22 Jan 98 - 07:41 AM (#19686) Subject: Lyr Add: BLUE TAR ROAD (Liam Weldon) From: Wolfgang Hell In the "Songs about the homeless" thread, Martin Ryan has mentioned Liam Weldon's song "Blue tar road". Below you find my transcription from Weldon's vinyl "Dark horse on the wind". Every time I listen to him singing this fine mixture of traditional and his own songs I wonder why he isn't much better known than he actually is.
Martin, by the way, do you happen to know any Weldon songbook? Some other songs from him are much more difficult for me to understand than "Blue tar road". And please correct my mistakes in the one below. Shouldn't be too many, this time.
BLUE TAR ROAD
1. I am a true-born Irishman,
Hunger, hardship and poverty
2. I came to Dublin City fair
3. Out here in Cherry Orchards
And please God, in his own good time, |
22 Jan 98 - 04:56 PM (#19710) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Martin Ryan Wolfgang Well done! I'm not aware of a songbook of Liam's, but should be able to pick up copies of several of his songs from friends of mine. Liam died about two years ago. A very sad, very musical funeral. As his coffin moved into the crematorium, two old friends of his sang "What's the life of a man"... He made two tapes, as far as I recall, with some songs on both. A fine singer. Regards |
26 Nov 98 - 05:04 PM (#46875) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Brendan Mc Mahon Wolfgang & Martin May I make a few suggestions Re lyrics of 'The Blue Tar Road" by the late Liam Weldon. Please note that these suggestions come from my transcriptions from the same souce as Wolfgang ! Verse 1 line 5 For few men give me camping space, line 8 I must travel 'til the end. Verse 2 line 7 tore down our tents ,uprooted us, Comments welcome!
|
26 Nov 98 - 06:03 PM (#46892) Subject: Lyr Add: BLUE TAR ROAD, etc. (Liam Weldon) From: Antaine The record 'Dark Horse on the Wind' is soon to be re-released. Essential listening. In the meantime here are the transcriptions of the songs on it, which I did for the re-release. Liam's compositions are credited to him. Treat them with care please! Sorry,..... don't have time for the HTML formatting of them all. I'm sure Martin there has more free time on his hands than myself!!!! By the way Martin, I will be in Miltown over the Christmas, so keep me a room in the house!!!!! THE BLUE TAR ROAD (Liam Weldon)
1
Refrain
2
3
Notes :
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Notes :
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
Refrain
3
4
Refrain.
Notes :
1
1
Refrain :
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
VIA EXTASIA (Liam Weldon)
1
2
3
4
Notes :
1
Refrain
2
With my right-fal-dor-ah….
3
With his right-fal-dor-ah …..
4
With his right-fal-dor-ah …..
5
With his right-fal-dor-ah …..
6
7
With no right-fal-dor-ah …..
8
With no right-fal-dor-ah …..
Notes : |
26 Nov 98 - 06:49 PM (#46895) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Martin Ryan. Antaine
Don't know what you're muttering about - ta do HTML comh maith le mo chuid Gaeilge! Look foward to seeing you over New Year. Regards |
26 Nov 98 - 09:52 PM (#46914) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Art Thieme and a happy U.S. Thanksgiving to y'all!!!!!!!!! I'm sure the first (title of thread) song be related to Woody Guthrie's "I'm Blowin' Down The Hot Dusty WOAD"---ie. blue... Art |
27 Nov 98 - 10:33 AM (#46969) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Wolfgang What a nice unexpected Christmas present for me. When I opened the thread I expected what Brendan has posted, corrections to my transcription. But your lyrics file, Antaine, is great. I once have transcribed all of the lyrics on that LP but the known ones and two titles I couldn't understand enough of. Now I can compare and learn. Thanks so much. Questions: what's "fraughan" (My love is a well) and who's Balor (Dark horse). Wolfgang (who strongly recommends to buy the rerelease) |
30 Nov 98 - 10:31 AM (#47336) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Antaine A 'fraughan' is a type of berry, a mulberry I think. The following description of Balor is taken from 'Myth, Legend and Romance' An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition by Dr.Daithí Ó hÓgáin ISBN 0-13-275959-4 Balor/Balar : A Mythical tyrant 'He had a single eye in his forehead, a venomous fiery eye. There were always seven coverings over this eye. One by one Balar removed the coverings. With the first covering the bracken began to wither, with the second the grass became copper-coloured, with the third the woods and timber began to heat, with the fourth smoke came from the trees, with the fifth everything grew red, with the sixth it sparked. With the seventh they were all set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze!' All the best. |
30 Nov 98 - 06:58 PM (#47397) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Martin Ryan. "fraughan" is whortleberry aka bilberry or blaeberry, according to Dineen's Irish dictionary. Regards |
01 Dec 98 - 08:24 PM (#47558) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Antaine Martin , Are you going to Éigse Dhiarmuidín? Where we could have some whortles together? |
02 Dec 98 - 04:41 AM (#47594) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Martin Ryan. Antaine Can't resist this one: "Whortle we do when we have no money?" No Coolea, I'm afraid. Dublin this weekend, a few songs in the Goleen and a start at the Christmas shopping! Slan |
15 Jan 99 - 04:52 PM (#54276) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Micheal "Lysh young byrebroom" Breathnach The transcriptions of Liam`s songs are much appreciated. I have just spent a very pleasant afternoon with Nellie and Shay Weldon listening to recordings made in Liams memory for ballyfermot community radio. I am at present collecting information about Liams life with a view to preparing a short biographical publication. I got to know Liam while working in the library service where Liam was always very supportive of work with children and young people and in promoting traditional music and community arts through the library service, especially through his involvement with the ballyfermot arts festival. I would be grateful to hear from anyone with particular memories or anecdotes about Liam which they would be willing to share for this proposed publication. I was an irregular attender of Liam's sessions in Taylors Hall and Mother Redcaps tavern up to the time of his death, but sadly never heard him singing live as his health was in decline during the years I got to know him best. However, the recordings of "The Blue Tar Road" and "Black Horse on the Wind" made my hair stand on end when I heard them for the first time in the Music Archive. Antaine agus Martin B'fheidir Chifidh me sibh anocht san cumann an goilin! Ath bhlian faoi mhaise dhaoibh! |
24 Apr 99 - 02:08 PM (#73167) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Martin Ryan The CD reissue of Liam's album "Dark Horse on the Wind" (1976) has just been released. Full of strong, honest singing of strong, honest songs - it is essential listening for lovers of the Irish tradition. Insert includes the words of all songs (thanks to Antaine - see earlier in this thread), a lovely biographical introduction by the poet Pearse Hutchinson and Liam's own notes on the songs.
The reissue is by Mulligan Records (LUN CD 006) and shouldn't be too difficult to source. I'm sure Antaine will come up with a way of getting copies to anyone interested! Regards |
07 Feb 02 - 08:07 PM (#644898) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: Stewart I've just listened to a new CD by Susan McKeown - "Lowlands" Green Linnet. On it is one powerful song "Dark Horse on the Wind" "Written by Liam Weldon, it is both an ode to and a lament against the battle for Ireland's freedom. McKeown tackles this one a cappella with stunning results. Her powerful voice is clear yet wavers with the raw emotion this song demands, and she delivers it with such a grace and passion that the listener can be moved at once to tears over the horrors of war and a patriotic rage -- no matter where your place of birth - against those who seek to use and twist that battle for their own purposes." The lyrics are posted earlier in this thread. Liam Weldon is new to me, but what I've read in this thread and elsewhere, I have just ordered his reissue CD "Dark Horse on the Wind." BTW, the other songs on the CD "Lowlands" are also quite good for trad Irish and English songs, and I highly recommend it. Cheers, S. in Seattle |
08 Feb 02 - 03:58 AM (#645142) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: GUEST,Martin Ryan Stewart Good to see this thread resurface. You'll enjoy the CD - fine singing . Regards |
09 Jun 02 - 11:03 AM (#726523) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: GUEST,mikemccann10@hotmail.comI I have on Video , Kevin Mitchell singing his version of The Blue Tar Road ( he was singing it on the Renfrew Ferry around 1991 during an Aly Bain TV programme }. A very talented singer and a great song ! |
04 Jul 04 - 07:49 AM (#1219208) Subject: RE: Blue tar road From: GUEST,Frances Dia duit, I am really enjoying this tread and these powerful songs. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Frances |
17 Feb 11 - 03:50 AM (#3096936) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan Click here for a Youtube video of Liam Weldon's fine singing of Patrick Galvin's "James Connolly". The CD has just been re-released (on a new label?). Regards |
17 Feb 11 - 08:58 AM (#3097097) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan Click here for Liam's "Smuggling the Tin" , again on Youtube. |
17 Feb 11 - 09:04 AM (#3097105) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan The reissue is by Compass Records. Details not yet to hand. Highly recommended. Regards |
17 Feb 11 - 02:15 PM (#3097335) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: Art Thieme This thread makes me want to hit the hot dusty woad (blue) again. (Joe Hickerson, on his first LP for Folk Legacy Records in the USA, included the song 'Woad' -- all about the early American blue dye called that---WOAD. (Just an aside comment!) Art Thieme |
18 Feb 11 - 12:23 PM (#3098053) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan Check out Compass Records for details and samples. Regards |
24 Oct 12 - 08:33 AM (#3425330) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan For a Facebook copy of Liam singing his own "Blue Tar Road" - Click here Regards |
25 Oct 12 - 03:15 AM (#3425722) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan refresh |
02 Dec 12 - 06:23 AM (#3445635) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Mike here's a recent addition to the scant online collection of Liam Weldon's songs, heard here singing 'The Red Knickers' from 1691's recording. Click here Michael |
13 Oct 14 - 05:18 AM (#3668542) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan Two recordings of The Blue Tar Road now at The Goilin Song Project: Click here Regards |
16 Oct 14 - 06:02 PM (#3669770) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Nick Dow Liam Weldon was one of the finest singers I ever met, and a top man. He took me under his wing when I was young and singing in Dublin for the first time. He was kind, and supportive I lent my copy of Dark horse...you know the rest I'll buy the CD asap Nick |
27 Oct 14 - 05:41 PM (#3672493) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan Liam's widow, Nellie, sings "The Town of Castle D'Oliver" at The Góilín Song Project: Click here Regards |
28 Oct 14 - 08:52 PM (#3672731) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Nick Dow Is there a history to be learned about Tin Smuggling. I love the song but i've never fully understood it. |
29 Oct 14 - 04:19 AM (#3672752) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: MartinRyan The song probably dates back to the second World War when smuggling across the land border between British Northern Ireland and The Irish Free State, as the rest of the island was then known, was particularly common. That last verse line should be "blessed our old faith" alright i.e. thank God we're back in the Catholic South! Regards p.s. An aunt of mine was a nun in a convent in Northern Ireland during the war. When visiting her family in Dublin, she smuggled bicycle tyres in one direction and butter in the other, on the train! |
29 Oct 14 - 05:54 AM (#3672758) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Nick Dow Thanks Martin good story, always helps to know what we're singing about. |
29 Oct 14 - 06:34 AM (#3672761) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: Jim Carroll Kerry Traveller, Mikeen McCarthy, was building caravans at the time with his brother-in-law. He said a regular specification was that they should be built with false floors to accommodate smuggled tin. He described how Travellers crossed the border with illicit cloth wrapped around their waists, under their clothes; "pregnant men, women and children, as far as they eye could see!!" Jim Carroll |
18 Apr 20 - 06:17 PM (#4046910) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: Joe Offer Refresh - lots of good stuff to explore here.. |
22 Nov 21 - 04:56 PM (#4127010) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: Joe Offer Joe - separate and label songs in the single post above |
05 Sep 22 - 07:23 PM (#4152089) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: FreddyHeadey 2022 - Liverpool Sun 23 and Mon 24 Oct film : Dark Horse On The Wind (Dir. Myles O’Reilly, Ireland, 2022, 90 mins). A documentary on the life and songs of the late traditional ballad singer Liam Weldon, the film comprises recently discovered archive footage; stories from family, friends and admirers and features interviews and performances from Radie Peat (Lankum), Damien Dempsey, Lisa O’Neill, Daoiri Farrell and others. The Fashion Hub (at The Tapestry) 12-14 Gildart Street Liverpool L3 8ET more: https://www.liverpoolirishfestival.com/events/dark-horse-on-the-wind/ |
06 Sep 22 - 07:56 AM (#4152130) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Peter Laban A must see film if you are into that sort of thing. I saw it earlier this summer. Nellie Weldon and some family members were there as well as the producers and many singers who sing after. A memorable afternoon. I started a thread on it at the time but can't bring that up now with the search function just returning errors. |
06 Sep 22 - 08:09 AM (#4152131) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Blue Tar Road & other songs (Liam Weldon) From: GUEST,Peter Laban Dark Horse on the Wind - trailer |