelling of Curragh was right but Kildare has one "l". If you put "Curragh" in the search box at top right and keep Forum & DT checked you will also find some threads about the song, if you are interested.

Helen

CURRAGH OF KILDARE

Oh the winter it has passed
And the summer's come at last
The small birds are singing in the trees
And their little hearts are glad
ah, but mine is very sad
Since my true love is far away from me

And straight I will repair
To the Curragh of Kildare
For it's there I'll finds tidings of my dear


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Subject: Lyr Req: Curragh of Killdaire
From: RWJ
Date: 30 Oct 03 - 04:13 PM

Looking for the words cant find it in DT spelling may be way out help please


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: pavane
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:44 AM

Sorry, I have now found the previous threads where all this has been discussed.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: pavane
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 10:38 AM

This is getting interesting (to me, at least). The printed versions of the song (usually Cold Winter is past) are for a woman to sing, unlike the Curragh version, and the location is sometimes 'the Borough of Kildare.' Burns published only two verses, as far as I can see, but all other sources give several more. Is it not likely that Burns just published a fragment which he had collected? I think he did this in other cases. Has anyone uncovered any version from BEFORE Burns wrote his?


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: pavane
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 07:06 PM

In Bodley, we have Cold Winter is Past, Cold Winter's Past and Gone, and Cold Winter, or Young Johnson.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 06:15 PM

Search the Mudcat Forum on 'Curragh' for two earlier threads on the subject. 3 early tunes for it are given as ABCs in file T1.HTM on my website (www.erols.com/olsonw). The song is probably also on the Bodley Ballads website, but not all publications called it "The Curragh of Kildare"


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 11:44 AM

Thanks! Didn't know that! Can you post it for me?

Is it possible that the 'writer' of 'Curragh' simply did a Francis McPeake - he took Robert Tannahill's 'Braes of Balquither' and turned it into 'Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?'

See this!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: Alice
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 11:36 AM

Some of the verses of the Curragh of Kildare are the same as The Winter It Is Past, by Robert Burns. The tunes are different, of course.


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Subject: Lyr Add: CURRAGH OF KILDARE
From: Bernard
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 09:21 AM

You may like my version of the song - it's a combination of all the verses I've heard people do.

'Mrs. John Kirkpatrick' told me a couple of years ago that it isn't even Irish - it was written by an Englishwoman, but I've forgotten who!
Anyway, this is how I sing it...

Curragh of Kildare

Winter, it is past, and summer's come at last,
And the small birds are singing in the trees.
Their little hearts are glad, ah, but mine is very sad,
For my true-love is far away from me.

And it's straight I will repair
To the Curragh of Kildare,
For it's there I'll find tidings of my dear.

A livery I'll wear, and I'll comb back my hair,
And in velvet so green I will appear.
All these things I'll undertake all for my true-love's sake
For now is the springtime of the year.

Oh, tell me what went wrong when we both sang our love song
And we danced in the meadow night and day.
Was it really all that bad, did I make you very sad?
Will you come back to the Curragh of Kildare?

The rose upon the briar, and the river running clear
Bring joy to the linnet and the bee.
Their little hearts are blessed, ah, but mine can know no rest
For my true-love is far away from me.

Oh you that are in love, and cannot it remove,
I pity the pain that you endure,
For experince lets me know that your hearts are full of woe,
A woe that no mortal can cure.

I've not recorded this one yet, but intend to soon...


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: GUEST,Corinne Pomroy
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 04:49 AM

Okay...I'm catching the hint here..

Please forgive, but whoever wrote up this CD can't spell worth squat.

Search tips are noted, thanks.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Currah of Kildare
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 04:25 AM

CURRAGH OF KILDARE
It's in the DT. If you can't find something on a search try different keywords. You would have been successful on a search for "Kildare" You can also do wild-card searches when you're unsure of spelling.


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Subject: The Currah of Kildare
From: GUEST,Corinne Pomroy
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 04:21 AM

This one too please!!

Thanks again, Corinne


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: Bruce O.
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 01:18 PM

There's a broadside issue at www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads
"Cold winter's gone and past', Harding B 20(53), and it's given with music (given in the other thread) in The Scots Musical Museum.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: MudGuard
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 11:02 AM

Stewie, it is not a mispronounciation of "frills" by the performers (Finbar + Eddie Furey), it is a mishearing of "frills" by me. I neither knew the word "frails" nor the word "frills" (my English is not the best), so I wrote down what I thought to hear.
After you gave me the hint that it might be "frills" instead of "frails", I listened to the song once again, and now I heard "frills" as well.
MudGuard


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 06:45 AM

Thanks, Wolfgang. My apologies, I somehow did not go far enough with my DT search - I only saw the Stewball ones and thought the song was not there. I promise to be more thorough in future before posting lyrics. All the same, both MudGuard and I have submitted some lines that are not in the DT version.

Cheers, Stewie.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 04:48 AM

CURRAGH OF KILDARE in the DT. And as for "traditional Irish" it should be mentioned that Robert Burns' "The winter it is past" is rather similar to The Curragh of Kildare. However, we all know, that Burns being known as the author of a song doesn't necessarily mean the song was not traditional.

Wolfgang


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 02:14 AM

Yes, I have heard that verse, but all I recall is 'undertake for my own true lover's sake' bit. Could it simply be a stumbling or mispronunciation of 'frills'?


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: MudGuard
Date: 26 Oct 99 - 01:39 AM

I have an additional verse (before the last), but as so often I am not sure about all the words (see the red one)
MudGuard

I will wear a cap of black
With some frails around my neck
Golden rings on my fingers I will wear
Oh yes this I'll undertake
For my own true lover's sake
For she lives in the Curragh of Kildare


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From:
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 07:11 PM

There are ABC's of 3 tunes for it in an old thread, Curragh of Kildare.


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Subject: Lyr Add: Curragh of Kildare (2)
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 06:59 PM

When browsing through DT, I was surprised to find that the entry contained 2 songs from the Stewball, Skewball, Molly and Tenbrooks family, but not the song that goes by that specific name.

CURRAGH OF KILDARE

The winter it is past
And the summer's come at last
The birds they are singing in the trees
Their little hearts are glad
But mine is very sad
For my true love is far away from me

And straight I will repair
To the Curragh of Kildare
For it's there I'll find tidings of my dear

The roses on the briar
By the waters running clear
Bring joy to the linnet and the bee
Their little hearts are blessed
But mine can find no rest
For my true love is far away from me

A livery I'll wear
And I'll comb back my hair
In velvet so green I will appear
And straight I will repair
To the Curragh of Kildare
For it's there I'll find tidings of my dear

All you who are in love
And cannot it remove
I pity the pain that you endure
For experience lets me know
That your hearts are full of woe
A woe that no mortal can cure

Traditional Irish.

Source: From the singing of Paul Lawler Darwin, Australia late 1970s. Paul learned his version in Irish clubs. Similar versions have been recorded by the Johnstons and Christy Moore.


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Subject: RE: Curragh of Kildare
From: Penny S
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 01:23 PM

Assistant small scale crannog constructor, I am.

Penny


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Subject: RE: Curragh of Kildare
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 08:49 AM

Oh yes.


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Subject: RE: Curragh of Kildare
From: Penny S
Date: 30 Jun 99 - 07:35 PM

Like a crannog?


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Subject: RE: Curragh of Kildare
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 30 Jun 99 - 09:45 AM

Incidentally, a Curragh is an artificial island.


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