Thursday, March 17, 2011

Carrickfergus


In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a day when everyone likes to think they are Irish, I thought it appropriate to share the lyrics to a gentle Irish song, "Carrickfergus."  When my husband I traveled there many, many years ago we were having dinner in the town of Listowel and he was mistaken for a native Irishman a number of times.  Men would walk up to him and start speaking Gaelic.  They were surprised and sometimes frustrated that he could only speak English.  It still makes me laugh when I think of the expression on both of their faces as they tried to communicate with each other.

Carrickfergus was played at President John F. Kennedy's funeral and HBO has made it popular again for its use in the recent series, "Boardwalk Empire."

Carrickfergus (Traditional)

I wish I was in Carrickfergus
Only for nights in Ballygrand
I would swim over the deepest ocean
Only for nights in Ballygrand
But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over
And neither have I the wings to fly
If I could find me a handly boatman
To ferry me over my love and I
My childhood days bring back sad reflections
Of happy time there spent so long ago
My boyhood friends and my own relations
Have all passed on now like the melting snow
So I'll spend my days in this endless roving
Soft is the grass and shore my bed is free
But to be home now in Carrickfergus
On the long road down to the salty sea

And in Kilkenny it is reported
On marble stone there as black as ink
With gold and silver I would support her
But I'll sing no more now till I get a drink
For I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober
The handsome rover from town to town
Ah but I am sick now my days are numbered
Come all me young men and lay me down
Come all me young men and lay me down

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