Conference tallis::celt

    I only remember the first verse from (dim) memory...
    
    I wish I was in Carrickfergus,
    only for nights in Ballygrand.
    I would swim over the deepest ocean
    only for nights in Ballygrand.
    
    I'll do some diggin' in the McQueeney library to see if I can
    find the lyrics.  Will post as soon as I find 'em.
    
    
    McQ
    

	Hello Gerry, here are some of the rest of the words, from my 
    	unreliable memory. There are many recorded versions, the one that
    	sticks in my is the one by Luke Kelly.
	
	John
		
	But the sea is wide, and I can't swim over
	And neither have I the wings to fly
	I wish I had me a handsome boatman
	To ferry me over, my love and I.
	
	Now in Kilkenny it is recorded
	On marble stone there as black as ink
	With gold and silver <de dum de dum de dum>
	But I'll say no more now till I get a drink
	
	For I'm drunk today, and I'm seldom sober
	A handsome rover from town to town
	Oh but I'm sick now, my days are numbered
	Come all you young men and lay me down
    

    
    
    
    
    
    

    	

}	With gold and silver <de dum de dum de dum>	<I would support her>
}	But I'll say no more now till I get a drink
	        <sing>



    

    It is a sad song but I like it. A guy in work has the tape of Joan
    Baez and when I heard the song I almost went crazy, she sings it
    very well, we played it about 30 times.
    
    Ren�

    
    
    
    
    
    	I wish I was in Carrickfergus,
    	only for nights in Ballygrand.
    	I would swim over the deepest ocean
    	THE DEEPEST OCEAN, FOR MY LOVE TO FIND.
    

	But the sea is wide, and I can't swim over
	And neither have I the wings to fly
	I wish I had me a handsome boatman
	To ferry me over, my love and I.
	

	MY CHILDHOOD DAYS BRING BACK SAD REFLECTIONS 
	OF HAPPY TIMES I SPENT SO LONG AGO
	MY BOYHOOD FRIENDS AND MY OWN REFLECTIONS
	HAVE ALL PASSED ON NOW LIKE THE MELTING SNOW
	
	BUT I'LL SPEND MY DAYS IN ENDLESS ROAMING
	SOFT IS THE GRASS, MY BED IF FREE
	AH, TO BE BACK NOW IN CARRICKFERGUS
	ON THAT LONG ROAD DOWN TO THE SEA


        Now in Kilkenny it is recorded
	On marble stone there, as black as ink
	With gold and silver , I WOULD SUPPORT HER
	But I'll SING no more now till I get a drink

	For I'm drunk today, and I'm seldom sober
	A handsome rover from town to town
	Oh but I'm sick now, my days are numbered
	Come all you young men and lay me down
    


    

    
    Ok, thanks Kev/Bob, looks like I owe a few pints in the Boston area in
    June.
    
    John - I'll catch you in REO on my next trip.
    
    Anyone any idea on the story behind it - I was told that it was a guy
    from Northern Ireland ( Norn Iron ), who went to Scotland as a Potato
    picker and never returned.  In this song  (poem) he was thinking about
    his life and love back home in Carrickfergus.
    
    Sounds possible - anyone any other idea ?
    
    

    His name wouldn't happen to have been Burns, would it, whose decendants
    went on to work for the S.P.S. (Scottish Postal Services). By all
    accounts, his grief expressed in the poem was only the tip of the
    iceberg. 
     

    
    No,  I dinna kin that Rabbie Burns and the said Burns from 'Live free
    or die' state are connected. 
    
    But then if one saw Kev in a kilt,  maybe there is a connection.
    
    I know they are both poets, and indeed legends in this life :+).
    
    Maybe John Donovan would know if 'Rabbie Burns' had Irish ancestors ?
    
    GC
    
    

    
    re .4
    
    Rene,
    
    Has Joan Baez officially recorded it and if so what tape is it on ?.
    
    If its not an official recording, any idea on how a copy could reach
    Valbonne -  maybe a rare bottle of beverage in France like 
    
    
    
    a six pack of rare 1990 Guinness ?
    
GC

    
    
    
    
    		Leave "Cuz'n Rabbie" out of this !!!!    :-)
    
    
    
    
    	Clan Burns
    

	Re .6: That's a common theme; as recently as the late 1940s people
	were brought over from Antrim as cheap seasonal labour to work picking
	potatoes in South West Scotland. Since the second world war, the
	decline in the need for farm workers has seen a lot of the poorer
	people from rural N.I. move across the water to Scotland; In my own
	family most of those still in Ireland are over sixty, with the
	others all moved away to Glasgow or Coatbridge; a lot of it has to
	do with having big families on limited land I suppose.

	On that particular song, he must have been pretty unimaginative if he
	couldn't scrounge the fare from Stranraer to Larne ! Great song
	though; the air to which it is sung is a beautiful tune.
		
	As for Rabbie, well let's just say that Scotland's greatest poet is
	Ewan McColl, no contest ! Burns is one of those names like MacNeill
	or Gallagher that's common to both countries.
		
	John

    
    
    	I always thought Scotland's greatest poet was Billy Connolly !! :-)
    
    
    
    	keVin Byrnes
    

    Hey keVin, I hope you're not going to take a remark like that lying
    down. Where's your pride? Clans have gone to war for less. Outrageous!!!!
    Burns....common, out wi yer sword laddie and have at him, a duel to the
    death....it's the way these things are done.....din ye noo? 
    

    More info on Carrickfergus.
    
    The song is made up of English-language verses embedded in a much
    longer poem in Irish called "A bh� bean-uasail" ("There is a Lady")
    by the Cavan poet Cathal Bu� Mac Giolla Gunna (c 1750).
    

    < Note 752.9 by ULYSSE::COADY >
                                   -< exit >-
    
    I will find out what the name of her latest album is and normally
    I buy all of Joan Baez's stuff. She officially recorded it.
    
    I will tape it from the CD and send it to you soon.
    
    Ren�

Its on Joan Baez' _Speaking_of_Dreams_ and also the Chieftans album with Van
Morrison.

    There's another version by Bryan Ferry (from the album "the bride
    stripped bare" ?).  Sounds good too.