“Heather Island” - a Highland lament. Very rare, but you can find it on “Tannahill Weavers - Greatest Hits”. Unbelievably stunning piece.
Oh, and of course “Mna na hEireann”.
Nick
The water is wide
Down by the Sally Gardens
The first ballad I learned to sing was The Great Selkie, which I learned from a Joan Baez album. It is very haunting and beautiful, though I believe the melody is modern and not trad. I just tried it on the whistle and it is very easy, starting on the A(it’s in the dorian mode, so the G is natural). Another of my favorite ballads is a version of the Sweet William ballads, called True Sailor Lad. This tune was collected from a black American living in B.C., Canada, and has blues influences in the melody. There are hundreds of wonderful ballads, in many different versions, British, Scottish, American, Scandinavian, and probably many more, so you may be embarking on a very long research project indeed.
On 2002-09-27 12:38, the_instrument_player wrote:
Blackhawk–
I tried your link and it didn’t work.
Well, I’m stumped. I can get to it on my puter but even though the address is identical, I can’t get to it thru the link either. Try this: do a web search for Mick’s Virtual Whistle, or add The Sound Files to that search if it doesn’t get you there with the first search. It’s a cool site, lots of sound clips as well as notation.
Well I had to drag out the old Steeleye Span albums to get the following list of favorites
False Knight on the Road- a battle of wits with the devil
Female Drummer- since I’m one too
Edwin
Long A Growin
Thomas the Rhymer
Gone to America
17(or sometimes 16 depending on the version)next Sunday
My Johnnie Was A Shoemaker
Twa Corbies( so macabre you’ve just gotta love it)
Black Jack Davy
Edward
Blackleg Miner(since I come from a coalmining family it’s great-down with all scabs!)
Skewball/Stewball- good tale of a horserace
Spotted Cow
Royal Forester- she loses her maidenhead to a fellow of royal blood(she thinks)
King Henry- this one’s got everything-
Saucy Sailor- again the girl gets fooled
I’ve gotta throw in , from old time tunes,
Pretty Polly/Knoxville Girl/Down in the Willow Garden. Different tunes but same story
guy kills girl
you can get tons of these on the Child site-www.childballads.com
A lot of my favorites have been already mentioned but two that have not , probably since they are “modern” are
Heavy Horses by Jethro Tull
and my all time favorite, can’t be beat-
The Last Trip Home by Battlefield Band. This is just the greatest song. Anyone who has not heard it needs to. The writer and singer, Davy Stone, died a while back and this tune was included in his funeral. Since it talks about the greatness of “the muckel horses” I guess it qualifies as a muckel song? I don’t know.I do know that the muckel horses are the “great” or draft horses, and I’ve got a weakness for those.
Wanted to add another one. It’s called “El Testament d’Amelia”.
http://www.xtec.es/rtee/europa/205es/partitura_eng.htm
Not Irish, but works well with a whistle. Now would someone whose Spanish is better than my long forgotten year of Spanish classes take a look and confirm that its the lament that I think it is?
And while I think of it, there’s “The Unquiet Grave”.
Lyric: http://www.contemplator.com/folk2/unquiet.html
[ This Message was edited by: Chuck_Clark on 2002-09-28 00:28 ]
I must mention the oldest known and quite possibly the best Gaelic lament: Griogal Cridhe. (First sounded in 1570, according to some.) A classic song of parting in the grand tradition. The only version I have is by Mac-talla and it is absolutley stunning. My late mother would have loved it and I’d have played it at her funeral if I’d had it then. Check out the only Mac-talla album or the Rough guide to Scottish (Folk, I think?)
Now a good short cut to some of the best American ballads—and an audible link to the old European and African worlds—is the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music. You’ll find a few of the ballads mentioned by others here in that place.
Finally, not to be missed is Reynardine—the great song of the seduction of the young and innocent by the old(er) and more worldy. Some say it’s a song about vampires but Wombat isn’t convinced. Much more likely vampire myths are a variant on the more general suave older guy seduces nubile maiden theme. But don’t take Wombat’s word for it; just ask Little Red Riding Hood.
The Spailpin’s Lament is very moving. Final track of Laurence Nugent’s first CD (Traditional Irish music on flute and tin-whistle)
BTW, what’s a spailpin? My dictionary doesn’t have it…
Carol
Spalpeen (n) : A wanderer. A term of contempt for a man, often used without contempt; [from] spailpin, a worthless fellow, a migratory labourer. How worthless.
If not named above (my Gaelic is weak to non-existent), Lament for Owen Rowe (Caoineadh Eoghain Rua) and Farewell to Glasgow, the latter of which I first heard on the CD “When Junipers Sleep” by Seamus Eagan.
Tom D.