RIP, Tommy Makem.

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2007/0802/makemt.html

Let's not have a sniffle/Let's have a bloody good cry.
Slán a chur le duine.

 

Can't speak a lick of Gaelic, but I offer my condolences.

 

My father will NOT take this well.....he was a big Makem fan.

I'll raise a glass to you Tommy tonight!

 

And Ashe, Tommy would have liked it if you put some Jemison's in that glass.

 

"Four Green Fields" is going to be on a lot of playlists tonight.

 

From my favorite Makem/Clancy Brothers collaboration:

"There is never a one of all your dead more bravely fell in fray
Than he who marches to his fate in Toomebridge town today
True to the last, true to the last he treads the upwards way
And young Roddy McCorley goes to die on the bridge of Toome today."

 

See her drinkin' sixteen pints at Pat Joe Murphy's
And when the barman says it's time to go
The answers that she gives are not in Gaelic
But a language that the clergy do not know.

Time to go, Tommy--RIP

 

My absolute favourite is "Mingulay Boat Song". Unbelievable beautiful when sung by the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

 

FB’s politics couldn’t be further than mine, but based on his comments on music threads, I know I could enjoy a pint with him at any pub with a good juke box.

RIP Tomm Makem


Four Green Fields

What did I have, said the fine old woman
What did I have, this proud old woman did say
I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, who fought to save my jewels
They fought and they died, and that was my grief said she

Long time ago, said the fine old woman
Long time ago, this proud old woman did say
There was war and death, plundering and pillage
My children starved, by mountain, valley and sea
And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens
My four green fields ran red with their blood, said she

What have I now, said the fine old woman
What have I now, this proud old woman did say
I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage
In stranger's hands, that tried to take it from me
But my sons had sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field will bloom once again said she

 

Back atcha, newb'. You buy the first one.
I know AP is staffed by underaged lemurs, but this line about "four Green Fields" I have to share. According to the official Makem obit, FGF is about "a woman whose sons died trying to prevent strangers from taking her fields."
Ah, not really, no.

 

Someone should have caught that error, Fenian. In contrast, NPR's obit mentioned that song's political meaning and even played a few bars.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12453871

When I was a little kid, "Finnegan's Wake" as performed by Makem, et al., made my spirit race and made me laugh just as the Ramones would ten years later. And their version of "The Parting Glass" remains the gold standard, IMO.

Bail ó Dhia ort...slán leat.

 

"Red Is The Rose," was our wedding song.