planxty

As I Roved Out (1)

/ David Wood / Leave a comment

As Christy Moore explains in the opening of the video, this version of As I Roved Out comes from the singing one of the last of the traveling singers, John Reilly.

And who are you, me pretty fair maid
And who are you, me honey? (repeat)
She answered me quite modestly, “I am me mother’s darling.”

Chorus:
With me too-ry-ay
Fol-de-diddle-day
Di-re fol-de-diddle
Dai-rie oh.

And will you come to me mother’s house,
When the sun is shining clearly ( repeat )
I’ll open the door and I’ll let you in
And divil ‘o one would hear us.

So I went to her house in the middle of the night
When the moon was shining clearly ( repeat )
Shc opened the door and she let me in
And divil the one did hear us.

Continue reading →

Cliffs of Dooneen

/ David Wood / Leave a comment

A great live performance of this classical made famous by Plantxty. A little background acording to WikiPedia:

The late Liam Buckley who was born in the cottage immediately adjacent to the Cliffs of Dooneen has stated the poem was penned by Jack McAuliffe who had travelled from Lixnaw to Beale to visit his sister. Jack had spent time with locals in the fields above and shore below the cliffs. He then visited Bill and Nell Buckley’s cottage, known as “99” a few hundred metres away - for tea and scones. Liam was told by his mother (Jack’s host) that the poem was written at the kitchen window of the cottage. Liam says the poem was put to music years later by a local musician. Liam did not know the date the poem was written but he remembers it from the 1930s.

Cliffs of Dooneen

You may travel far far from your own native home
Far away oer the mountains far away oer the foam
But of all the fine places that I’ve ever seen,
There’s none to compare with The Cliffs of Dooneen

Take a view oer the water fine sights you’ll see there
You’ll see the high rocky slopes on the West coast of Clare
The towns of Kilrush and Kilkee can be seen
From the high rocky slopes at The Cliffs of Dooneen

Continue reading →

Raggle Taggle Gypsy

/ David Wood / 1 Comment

Here is some great old footage of the super group Planxty performing live at the National Stadium, Dublin in 1973.

Raggle Taggle Gypsy

There were three auld gypsies came to our hall door.
They came brave and boldly-o.
And one sang high and the other sang low
And the other sang a raggle taggle gypsy-o.

It was upstairs, downstairs the lady went,
Put on her suit of leather-o,
And it was the cry all around her door;
“She’s away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o”

It was late that night when the lord came in,
Enquiring for his lady-o,
And the servant girl’s reply to him was;
“She’s away with the raggle taggle gypsy-o”

Continue reading →