Sunday, March 16, 2008
“oh boy.. oh boy..”
Via Kieran at Crooked Timber. With one set of muppets warming up backstage.. or already on their worldwide ventures.. Here are the originals.
Pete Baker @ 12:20 PM
The song I learned at school (by Irish Catholic nuns) was “In Derry vale” not “Danny Boy”. It starts:
“In Derry Vale, beside the singing river”
Does anyone know:
1. the rest of the words to Derry Vale
2. Which is the earlier song.Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 12:51 PMWhat? Irish Catholic nuns not supported “And kneel and say an Ave there for me” ?.....imagine that!
Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 01:59 PMAm I the only one surprised that Animal isn’t a Loyalist?
Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 02:09 PMMerrie,
that takes me back too many years!! I think it went, ‘In Derry Vale beside the singing river, Where once we strolled, ah many years ago And culled at noon the golden daffodills, that bloomed in spring and set the world aglow!! That’s all I can recall for now! Did you, by any chance, also sing, ‘On a tree by a river a little tom tit Sang willow tit willow tit willow??Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 03:52 PMMerrie,
Try this site.Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 05:27 PMThx USA. The words are:
In Derry vale, beside the singing river,
so oft I strayed, ah, many years ago,
and culled at morn the golden daffodillies
that came with spring to set the world aglow.
Oh, Derry vale, my thoughts are ever turning
to your broad stream and fairycircled lea,
for your green isles my exiled heart is yearning,
so far away across the sea.
In Derry vale, amid the Foyle’s dark waters,
the salmon leap above the surging weir,
the seabirds call - I still can hear them calling
in night’s long dreams of those so dear.
Oh, tarrying years, fly faster, ever faster,
I long to see the vale belov’d so well,
I long to know that I am not forgotten,
and there at home in peace to dwell.Ulsters my homeland:
I can’t remember, it is so long ago, but I think my mum said “Danny Boy” was the wrong version, that some Brit had reworded the music. To most Irish at the time that was more important than any “Ave”!The words of Derryvale are sad and yearning like a lot of Irish songs I learned as a child (I lived in Australia). I remember learning “Come back to Erin”, and the “Rose of Tralee” and all those other sentimental songs, as well as some Republican ones such as one about the Black and Tans, and the The Wearing of the Green.
My grandmother was homesick for Ireland for over 40 years and when she could at last return she found she was Australian not Irish any more. That’s the thing with migrants, their memories and nostalgia do not keep up with the changing times in their original homeland.
Posted by on Mar 16, 2008 @ 08:05 PM
