Lyr ADD: Kilnamartyra Exile

08 Dec 00 - 08:09 AM (#353576)
Subject: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Hi, who knows the lyrics and the "story" of this song? Thank you for every help. C.U. erdmann

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08 Dec 00 - 08:25 AM (#353583)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: Patrish(inactive)

click here
I think this is it
Patrish

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https://web.archive.org/web/20030514054529/http://www.iol.ie/~sweeneyd/culture/music/anthem.htm

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08 Dec 00 - 06:37 PM (#353923)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: harpmolly

Niamh Parsons also does a lovely version on her album "Blackbirds and Thrushes."

Moll

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09 Dec 00 - 02:04 PM (#354091)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: Noreen

I KNOW this has come up in a thread before because I've replied to it- but with the Supersearch playing 'hard to get' I can't find it. (I know it was mis-spelled in the thread title...)

It was also mentioned in a thread called "songs you wish would never end" which I can't call up either.

Here is a review of the lovely Niamh's recording of it, since that seems to be all I can find for now.

Noreen

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28 Jul 02 - 08:27 PM (#756107)
Subject: Lyr Add: KILNAMARTYRA EXILE / CILL NA MARTRA EXILE
From: Jim Dixon

Copied from http://www.iol.ie/~sweeneyd/culture/music/anthem.htm

THE KILNAMARTYRA EXILE / CILL NA MARTRA EXILE
(Written by Johnny Browne and often sung by Seán Ó Síocháin on radio and on other occasions. The melody is the famous Cath Céim an Fhia.)

I am a lonely exile, that has left his own dear nation,
To seek a situation in a land across the foam;
I sailed across the ocean wide, through hardships and through dangers,
And for years I've been a stranger, from my own dear Irish home.
Where once I lived contentedly, the friends I loved surrounded me.
Care nor grief ne'er troubled me, nor made my heart feel sore,
But now my days are over and I'm parted from my country,
And Cill na Martra's homely face, my eyes shall see no more of.

It was there my heart felt happy, until I took the notion
To sail across the ocean, from the Isle that gave me birth;
Sorrows dark and dismal clouds ne'er cast their shadows o'er me,
For I knew of pleasure only while stood on Irish earth.
Love of money tempted me, far from my cabin home to flee,
To go across the raging sea, in search of golden store;
I sailed away from Erin, bound for the land of liberty,
And blade my friends in Ireland adieu for ever more.

Twelve long and weary winters have come and have departed
Since I sailed across the ocean from where my father lies,
But still this loving heart of mine is ever fondly yearning,
For the home that I was born in and where I long to die.
The friends that once delighted me, in fancy's dreams, I still can see,
Around the cabin fire with me, when our daily toil was o'er,
The songs and merry voices come rushing to my memory,
In my heart I'm sadly thinking, I shall never see them more.

I have travelled through Columbia's shores, all toil and danger scorning,
To the farthest northern border and westward to the deep;
The broad extended cotton fields, and plains of Alabama,
The mines of lone Montana and Rockies wild and steep.
I hunted for prosperity but still it has eluded me,
Black misfortune followed me, no matter where I roamed,
And often in my anguish, I cursed the fate that parted me,
From the comrades of my boyhood and my own dear Irish home.

Sweet boyhood recollections, you will ever fondly bind me
To my friends I left behind me, far o'er the raging foam;
And then dear Cill na Martra, where one time I resided,
'Tis sad I am divided by the ocean wide from thee.
Age is overtaking me and youth is fast forsaking me,
The friends that once surrounded me, perhaps I'll see no more,
Until my days are over and death has come and taken me,
I fondly will remember thee dear land that I adore.

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29 Jul 02 - 06:43 AM (#756281)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: ard mhacha

Dolores Keane`s singing of this song is masterclass. Ard Mhacha.

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29 Jul 02 - 07:15 AM (#756286)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: GUEST,MCP

The threads Noreen referred to are:

    Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
  
    Songs you wish would never end
  

The first has the words, the second a link (possibly to the site quoted above - I didn't take enough notice).

Mick

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29 Jul 02 - 07:21 AM (#756289)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: GUEST,MCP

Ignore my first link above - it's just me being silly (this thread!)

Mick

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30 Jul 02 - 06:55 AM (#756844)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: GUEST,Mikey joe

Just as a point of interest Kilnamartyra known as Cill na Martra is in the Muskerry Gaeltacht in Cork near the towns of Macroom and Baile Mhuirne. The name of the tune Cath Céim an Fhia is a reference to the Pass at Céim an Fhia on the way to Ballingeary.

slán

Mj

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19 Feb 23 - 05:33 PM (#4165576)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kilnamartyra Exile
From: Felipa

I've heard that Johnny Brown, who wrote the Kilnamartyra Exile lyrics, had joined the British Army when he was young and that he survived the Battle of the Somme. When he returned from WW1 to Ireland, Brown never left Ireland again. He eventually became a John of God lay brother.

The author of Cath Céim an Fhia is Máire Bhui ni Laoghaire https://www.dib.ie/biography/ni-laoghaire-maire-bhui-a6189

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