The Foggy Dew This song was written by Canon Charles O’Neill (1887-1963), a parish priest of Kilcoo and later Newcastle, County Down, sometime after 1919.[2][3] The music is from a manuscript that was in possession of Kathleen Dallat of Ballycastle. That manuscript gives Carl Hardebeck as the arranger.[4] It is the same air as the traditional love song The Moorlough Shore. This song chronicles the Easter Uprising of 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British, as so many young men were doing in World War I. The Foggy Dew needs to be seen against the political background in Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising and World War I. As Keith Jeffery, Professor of Modern History at the University of Ulster, pointed out,[5] approximately 210,000 Irishmen joined up and served in the British forces during the war. This created mixed feelings for many Irish people, particularly for those with nationalist sympathies. While they broadly supported the British war effort, they also felt that one of the moral justifications for the war, the freedom of small nations like Belgium and Serbia, should also be applied to Ireland, which at that time was under British rule. In 1916, a radical group of Irish separatists led by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse decided to take advantage of the fact that Britain was pre-occupied by the war and stage a rebellion. In what became known as the Easter Rising, the rebels seized some of the major buildings in Dublin including the General Post Office. The rebellion was quickly put down by British forces but the rebellion and, perhaps more importantly, the execution of the leaders that followed, marked a turning point for many Irish people. Some had opposed the action of the rebels but, as Prof Jeffery points out,[6] the public revulsion at the executions added to the growing sense of alienation from the British Government. Canon ONeill was reflecting this sense of alienation when he wrote The Foggy Dew. In 1919, he[7] attended the first sitting of the new Irish Parliament, known as the Dail. The names of the elected members were called out, but many were absent. Their names were answered by the reply faoi ghlas ag na Gaill which means locked up by the foreigner. It had a profound effect on ONeill and some time after this he wrote the Foggy Dew. The song tells the story of the Easter Rising but more importantly, it tries to reflect the thoughts of many Irish nationalists at the time who had come to believe that the Irishmen who fought for Britain during the war should have stayed home and fought for Irish independence instead. ONeill sums up this feeling in the lines: ‘Twas far better to die ‘neath an Irish sky, Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar. Lyrics As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by No pipe did hum, no battle drum did sound its loud tattoo But the Angelus Bell oer the Liffeys swell rang out in the foggy dew Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war Twas better to die neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-El-Bar And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came hurrying through While Britannias Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew Oh the night fell black, and the rifles crack made perfidious Albion reel In the leaden rain, seven tongues of flame did shine oer the lines of steel By each shining blade a prayer was said, that to Ireland her sons be true But when morning broke, still the war flag shook out its folds in the foggy dew Twas England bade our wild geese go, that small nations might be free; Their lonely graves are by Suvlas waves or the fringe of the great North Sea. Oh, had they died by Pearses side or fought with Cathal Brugha* Their graves wed keep where the Fenians sleep, neath the shroud of the foggy dew. Oh the bravest fell, and the Requiem bell rang mournfully and clear For those who died that Eastertide in the spring time of the year While the world did gaze, with deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few, Who bore the fight that freedoms light might shine through the foggy dew As back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more But to and fro in my dreams I go and I kneel and pray for you, For slavery fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew. *One version mentions Valera true, another leader in 1916 and later Taoiseach and, subsequently, President of Ireland. Recording artists The song (also sometimes known as Down the Glen) has been performed and recorded by most well-known Irish folk groups, including The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Dubliners, The Chieftains, Shane MacGowan, the Wolfe Tones, the Young Dubliners among others. Sinéad OConnor provided the vocals for a mournful version of the song on the Chieftains 1995 collaboration album The Long Black Veil which was voted Best Duet by BBC Radio 6 Music. This version is also played before every concert by Dropkick Murphys. The Italian Epic Metal band Wotan in their second studio album Epos. Alan Stivell on the Olympia live album (1972), and the Again album (1993) (including Shane MacGowans backing vocals). The song Livin in America by the Celtic rock band Black 47 is played and sung to the tune of the Foggy Dew. Serbian band Orthodox Celts on their second album The Celts Strike Again. Houston-based Celtic rock band Blaggards on their 2005 album Standards. Croatian band Belfast Food on Live in Rijeka. German Celtic metal band Suidakra on the album Lays From Afar (1999) as the album closer. It features only the first verse. Alaska based Celtic rock band Fire on McGinnis covered it on their debut album Fire on McGinnis (2012). The Screaming Orphans on their album Sliabh Liag (2013). Tartanic on their album Uncivilized (2008). Pete Seeger recorded this song with his own lyrics, calling it Over the Hills. Shannon - Celtic-folk band, Poland. Primordial on the sampler One and All, Together, for Home (2014). ~ Wikipedia https://m.youtube/watch?v=A9MRbek0JXk
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 07:08:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015