Irish Fireside - Travel in Ireland

Episode Notes:

We share a moment from a session at Grace’s in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary.

Anyone who followed our blog this summer knows we enjoyed a lot of great music. One of our favorite sessions was held at Grace’s on Monday nights. We thought we’d share a moment when Roche, a Grace’s regular, sings Eamonn a’ Chnuic, which translates to Ned of the Hill.

The song tells the story of a Tipperary man named Edmond (Ned) Ryan, an Irish Earl displaced by Cromwell. His outlaw reputation began when he killed a tax collector over a confiscated cow belonging to an old woman. He was later killed by fellow Irishman for reward money.

This movie was shot on my digital camera, so I was surprised to discover that the footage and sound was decent enough to include on the podcast.

You’ll get to see Liam singing in Irish with Roche. Tony on Fiddle, Theresa on tin whistle and Kathleen on piano. Our friends Breda, Tilly and Liza are also there...and several other folks who stuck around for the end of the session. Here’s the TravelBlog entry from that evening.

Enjoy...here are the words of the song in Irish and English.

EAMONN A’ CHNUIC

Ce-h-é sin amuigh

Go bhfuil faor ar a ghuth

A' reaba mo dhorais dúnta?"

"Mise Eamonn a' Chnuic

Tá báidhte fuar fluich

O shior-shúil sléibhte is gleannta"

"A lao ghil's a chuid

Cad do dhéannfainnse duit

Mara gcuirfinn ort béinn dom ghúna?

'S go mbeidh púdar dubh

Is go mbeimis araon muchta"

"Is fada mise amuigh

Faoi sneachta is faoi shioc

Is gan dánacht agam ar éinne

Mo bhranar gan cur

Mo sheisreach gar sgur

Is gan iad agam ar aon chor

Nil cairde agam

(Is danaid liom san)

Do ghlacfadh mé moch na déanach

Is go gcaithear mé dul

Thar farraige soir

O's ann na fúil mo ghaolta

NED OF THE HILL

"Oh who is without

That with passionate shout

Keeps beating my bolted door?"

"I am Ned of the Hill

Forspent wet and chill

From long trudging marsh and moor"

"My love, fond and true

What else could I do

But shield you from wind and from weather?

When the shots fall like hail

They us both shall assail

And mayhap we shall die together."

"Through forest and through snow

Tired and hunted I go

In fear both from friend and from neighbor

My horses run wild

My acres untilled

And they all of them lost to my labor

But it grieves me far more

Than the loss of my store

That there's none who would shield me from danger

So my fate it must be

To fare eastward o'er sea

And languish amid the stranger"