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My Lagan Love

19 Sep 00 - 01:15 AM (#300447)
Subject: My Lagan Love midi
From: GUEST,dash@together.net

Does anyone have a wav of this song that they can post?

Thanks,

Diana


19 Sep 00 - 08:55 AM (#300582)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

I made one for you (pardon the computer microphone sound). First verse. Wav file is here.AliceFlynnLaganLove.wav


19 Sep 00 - 12:57 PM (#300782)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: mousethief

Wasn't the tune to this used on Horslips' Book of Invasions?

Alex
O..O
=o=


19 Sep 00 - 01:00 PM (#300787)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Mbo

Yep! Classic album, which I love! It's "Fantasia: My Lagan Love" and comes between "Warm Sweet Breath of Love" and "King of Morning, Queen of Day". Ah so good! I bug everyone by playing Lagan Love as the Horslips do--all the time!


19 Sep 00 - 01:05 PM (#300789)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: mousethief

I also like their version of 'ta na la.' There are a lot of Horslips fans on the Al Stewart Mailing List.

Alex
O..O
=o=


19 Sep 00 - 07:42 PM (#301052)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: rabbitrunning

I love Mudcat coincidences. I had never even heard of this song until last night (when two albums I ordered from World Wide Wax arrived) and there's a thread on it today!

Wheee!

(Incidentally, the recording I just got is by Frances Archer and Beverly Gile from the early 1960s, but I've got no idea how to go from vinyl to computer...)


19 Sep 00 - 11:58 PM (#301178)
Subject: Lyr Add: MY LAGAN LOVE
From: Callie

One of my favourite songs. Make sure the version you have has THREE verses. The third is sometimes omitted.

Her welcome like her love to me
Is from the heart within
Her kisses warm felicity
That know no taint of sin
When she was only fairy small
Her gentle mother died
But true love keeps her memory warm
By Lagan's silver side.

Callie


20 Sep 00 - 12:24 AM (#301195)
Subject: Lyr Add: MY LAGAN LOVE
From: Alice

Callie, there are four verses that have been discussed on the forum - one not often heard

Her father sails a running-barge
'Twixt Leamh-beag and The Druim;
And on the lonely river-marge
She clears his hearth for him.
When she was only fairy-high
Her gentle mother died;
But dew love keeps her memory green
Along the Lagan side.

Alice


20 Sep 00 - 12:35 AM (#301199)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Callie, I just read the verse you posted more closely, - here is the way it was written as discussed in an earlier thread.

Her welcome, like her love for me,
Is from her heart within.
Her warm kiss is felicity
That knows no taint of sin.
And when I stir my foot to go,
'Tis leaving love and light
To feel the wind of longing blow
From out the dark of night.

That's the verse I sing last.

Alice


20 Sep 00 - 12:58 AM (#301204)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Callie

Wow - thanks Alice. I've never heard either of those before! Looks like I have more work to do on I song I thought I knew well!!


20 Sep 00 - 01:30 AM (#301214)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Actually, true love makes more sense than dew-love. I think I'll switch to singing "true love" instead.


20 Sep 00 - 10:36 AM (#301357)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Uncle_DaveO

Pete Seeger sang this tune as "When Love is Lord of All", unaccompanied. Goregous!

Dave Oesterreich (DaveO)


20 Sep 00 - 10:44 AM (#301362)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Best unaccompanied. The only way I sing it.


20 Sep 00 - 11:50 AM (#301403)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Peg

thank you so much for these "new" verses! I sing this a cappella, too, and am now considering adding a third verse. A beautiful haunting song which takes both singer and audience to places far away...


20 Sep 00 - 11:57 AM (#301412)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Callie, I should say that I sing it:
"And on that lonely river marge,
She tends his hearth for him"

Clears his hearth doesn't sound/feel as good as tends his hearth.

I'm going to convert that wav file to an mp3, cause it's too big to open as a wav.

Alice


20 Sep 00 - 09:29 PM (#301851)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: The Lighthouse

Tommy Makem does a splendid version - very haunting with the tin whistle and guitar. It's from a 60's album called "Love is Lord of All" and now on the CD called "From the Archives" by Tommy Makem.


21 Sep 00 - 08:19 AM (#302127)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: pastorpest

Irish composer, Herbert Hughes, was the person who married the poem to the aire. Another music/poem wedding of his is Salley Gardens. His mixing and matching of poetry and traditional Irish music is always worth a careful look.

And I agree with those who want the third verse sung! Why mess with great poetry. The version I know is the one including the line about stirring my foot to go.,


21 Sep 00 - 12:22 PM (#302304)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: The Lighthouse

My info on the writer is Joseph Campbell. Never heard of Hughes having anything to do with it. Did he write the music for Sally Gardens? I know it's a Yeats poem.


21 Sep 00 - 12:29 PM (#302311)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Mbo

I though the tune for Sally Gardens was traditional, and the same as another song...Meeting of The Waters, or The Mauvorneen, or something like that...

BTW I like how the Horslips play it on electric guitars & fiddle & accordion.


21 Sep 00 - 12:44 PM (#302321)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Now that the forum search is working again, this discussion of the song is here:LAGAN LOVE QUERY

-------
Subject: RE: LAGAN LOVE QUERY
From: John Moulden
Date: 16-Sep-99 - 07:44 AM
Shop: Love , Lonely River , Longing , Mistress

You may be quite certain that it is the river which flows through Belfast. The song was first published in "Songs of Uladh" <> [Herbert Hughes and Joseph Campbell] published in Belfast by William Mullan and sons and in Dublin by MH Gill, 1904.

Hughes' preface says: "I made this collection while on holiday in North Dun-na-nGall in August of last year." My Lagan Love is on page 32. The note says, "I got this from Proinseas mac Suibhne who played it for me on the fidil. He had it from his father Seaghan mac Suibhne, who learned it from a sapper working on the Ordnance Survey in Tearmann about fifty years ago. It was sung to a ballad called the "Belfast Maid," now forgotten in Cill-mac-nEnain." [This pretension in spelling etc is typical of the Gaelic Revival flavour of this book - it is also embellished with "celtic knots" and fanciful derivations of half uncial script.]

There are four stanzas but sung as five with the repetition of the first one.

The second stanza, whose authenticity is thus placed beyond doubt is:

Her father sails a running-barge 'Twixt Leamh-beag and The Druim; And on the lonely river-marge She elears his hearth for him. When she was only fairy-high Her gentle mother died; But dew-Love keeps her memory Green on the Lagan side.

and the fourth:

Her welcome, like her love for me, Is from her heart within: Her warm kiss is felicity That knows no taint of sin. And, when I stir my foot to go, 'Tis leaving Love and light To feel the wind of longing blow Fromout the dark of night.

I don't have an idea what "elears" means, unless it's a misprint for clears but Lambeg is a village between Lisburn and Belfast and the Drum is the site of a bridge across the river and the canal which was made beside it which eventually diverged from the river and entered Lough Neagh.

There are notes on Leanan-sidhe "fairy mistress and on the crickets of the "crickets' singing stone" [note the apostrophe in "crickets'"] and these will help clear other mysteries made acute by distance. Except for the confusion over "dorring dooring, door-ring" - The book, our best authority in this case of a composed rather than traditionally constructed song, says "dooring" which I take to be a diminutive of "door" used for the sake of scansion!

Is that all?
----------


21 Sep 00 - 01:19 PM (#302353)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: pastorpest

Hubert Hughes did not write the music. This composer was the one who brought the poems and traditional music together.


21 Sep 00 - 03:20 PM (#302450)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,Ooops!

What I meant to request was a midi of the song My Lagan loveĀ­ not a wav. I am trying to learn the tune.

Alice, I was only able to get a portion of the wav you provided. It took forever to load, and then I heard your beautiful voice for a second and then it was lost. : (

Sorry for the mistake.

Thank you, Alice and you all. Would you be willing to resend it as a midi Alice?

Could the midi be listed with the words too on the server. I was able to get the words but not the music. This is a great site if you are trying to learn a song. You can print out the words and save the midi and off you go to learn a new song.

Thanks,

Diana


21 Sep 00 - 05:33 PM (#302562)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Malcolm Douglas

A lot of people post lyrics without tunes; at the moment we're having a bit of a drive to make midis of as many as we can find.  I believe that someone has done Lagan Love; in the first instance it will appear at Alan of Oz's Mudcat Midi Site, which is a sort of staging-post for tunes that haven't made it into the main database yet: you can find it in the "Quick Links" box at the top of this page.  It probably won't appear until the Olympics are over, though!

Malcolm


21 Sep 00 - 08:04 PM (#302682)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

Guest Diana, this song is a little tricky with putting the words together with the tune if you haven't already heard it sung. If you click on the Mudcat logo and go to the CD Now website, you will see that many, including some listed in this thread, have recorded it. Jean Redpath, Mary O'Hara, Charlotte Church, Tommy Makem, John McCormack... listening to a singer will be much easier than listening to the tune and looking at the lyrics. Plus, getting a recording through the Mudcat link helps to support the Mudcat ;-)


22 Sep 00 - 02:11 PM (#303233)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,Minstrel

Mike harding does a lovely version of this song as a tune on acoustic guitar. Quite etereal


24 Aug 05 - 06:32 PM (#1548952)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,darren

i know its a long time since this was first posted but just thought id add that there is a fantastic version of "my lagan love " by Paul Oscar & Monika Abendroth whom i think are iclandic .....lurvlee

https://www.smekkleysa.net/audio/full/Paul%20Oscar%20%26%20Monika%20Abendroth%20-%20My%20lagan%20love.mp3

just copy and paste in browser and enjoy


25 Aug 05 - 07:31 AM (#1549263)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,DB

Surely, the most extraordinary version of this song is from the amazing Irish traditional singer, Margaret Barry. In the recordings of 'Lagan Love', made in the 1950's, she accompanies herself on the tenor banjo; I know of no other performance like it.
Apparently, Maggie Barry was a Traveller and street-singer from Cork who came to the attention of such luminaries as Sean O'Boyle, Alan Lomax and Peter Kennedy in the early 50's. She became quite well known on the festival and folk club circuits of the 50s and 60s often in the company of the fiddle player, Michael Gorman. It is to my great regret that I never got to hear her live.

There are (at least) two CDs available:

'I Sang Through The Fairs', The Alan Lomax Collection, Rounder 11661-1774-2, 1998

'Her Mantle So Green', Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, Topic TSCD474, 1994

Both have 'Lagan Love' on their list of tracks and both are highly recommended.


25 Aug 05 - 12:31 PM (#1549528)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: clueless don

There is an instrumental version, of which I am quite fond, on the "Celtic Twilight 3: Lullabies" collection. It consists of acoustic guitar and what I assume is English Horn.

Don


25 Aug 05 - 12:41 PM (#1549539)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Paul Burke

" And on the lonely river-marge
She clears his hearth for him."

I've always known it as:

Her father sails a running- barge
Twixt Lambeg and The Drum;             (1)
And by the lonely river's marge
She keeps their humble home.
When she was only fairy-high          (2)
Her gentle mother died;
But still she keeps her memory bright
Down by the Lagan's side.

(1) I quite like the association here: the Drum was a lock on the Lagan navigation, it's also the name of a pub. But there's also the Lambeg drum...

(2) Careful not to sing 'fairly high' or 'very high' here.

I posted the first verse in French here a couple of years ago, it seems to translate quite well. Anyone fancy a go at the rest?


17 Oct 05 - 11:58 AM (#1584677)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,mallaidh49@netscape.net

Just a couple of points about possibly confused words:

As I have it "she 'stirs' the bogwood fire".

And, "I through the door in-peep" - i.e. peep in through the door.

I have been singing just the first two verses and then repeating the first for many years. On 16 Oct 2005 at The Membly Hall Hotel in Falmouth, Cornwall, England (the present venue for the autumn leg of The Voice Tour) I heard an Ulsterman (by his accent) sing it with Guitar accompaniment to a slightly different tune from the one I use and with many more verses. This prompted me to consult the Mudcat.

Thanks for all the info.

Mallaidh (aka Bryony McGinty)


17 Oct 05 - 05:04 PM (#1584856)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Mr Red

Dusty Springfield did a lovely version playing guitar as well if my memory serves me well.


18 Oct 05 - 07:38 AM (#1585154)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST,mallaidh49

PS Also, it is the beetle's 'drone' that lulls him to sleep!


18 Oct 05 - 01:38 PM (#1585452)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Matt R

I was going to respond to this, but I see that I already did 5 YEARS AGO haha


02 Feb 07 - 11:18 AM (#1955668)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST

The Dusty Springfield version has been posted on YouTube and I agree with Mr. Red, it is a lovely version.

Dusty Springfield - My Lagan Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMHdyNNdC3g


02 Feb 07 - 11:31 AM (#1955687)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: bubblyrat

I heard an instrumental version of this beautiful,ethereal,haunting,song, some years ago, 1969/70. It was performed by the" Wolftones", but much too fast,with a funny time -signature .Anyone else remember that ??


29 Aug 09 - 01:42 PM (#2711588)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Alice

I posted this to the "dooring" mondegreen thread re My Lagan Love.
It links to another wonderful old recording of this song.
I also notice now that earlier in this old thread, GUEST Mallaidh (aka Bryony McGinty) pointed out that it is "through the door in peep", not dooring.

Alice

---
I just listened to a marvelous old recording of My Lagan Love by Liam Devally,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNyz-i-q_jI


and I heard that phrase in a way I never had before, as

"...through the door in peep"

That makes complete sense to me and I wonder if we've been talking about a mondegreen all along.

Alice

PS, thanks to lorgain2 for emailing a link to me of Liam Devally on youtube.


15 May 10 - 07:04 AM (#2907416)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Connacht Rambler

This from the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland, website:

Herbert Hughes, 1882 - 1937:


"Hughes grew up in Belfast and completed his studies with Charles Wood at the Royal College of Music, London, in 1901. In 1903, he was a founder member of the Irish Folk Song Society of London and co-editor of its Journal. From 1911 to 1932 he was the music critic of the Daily Telegraph. Hughes was an active folk-song collector and collected more than 1,000 melodies. Many of these able arrangements deserve high merits for their impressionist qualities. His most important volumes were the Irish Country Songs which appeared in 1909, 1915, 1934 and 1936. "

I read elsewhere that he lost his job on the Telegraph for a review of a concert that never took place!

Contemporary Music Centre http://www.cmc.ie/


15 May 10 - 12:47 PM (#2907559)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: michaelr

All four verses can be heard in this version.


28 Feb 13 - 09:46 PM (#3484915)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST

Kate Bush did a version with new lyrics.

Nothing beats Margaret Barry's version though, reaches deep.


13 Jan 17 - 11:24 PM (#3832459)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: AmyLove

Some recordings of the song:

Michael O'Duffy

Horslips (concert footage)

Van Morrison and The Chieftains

Leo McCaffrey

Finbar Furey

John McCormack

Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman

Tommy Makem

Mary O'Hara


13 Jan 17 - 11:59 PM (#3832461)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Thompson

I might mention that the "pretension" in Irish spelling "typical of the Gaelic revival" simply meant that people were using the normal spelling in Irish before the horrid spelling reform of the 1950s or so.


14 Jan 17 - 02:44 AM (#3832471)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: Andy7

A beautiful song.

This was the first song I ever performed (unaccompanied) at my local folk club. I totally messed it up, being unable to find the starting note for the second verse after the end of the first. (It's not that easy!)

A few years later, I plucked up the courage to have another go at the same club, and managed to sing it without mishap. Job done!


14 Jan 17 - 07:05 AM (#3832506)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: rich-joy

A beautiful song indeed.
A great favourite of mine since my Best Beloved (now in Spirit), sang it with great beauty, just for me, at the folk club in 1987, when our love was "new" :)
Ah, memories ......

I enjoyed Dusty's version too - thanks for the link.

Rich-Joy
Down Under


27 Jan 22 - 10:23 PM (#4134117)
Subject: RE: My Lagan Love
From: GUEST

Anyone heard the version by Sheila Chandra? It's quite moody and nice.
I like that she changed the lyrics too, to he instead of she, in that the twilight was in his eyes and the night on his hair, etc.

To be honest, I have to say the best version I've ever heard though, is the Margaret Barry rendition with Michael Gorman.