There was a time when human beings had very little to worry about, though if you ask the Irish they'll be more than happy to tell you that 1500 to 1900 was a busy time for them. The specifics of their struggle with England are content for another day, but right now we're going to cover to old Irish song: Star of the County Down.The song was written by Cathal McGarvey sometime in the mid 1800's, so you can probably imagine that while the industrial revolution was occuring in America, there were many areas of the world that retained their clean country atmosphere.
This song covers an encounter that a young man has with a girl referred to as 'The Star of the County Down' near the town of Banbridge in Ireland. He immediately becomes infatuated with her, and the song describes how he plans to put his entire life on hold until he is able to wed this girl. Whether or not he has a chance is debatable, but given that she has bare feet(in most versions), it would seem to suggest that she is not royalty, but rather an extremely attractive girl that would have many suitors. It is stated that her name is Rosie McCann from the 'Banks of the Bann', which would further suggest that she hails from the Mourne Mountains which are a part of the County Down. Other locations mentioned in the song include Banbridge town which is home to the famous Downshire bridge.
As far as the song is concerned, there are many different version of it, some fast, some slow, and some that are more complete than others. Today we are going to include two different versions, one by Margaret Brennan and Shedoa, the other by Marc Gunn. It should be noted that the Marc Gunn version is the most complete version we have, though as with anything else, much has been lost over the years. That being said, happy Wednesday and I hope you enjoy these two great renditions, and since the editor was kind enough to strip the embedded videos, here are the links.
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Date: 6/15/2011 6:55:00 AM
From Authorid: 42945I love both of these versions but then I love Irish music. Their songs are of life and though sad at times I feel like I'm there with them when listening to the lyrics..I have to say also that the scenery in the second vid was truly lovely...thank you for sharing them with us..
Date: 6/15/2011 7:00:00 AM ( From Author )
From Authorid: 2335No problem, though the first version is complete in lyric, the second one is better in my opinion. These are of course the more traditional versions and there are modern iterations, one of which is the faster paced version by the Serbian band 'Orthodox Celts'. Since I'm doing history, I didn't think it was prudent to include the modernized version but you can look it up on YouTube. I'm going to do a whole series on Irish music, some of which you might not have even heard of yet
Date: 6/15/2011 7:16:00 AM
From Authorid: 42945I'll look forward to hearing them and the Serbian band version I am very interested to hear, I'm about to go to bed but I will look it up on youtube sometime later tomorrow...thanks for the info..
Date: 6/15/2011 9:34:00 PM
From Authorid: 64747I grew up in a very republic household. Every since I was old enough to sit down and listen, I was told everything I could about the "troubled times" From the most recent North Troubles, to the famine I grew up with all these songs.
It's great to know that people from across the pond are interested in our little country .
Looking forward to more posts.
Date: 6/16/2011 8:44:00 PM
From Authorid: 14314Beautiful songs, I like the second one more God Bless
