I had it in mind to sing “Easy and Slow” at one of these Folk nights, and I thought I’d see what the internetweb thought the words were. At home there is an old copy of Tommy Makem and the Clancy’s Songbook, with the cover torn off. This one has “'Twas down by Christchurch, I first met with Annie… …We went down by James Street, and down by the Liffey… Around by Church street, and there in a jiffy, my arms were around her, beyond in the park.”
There were some interesting words on the net… “… down by the Levee…” for instance…
Likely the Clancys changed the words for the locality where they were performing. That’s fair enough.
But I thought I’d take a look at a map of Dublin - I’ve only been in Dublin about half-a-dozen times and my memory is a faulty organ at best - just to see where the places might be.
There’s Christchurch cathedral, yes. There’s Church Street, and it goes up to Constitution Hill, which would be my choice for a Park. Where’s James Street? Crikey, it’s miles away! Hold on, there’s Dame Street, just down from the Cathedral. Could that be it?
So my observation would be that it should be “…Christchurch… …Dame Street… …Liffey… Church street.”
Chiff & Fipplers have any comment? Would you sing it for your own locality?
Geez, something messed up in a folk song, as though there might have been different versions over the years? Never heard of it.
Chris Caswell and Danny Carnahan do a wonderful version of that song – after it they tack on a waltz called “Planxty Safaigh,” which I’ve been meaning to learn.
Most of the internet lyrics sites get their lyrics by people who submit them. They don’t always make sure everything is correct, and quite often you’ll see citations at the bottom where so-and-so is thanked for fixing something wrong with the original submission. I have no idea if that’s the case here…I will say that “levy” and “jiffy” really don’t seem to fit. Liffey seems the more likely choice, and perhaps someone who isn’t familiar with the layout of Dublin mistakenly thought it was levy.
Dub would know, of course…but he’s too busy getting redecorated right now
I have heard various versions with different streets. I like Peter Laban’s (Dubliners) version which seems more direct. On the other hand it doesn’t do to be too accurate about these things. (“We wuz under that tree there!”)
