Now playing: Banna's banks / Caroline Brennan
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Banna's banks / Caroline Brennan
Banna's banks / Caroline Brennan
Banna's banks, song (As down by Banna's Banks I strayed one evening in May …)
This 18th-century broadside ballad is more commonly known as “Molly Asthore.” Composition is credited to Wexford politician George Ogle (1739–1814). The protagonist of the song wanders by the shore (Co Kerry), thinking back on an estranged lover.
Caroline Brennan learned this song from her grandmother.
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Bells of Shandon / Ellen Emma Power
Bells of Shandon / Ellen Emma Power
Bells of Shandon, song (With deep affection and recollection, I often think on those Shandon Bells …)
This song was composed by the Rev Francis Mahoney (Father Prout, 1804–1866). In this nostalgic song, the protagonist remembers the sound of the church bells being rung in St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Co Cork.
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The Blackwater side / Caroline Brennan
The Blackwater side / Caroline Brennan
The Blackwater side, song (Ye lads of this nation of low and high station, I pray pay attention and listen to me …)
Caroline Brennan introduces “The Blackwater side” with a story about her grandmother, “Irish Biddy,” and the time that she spent working in the Sweetman Company’s sail loft in Placentia. This was one of the songs that she sang to remember Ireland.
The song tells the story of a couple who court on the banks of the Blackwater. A variant version of “The Blackwater side” was collected by Kenneth Peacock in 1951 and published in Songs of the Newfoundland Outports 2 (1965:503–504).
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The brave volunteer / Henry Campbell
The brave volunteer / Henry Campbell
The brave volunteer, song (One cold stormy night in the month of December …)
The song tells the story of a widow lamenting the loss of her husband, whose ship sank off the shore of Galway. In this version of the song, the protagonist (whose name is Henry) leaves to seek his fortune, but how remains unclear. Another version of the song, recorded on a 19th-century ballad sheet held in the Bodleian Libraries (Bod7845) specifies that Henry has volunteered to fight as a mercenary for a Portuguese king.
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Brennan on the moor / Patsy Judge
Brennan on the moor / Patsy Judge
Brennan on the moor, song (It's of a fearless highwayman the truth to you I'll tell …)
Probably of Irish origin, this broadside ballad tells the story of folk hero and highwayman Willie Brennan, who was tried and hanged in Clonmel in 1804. Some versions of this song place Brennan in the mountains near Limerick; other versions depict Brennan on the highways of North Cork and South Tipperary.
Patsy Judge’s version references the Comeragh Mountains, perhaps a nod to the ancestry of the people of the Cape Shore, whose origins were mainly in Ireland’s southeast.
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The broken-hearted milkman / Tom Murphy
The broken-hearted milkman / Tom Murphy
The broken-hearted milkman, song (I’m a hard-working milkman in grief I’m arrayed …)
Originally published as “Polly Perkins of Paddington Green” during the mid-19th century, this song was composed by Harry Clifton (1832–1872), a London-based music-hall songwriter. The version sung by Tom Murphy replaces the references to the London locality with references to Ireland.
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Dear old Newfoundland / Gerald Campbell
Dear old Newfoundland / Gerald Campbell
Dear old Newfoundland, song (Twas just a year ago today I left my Emerald's Isle …)
Originally recorded by John Barr (also known as Little John Cameron) in 1967 under the title “Tribute to Newfoundland,” this song is an account of the similarities between Ireland and Newfoundland. The melody is similar to that used by Ewan MacColl for his song, “Come my little son.”
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Down by the riverside / Minnie Murphy
Down by the riverside / Minnie Murphy
Down by the riverside, song (When I was young and in my prime my age scarce twenty-one …)
This song tells the tale of a man whose parents force him to marry a woman of higher social status, forsaking the woman he loves. He later murders his wife because he cannot live with his choice. He is sentenced to hang for his crimes.
After Minnie Murphy finished her performance, one of the men present in the room comments that he sometimes heard this song in the lumber camps of western Newfoundland. Little is known about the origins of the song, though the reference to Wexford Gaol suggests a possible southeast Ireland connection. Variants, including that collected by MacEdward Leach from John James of Trepassey, Newfoundland, have been recorded almost exclusively in Newfoundland.
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The girl who slighted me / Gerald Campbell
The girl who slighted me / Gerald Campbell
The girl who slighted me, song (And I'll go down to yonder valley …)
This song tells of an unhappy courtship. After being slighted by his sweetheart, the (male) protagonist of the song curses the girl in question and leaves Ireland for America.
One of the more common variants of this song is known as “Courting is a pleasure,” and Kenneth Peacock published another version in Songs of the Newfoundland Outports 2 under the title “In courtship there lies pleasure” (1965:465–466).
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The hills of Glenswilly / Bernard Nash
The hills of Glenswilly / Bernard Nash
The hills of Glenswilly, song (Attention fellow countrymen come here my native news …)
Written by Michael McGinley of Donegal, this song laments the necessity of leaving Donegal for a foreign land. Song collector Jim Carroll notes that McGinley may have composed the song while he travelled to New Zealand in 1879 aboard the “Invercardill.” The lyrics seem to indicate a political cause for emigration through the references to exile and raising a green flag over the hills of Glenswilly.
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India's burning shore / Tom Murphy & Minnie Murphy
India's burning shore / Tom Murphy & Minnie Murphy
India's burning shore, song (As I strayed beneath those lofty pines on India’s burning shore …)
Also known as the “Irish Patriot,” this song tells the story of a man whose wife and child are killed when he refuses to fight for his landlord’s rebel army. He takes revenge by killing his landlord and thereafter must forever live in exile, though he dreams of returning to Ireland to be buried beside his wife.
The origins of this song are unknown; Robert B Waltz and David G Engle note that it is found predominantly along North America’s eastern seaboard. The song seems to have had some popularity in lumbering camps during the early 20th century.
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The Irish colleen / Jack Mooney
The Irish colleen / Jack Mooney
The Irish colleen, song (I went to a party consisting of four …)
This song describes a party at which four toasts are proposed: a Welsh girl toasts a leek, a Scottish girl toasts a thistle, an English girl toasts a rose, and an Irish girl toasts a shamrock and Ireland.
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Lonely Banna strand / Frankie Nash
Lonely Banna strand / Frankie Nash
Lonely Banna strand, song (Being on a Friday morning all in the month of May ...)
This song tells the story of an incident that took place in the lead-up to Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising. Sir Roger David Casement (1864–1916) attempted to gain German support for a rebellion against British rule. Due to a series of mishaps, the Irish rebels never received the arms that the Germans attempted to supply. Casement was arrested, tried for treason, and executed for his part in the plot.
Aidan O’Hara speculates that Frankie Nash probably learned this song from a Newfoundlander who served alongside an Irishman with nationalist sympathies at the end of the First World War. Many Newfoundlanders served in the British forces.
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The lovely Irish rose / Eta Nash
The lovely Irish rose / Eta Nash
The lovely Irish rose, song (A winding welard winds its way out to a lovely Irish home …)
Composed by Fred Kearney of Carndonagh, Co Donegal, this song was available widely on commercial 78rpm records during the 1930s and ‘40s (McBride 1988:114–15). In more recent years, it was recorded by well-known Newfoundland singers Harry Hibbs (More Harry Hibbs, Arc Sound, 1968) and Eddie Coffey (Live at the Newfoundlander, Country Records, 1978).
Eta Nash learned “The lovely Irish rose” in order to sing it at a school concert.
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Mackenzie's dream / John Joe English
Mackenzie's dream / John Joe English
Mackenzie's dream, song (One night of late I chanced to stray, from a shore so far away ...)
John Joe English learned this song from his uncle, John English. The protagonist of the song, Mackenzie, dreams of all the heroes of Erin standing together against tyranny.
At the end of John Joe’s performance, Aidan O’Hara speculates that the song’s origins might have been in the Young Ireland movement. The song is more widely known as the 19th-century Irish broadside ballad, “McKenna’s Dream.” John Joe sings the song in triple metre, a slowed-down version of the melody for “Suíl, a ghrá.”
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The mountains of Mourne / Frankie Nash & Stephanie Nash
The mountains of Mourne / Frankie Nash & Stephanie Nash
The mountains of Mourne, song (Oh Mary this London's a wonderful sight ...)
William Percy French (1854–1920) of Co. Roscommon wrote the lyrics to this song around 1896 on a postcard that he then sent to music-hall composer William Houston Collison. The song tells the story of an Irishman working away from home in London, recounting both the strange things he sees and his longing to be home.
Newfoundland song scholar Anna Kearney Guigné writes: “The song’s mass appeal may be attributed more to modern media than tradition. The song was popularized by the Australian tenor Peter Dawson (1882–1961)” (2016:274). Dawson’s recordings apparently were in circulation in at least some Newfoundland localities.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Frankie Nash’s passing, his granddaughter, Stephanie Nash, used a field recording of Frankie singing “The Mountains of Mourne” in his kitchen as the basis of her version of the song. Her version, recorded in 2016, overdubs the original field recording.
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Paddy in New York / John Joe English
Paddy in New York / John Joe English
Paddy in New York, song (Of an elderly man I'm going to tell you …)
This comic song tells the story of an Irishman who goes to live in New York. Outraged when a barman overcharges for whiskey, he starts a fight, kills the barman, and is supported by other Irishmen in New York.
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Patrick Reilly / Emma Doyle
Patrick Reilly / Emma Doyle
Patrick Reilly, song (My name is Patrick Reilly and the truth I will make known …)
This ballad relates the story of a certain Patrick Reilly, who plans to emigrate to America to seek his fortune. His sweetheart asks him not to leave, and then accuses him of attempted murder when he persists in his intent. Reilly is charged and sentenced to die. He never sees America.
Variants of this song exist throughout Newfoundland. For example, a version was published by Kenneth Peacock in Songs of the Newfoundland Outports 1 (1965:159–160). Another variant was collected by MacEdward Leach.
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The plains of Easter Snow / James Connors
The plains of Easter Snow / James Connors
The plains of Easter Snow, song (As I roved for recreation beneath the falling dew …)
In this romantic broadside ballad, the protagonist falls in love with a beautiful woman. His proposal ultimately is turned down, and the woman departs. Song collector Jim Carroll suggests a possible explanation for the title and origin of the song:
“ ‘Estersnowe is the name of a townland in Roscommon. Originally the place was known by its Gaelic name Diseart Nuadhan (St. Nuadha's Hermitage) but in the process of adaptation to the English language in Elizabethan times, it became known as Issertnowne. By the nineteenth century the people, when speaking English, called it Estersnowe and rationalised that strange name into Easter Snow. In County Antrim where there is a strong Scots influence, the song is known as Wester Snow.”
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Siúl a ghrá / Ellen Emma Power
Siúl a ghrá / Ellen Emma Power
Siúl a ghrá, song (Oh I'll go up in yonder hill …)
Ellen Emma Power introduces this song as simply, “an Irish Song.” It tells the story of a woman whose lover has gone to France; she is left behind to wait for his unlikely return.
Though the Irish language had died out in Newfoundland by the early 20th century, certain words and phrases persist as evidence of the strong linkages between the two islands. In Ellen Emma Power’s performance, the pronunciation of the Irish words is phonetic only; the meanings of the words have been lost.
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The true lovers' conversation / Henry Campbell
The true lovers' conversation / Henry Campbell
The true lovers' conversation, song (One pleasant evening as pinks and daisies, closed in their bosom a drop of dew …)
This broadside ballad recounts an overheard conversation between two lovers. The woman questions the man’s fidelity and love. Eventually it is revealed that she fancies another who has wealth and fortune. The man rejects her and she retracts her statements, explaining that she was merely testing his love for her.
In Shamrock, Rose and Thistle, song scholar Hugh Shields suggests that the text originates from an anonymous poet of Magheratimpany, Ballynahinch, Co Down (1981:155).
Henry Campbell learned this song from a woman named Kay Lynch—a nurse in Branch—who got it out of a songbook.
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