Lyr Req: Martin Greigh (Taylor Whiteside)

15 Jul 02 - 11:46 PM (#748637)
Subject: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Really enjoy the visual images suggested by lyrics of a song I heard performed by NorthEast Winds. Probably on a tape put out by Kennebunk River Music. Anyone know who wrote the song/ballad. Starts out...My father was a fisherman - likewise my brothers two. A following in his footsteps with a wooden point of view ...

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16 Jul 02 - 07:11 AM (#748782)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: kendall

It was written by Taylor Whiteside of Maine.

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16 Jul 02 - 08:09 AM (#748791)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: Giac

I really like that song! Heard a friend sing it several years ago and haven't heard it since.

A search here doesn't turn it up. I'd like the lyrics, too, if someone can post them.

Mary

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16 Jul 02 - 10:52 AM (#748874)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: GUEST,Fiosrach

but what is Irish about the song?

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16 Jul 02 - 01:21 PM (#749003)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: kendall

It's not Irish, it was recorded by Northeast Winds, an Irish type group.

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16 Jul 02 - 01:22 PM (#749006)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: kendall

There was a thread on this some time ago, I submitted the words, but, don't know if they were ever included in the dt

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16 Jul 02 - 01:44 PM (#749025)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: Giac

I couldn't find it on a search, Kendall, but by scanning a list of your posts, it did turn up:

Martin Greigh thread

Thanks -- Mary

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21 Jul 02 - 12:02 AM (#751869)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: NH Dave

I found a version on The Brandywine Singers, World-Class Folk , Released by Folk Era, on FE1402CD.
This CD was released in 1992, and is probably out of "print" by now. I didn't find it at Amazon.com, so you will have to look elsewheres, or put a "want" on Amazon.
The Bandywine Singers is/was a group consisting of Rick and Ron Shaw, former UNH students, Les Clark, and later, Taylor Whiteside. The song was written by Taylor as earlier noted, and recorded locally, in Portsmouth, NH.

Dave

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21 Jul 02 - 12:19 AM (#751874)
Subject: Lyr Add: MARTIN GREIGH (Taylor Whiteside)
From: NH Dave

Since there are a few differences in this version I've included it.

Dave

MARTIN GREIGH, by Taylor Whiteside

My father was a fisherman, likewise my brothers too.
They follow in his footsteps with a wooden point of view,
While I the black sheep of the lot work safely on the shore.
I keep account of what we've got; find ways to make it more.

Our mother left for Boston town some seven years ago.
We sons receive a letter each Christmas time or so.
And father takes the dory then and round the harbor goes,
Until the weather drives him in, that's when the sorrow shows.

Chorus
Four boats in the harbor, where's the Martin Greigh.
She was due to fetch the Cutty Light, by three o'clock today.
No sail on the horizon, no vessel by the quay.
Four boats in the harbor, where's the Martin Greigh.

Now a man's a master of his heart; as boys we all we were told.
He strains to play the hero's part, a captain brave and bold.
But in the end must pay the toll to feelin's never shown,
Atrapped within this age-old goal he finds himself alone.

Chorus

Now father says that one fine day he'll take the Greigh and go,
To an island far beyond the bay that the coastin' trade don't know;
And there he'll run the mainsail down and anchor by the shore,
And leave behind those fishin' grounds and think of her once more.

Chorus

Repeat Chorus

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21 Jul 02 - 12:46 AM (#751885)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: Sorcha

Just doing an Add for NH Dave's variant in the previous post.

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21 Jul 02 - 11:50 AM (#751967)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: cetmst

Is it the Quoddy Light, or more specifically West Quoddy Light in Lubec Maine which, despite its name is the easternmost lighthouse in the US (there's an East Quoddy Light east of it in New Brunswick)? As I recall from my days in Maine it is pronounced "cuddy" down there.

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22 Jul 02 - 08:03 AM (#752319)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Irish Laments - Martin Greigh
From: NH Dave

Well, considering that Quoddy Head is about as far east as you can go along the coast of Maine, before it becomes the coast of Canada, this seems to be a fair comment, unless you consider any lights on the western end of Attu Island, at the end of the Aleutians.

The International Date Line takes a rigorous jog right about there to keep those last few islands in the same day as the rest of the contiguous 48.

Some of the lights on the coast of the island of Guam, an American territory or protectorate might also come into play here as they are on the other side of the date line from the North American continent, which, in one sense makes them out most eastern point, or as they say, "Where the sun rises on America."

Dave

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