“You know, there’s an awful lot to be said about this Irish traditional folk music and folklore. Because first of all, you have to learn it. And first you must learn the talk. And then you must learn the grip. And after that, you must learn the truckly-howl. And then you have the whole lot, only just to keep on practicing it.
Because, um, Seamus Ennis knows far more about this than even the old folklore-di-lordies themselves. Because Seamus Ennis once met a little leprechauny truckly-howl at the bottom of the garden gluth, and up the garden path which came up from that, in the limeretty limeretty hill-hockles, before the earthien throne, before the leprechaun era, and long before the Argy-fargy. And that was in the deep ’pon doom, before the Emerald Isle was ever dropped plop! plop! in the water.”
I must be dense. What exactly is the “truckl(e)y howl”?
A lot is pretty much made up and/or mashed together, like “leprashoneen” (or “leprechauny”, as you have it). And that’s from the Irish, so there you get it all. There are some English words that look totally made up. I have no clue what hillhockers (or “hill-hockles”, as you have it) could possibly be. “Argay” (or “argy”, as you have it) is about as made-up as it gets, being neither Irish-ish nor English-ish that I can tell.
Audio transcriptions of what is essentially gibberish will necessarily see some variation. Here’s how Ciarán Carson transcribed it for Last Night’s Fun, ca. 1998:
You know, there’s an awful lot to be said
for this Irish traditional
folk music and folklore, because
first of all
you have to learn it
and first you must learn the Talk
and then you must learn the Grip
and after that you must learn the Truckly-How
and then
you have the whole lot
only just to keep practicing it.
Because
Séamus Ennis knows far more about this
than even the old Folk Lordy-Lordy themselves.
Because Séamus Ennis
once met a little Leprashoneen Truckly-How
at the bottom of the Garden Doth and up the Garden Path
which came up from that,
in the Limeretti-Lumeretti Hillhockers,
before the Earthian Throe,
before the Leprashonerian -
long before the Argay Foray -
and that was in the Deep Pond Doom
before the Emerald Isle was dropped . . .
in the water.
I’m afraid you’ll have to take that up with Ciarán Carson. Considering the distinctly poemish layout, I expect there was some artistic license involved. After all, that’s what I invoke when my work is challenged.
Are there other recordings available? I realise that two have been linked in this thread, but the one at the Session is unclickable for me for some reason, and the other requires me to install a plugin, and I’m not exactly enthused about that. I know I’ve heard the basic recording before, but I can’t seem to locate other sources now. Elusive, it is.
I’ve seen at least one transcription where it was rendered, “…first you must learn the Tok.” Make of that what you will.
The one on joefago.com has had bar-room chat background noises added (it’s ‘only’ the Quicktime plugin). Though it is probably clearer than the well-played cassette from well-played vinyl borrowed from a public library that I have. Has reverb been added to the one on Amazon?
Geez. Reverb and tacked-on bar chat. So much for the Pure Drop.
Oleorezinator: When you see Carson to ask him about the missing vocalisations, while you’re at it you also might as well ask him why he additionally omitted the “ever” between “was” and “dropped”. Knowing this, the line reads as if all of a sudden he was in some kind of hurry.
I’ve just listened to it again, and I hear it clearly as “truckly-how” with no ‘L’ sound on the end. He lingers on the last syllable but there’s clearly no ‘L’ to my ears. I’m listening to what I think is the original version, culled some time ago from Lord knows where, which starts with pipes and has no added reverb or bar-room chat. Clear as day to me.
Of course, I can’t be the only one who hears it like this, since by far and away the most common rendition is “truckly-how”, particularly from Irish sources.
Without hearing the exact recording he refers to I can’t be sure, but I lay odds that the tacked-on background noise would account for any phantom consonants.
Background pub noise, fergodsakes. If that’s an attempt at boosting “cultural authenticity”, it’s as trite and one-dimensional as it was patently unnecessary. The original recording would have taken place in someone’s kitchen, more likely. If it’s authenticity you want, Ennis stands on his own just fine without any such “help”, thank you.
Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll go find something else to gripe about.
OK. I listened again. But first I’ll clarify for Nano that it’s the ‘version’ on joefago.com that has had the background nosie added to go with the accompanying cartoon.
I’ve changed my mind. It’s that he drops the pitch of his voice as the vowel ‘lingers’. He does the same on the same on the ‘sel’ of ‘themselves’, making it more like a dipthong. Less obviously on another couple of vowels. It’s his accent.
I guess the version on Amazon has been ‘cleaned up’ but the original has a more natural sound to it to my ear.
