On the way home from Mass today, my son asked over and over to hear the song "about that ship that crashes." This is the song that he meant. We found the CD, and sat in the driveway singing it.
I like the Bertolt Brecht quote that Liam Clancy uses as a preamble to this performance: "With a man's dying breath, he should be prepared to make a fresh start." It reminded me, in fact, of what Christ said in today's Gospel reading: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." This is something I needed particularly to hear.
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11 comments:
+JMJ+
When my little sister was about two years old, she started asking us to play "the song about the nose." We had no idea what she meant, and she only confused us by pointing at her own nose whenever she asked for it.
It took us a few days--and a lucky chance with the radio--to figure out what song she was talking about: the sappy ballad Heaven Knows!
Your young son has better taste than my sister did!
(I've been seeing or hearing verses from today's Gospel reading all day, though everyone seems to have been moved by a different verse.)
Sure, 'twas like the jukebox of the Glenside Pub (corner of E.198th & Bainbridge Avenue) had risen again from the depths of the past.
Oh, Rodak . . . the Glenside Pub is no more. But the pubs just north, over the E. 233rd Street dividing line, are still thriving . . .
Nope. The Glenside had already become a bodega decades ago--even before I left NYC.
Not long ago I found my invitation to the wedding of the Glenside's owner, Hugh Martin McQuade, to his lovely bride, Mary.
Here's another for you, Rodak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkUHzMf2rk4
That was great. Thank you. Do you know the Chietans Tears of Stone album? It is maybe spotty to a purist, but it has a couple of the most beautiful Irish songs I've ever heard, and some of them in Gaelic.
Here is one of the songs on the disk.
We have that album! And I think Jimmy Mó Mhíle Stór is one of the best songs on it.
At my most recent gig, I performed a song in Scots Gaelic that was collected and arranged by an amateur ethnomusicologist in the Hebrides Islands in the early 1900s. I learned tha Scots Gaelic is almost the same as Irish Gaelic.
That is so cool! You've inspired me to rush this post up at my blog. I'm sure you're familiar with it, but this is another opportunity to hear it, along with getting a wee bit of Bronx tale, as well.
Rodak, I love that song. I try to post that same video on my Facebook whenever it seems appropriate: Veteran's Day, the day Liam died, etc. etc. You are making me miss my old neighborhood. I'm going to post this on your blog too.
I had no doubt that you would be very familiar with it. I can't believe that it took me this long to go find it. I have not yet developed a YouTube reflex, I guess. Old dog, new tricks, etc.
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