Happy St. Patrick's Day!

             May the road rise up to meet you,

           May the wind be always at your back

           May the sun shine warm upon your face,

          May the rains fall soft upon your fields,

          And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

~Traditional Irish Blessing

                     

May brooks and trees and singing hills

Join in the chorus too,

And every gentle wind that blows

Send happiness to you.

~Traditional Irish Blessing



      Happy St. Patrick's Day, my dear friends! :-) I hope you all have a delightful day doing whatever it is people do on St. Patrick's Day! I like to use this day as an excuse to indulge in my love of all things Irish and I am currently celebrating by listening to Dolores Keane's version of my favorite song, Down by the Salley Gardens.

          Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet

She crossed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet

She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the trees

But I, being young and foolish, and with her could not agree.

In a field down by the river my love and I did stand

And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand

She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs

But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears. 



    I absolutely loooovvvvee Irish and Celtic music, and a lot of my favorite songs are traditional Irish ballads, like this one....

    And this one....

   And this one....

   

    (You may recognize this song from Cranford-- it's the one Jack Marshland sings at the ladies' Christmas party.)

  For the great Gaels of Ireland

Are the men that God made mad,

For all their wars are merry,

And all their songs are sad.

~G.K. Chesterson

       This quote made me giggle, because it's so true! Ireland does have a very tragic history, and a lot of their songs are very sad. This is the most tragical song I have ever heard:

   It's soooooo saaaadddd!!!!! :-(

     And now let's have something a bit brighter. :-)



 Oh dear, that's not much brighter, is it? Hmm. How about this one:

    There, that's better, isn't it? :-)

    I'm not sure if this song is actually Irish, but I love this version sung by Lisa Kelley of Celtic Woman:

     And do I have to say yet again that I adore their dresses? No? Yes, I assumed you already knew. :-P

     I am only part Irish, and the greater part of my heritage is Swedish, but I feel like I'm Irish at heart. At least for today, anyway. Hehee. :-)

  Deep peace of the running waters to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

~Traditional Gaelic Prayer

   I am going to celebrate the day by drinking tea, wearing green, listening to Celtic Woman, and watching Downton Abbey later this evening. :-)



       (Soary, I couldn't resist. :-P Actually, I'm not sure I endorse this: as dashing as Branson is, he can be quite a handful!)


     Have a lovely St. Patrick's Day, my friends! :-)



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Irish Ballads: Down by the Sally Gardens



Good gracious. Another Irish landscape. What else is new?

   Now, I realize that y'all are probably getting tired of my Irish ballads and Irish poems and Irish paraphernalia, but I just discovered this beautiful song today and knew that I could not let it go untouched, it being almost St. Patrick's day and all. Turns out, it is actually a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems in 1889. Apparently Yeats claimed that the poem was "an attempt to reconstruct an old song from three lines imperfectly remembered by an old peasant woman in the village of Ballisodare, Sligo, who often sings them to herself." The old song may have been the ballad "The Rambling Boys of Pleasure." Yeats' original title was "An Old Song Resung". It first appeared under its present title when it was reprinted in Poems in 1895, and the verse was subsequently set to music by Herbert Hughes to the air "The Maids of Mourne Shore" in 1909.
  "Salley" or "sally" is a form of the standard English word sallow, and it is also close in sound to the Irish word saileach, meaning "willow".
 A recording of this song was used during the credits in the 1998 movie Dancing at Lughnasa, which I have seen, but I don't remember the song, so I'm guessing that I didn't stay for the credits. You know when you watch a movie and you don't especially like it or you think it's dull, and then about a year or so later you realize how good it actually is? That was dancing at Lughnasa. At the time I thought it was rather dull and slow, and by the end I felt like nothing really had happened, but now, in hindsight, I think it was perhaps I who was dull! The movie is very sad, very sad, but also very beautiful. (Well, it is set and filmed in Ireland.....go figure.) At any rate, I think I would highly recommend Dancing at Lughnasa, but keep in mind that it is an extremely sad film--even I cried, and I'm really not one to cry during movies; only a few select films (like Meet me in St. Louis, Bright Star, and The Young Victoria. Sometimes Somewhere in Time.  : )

Three of the Mundy sisters: Christina, Agnes, and Rosie.

Dancing at Lughnasa also has a great many splendid actors, including Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, Sophie Thompson, and Catherine McCormack. This is completely unrelated, but there was also an appearance made by Wolfe from Hornlower, which was quite a surprise, if an unpleasant one. He was a ding-dong is this too. When you watch a period drama like this, particularly an older one, you can almost always expect to see at least someone from Hornblower!

So, without any further ado, here are the lyrics to Down by the Sally Gardens.


Down by the sally gardens, my love and I did meet.
She crossed the sally gardens wit little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I was young and foolish, and with her did not agree.

In a field down by the river, my love and I did stand.
And on my leaning shoulder, she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs,
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

Down by the sally gardens, my love and I did meet.
She crossed the sally gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I was young and foolish, and with her did not agree.

Here is a music video of the recording used in the movie, along with one of the very best scenes. I think that the Mundy sisters may have sung the song during the movie, but I can't recall for certain. I'll have to watch it again. And maybe even review it! Wouldn't that be something!

   Very Truly Yours,

                 Emma Jane

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Irish Poems

In view of the fact that St. Patrick's Day is nigh upon us, I thought that perhaps it would be in order to post these two lovely Irish poems I found in my great big poem book (which has proved very useful in finding poems for every occasion.) Also, this is a good excuse to post these gorgeous pictures of the Irish countryside! I declare, the British Isles may have the most  beautiful scenery on earth!
 The first poem is called.......

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
   By W.B. Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake waters lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.


I'm not entirely certain what all of it means, but I think it is very beautiful. To me it sounds like perhaps it is about someone who is tired of the hustle and bustle of his life and is longing to return to a place where he may have some peace-- the lake isle of Innisfree. Maybe?  I don't know. What do you think?

It's such a romantic setting, do not you think?  

                    
The second Irish poem I found, which is now one of my favourite poems, is called......

A Piper
  By Seumas O'Sullivan

A piper in the streets today
Set up, and tuned, and started to play,
and away, away, away on the tide
Of his music we started; on every side
Doors and windows were opened wide,
And men left down their work and came,
And women with petticoats coloured like flame,
And little bare feet that were blue with cold,
Went dancing back to the age of gold,
And all the world went gay, went gay,
For half an hour in the street today.


This one I can comprehend much better; I think it sounds a bit like a Mark Knopfler song, actually! Anyways, those are my two favourite Irish poems of late! I hope you enjoyed them!


  Very Truly Yours,

                   Emma Jane

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Irish Ballads: Danny Boy



Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The summer's gone, and all the roses falling

'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

'Tis I'll be here in sunshine and in shadows

Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so.

But when he come, and all the flowers are dying

If I am dead, as dead I well may be

 You'll come and find the place where I am lying

 And kneel and say an "ave" there for me

 And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me

 And all my grave will warm and sweeter be

  For you will bend and tell me that you love me

 And I will sleep in peace until you come to me.

This is one of my very favourite songs! I'm in a very Irish mood today, and I thought that with St. Patrick's Day fast approaching (even though it's still several weeks away), it would be very fitting to do a post about this very lovely song.

    'Danny Boy' is a ballad written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly and is usually set to the Irish tune of "Londonderry Air". It was first published in 1913, and since then has been recorded by many different artists, including Judy Garland and Johnny Cash (when I saw that, my first thought was, really?)

    I particularly love this a cappela version sung by Celtic Woman:

It just takes your breath away, doesn't is? (I also loooove their dresses!) Celtic Woman is one of my very favourite musical groups and I think their version of this song is just gorgeous.

               Very Truly,

                   Emma Jane

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