Carrickfergus--arr. by Sean Ivory скачать в хорошем качестве

Carrickfergus--arr. by Sean Ivory

An Irish Folk Song I wish I was in Carrickfergus. Only for nights in Ballygrant, I would swim over the deepest ocean, Only for nights in Ballygrant. But the sea is wide And I can’t swim over; Nor have I the wings to fly. If I could find me a handsome boatsman* To ferry me over to my love to die. Now in Kilkenny they have reported Marble stones there as black as night. With gold and silver I would transport them To the bonny homeland that was my delight. Though I’m here today, I’ll be gone tomorrow – An endless rover from town to town. Oh I’ve grown old now, my days are over. Come all you young lads and lay me down. I wish I was in Carrickfergus . . . . *In this context, “handsome” means “skillful.” This beautiful Irish folk song is at the same time a love song and an expression of longing to return to one’s homeland, as the speaker is “an endless rover from town to town” and longs to return home. The melody has been traced back to the 18th century, originating most likely from County Clare or County Limerick. The song was popularized in the mid-20th century when it was published in 1965 by the playwright, songwriter, and folk singer Dominic Behan, who said that he learned the song from Peter O’Toole. The song has been recorded by many performers, such as Joan Baez, the Chieftains and Van Morrison, and Bryn Terfel, to name just a few, and it is also frequently performed at folk music festivals. Carrickfergus is a large town on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, about 11 miles east of Belfast. Carrickfergus is also one of the oldest towns in Ireland, and it far pre-dates the city of Belfast. Various theories have emerged, though, regarding some of the somewhat confusing references in the song, but it seems to tell of an Irish wanderer who is pining for the town of Carrickfergus and for his lost sweetheart. Kilkenny is located in the south of Ireland, and nearby it are the Ballingarry coal mines, so in this case, the marble stones that are “as black as night” might be a reference to coal. Another more likely theory is that “Kilkenny” is a mistaken reference to “Kilmeny,” which is located to the north of Carrickfergus on the Scottish island of Islay. The island has a Ballygrant village (in Kilmeny parish), where during the 18th and 19th centuries there were lead and silver mines, and Irishmen voyaged to work in these mines. Marble was also quarried there, which provided Kilmeny churchyard’s black marble headstones. One possibility regarding the meaning of the text is that the wanderer’s beloved has died (possibly in or near “Ballygrant”) and he would like to transport “marble stones” from Ballygrant to be used as their headstones in Carrickfergus, where they can be buried together in the homeland that he loves. Nevertheless, Sean Ivory’s arrangement of this Irish folk song, with its beautiful piano accompaniment, very effectively captures this poignant expression of love for one’s homeland and the desire to be united with those whom we love.