Mo Celtic Chroi

When Will It Ever Stop Raining?

This is the only completely original song in this collection. I wrote it as an Irish Pub Song, but when finished, it reminded me of that old camp song: "I've Got Sixpence". So, what's the difference between a camp song and a pub song?...the age of the kids!

Connemara Nightingale

A nocturne mystery about a beautiful auburn-haired songstress met on the remote west coast of Ireland. When I heard the tune: "Jock O'Hazeldean" as an instrumental, I instantly fell in love with it. I wrote these lyrics for the tune, and it became one of my all-time favorite songs.

Planxty Fanny Power (Poer)

Turlough O'Carolan composed this tune for the harp around 1732 to honor Frances Power, the daughter of one of his patrons. The original Gaelic words are rarely sung to this tune now, so I wrote these lyrics setting the piece as a love duet. I kept the original title and form.

The Minstrel Boy

A poem by Sir Thomas More set to an Irish Air called "The Moreen". I'm sure you have heard the tune as one of the regimental marches of The Queen's Royal Hussars, but you may never have heard the words.

Broom of the Cowdenknowes

Cowdenknowes, which would now be called Hazel Hills, is an estate (really a barony) southeast of Edinburgh. The Broom referred to here is a yellow flowering shrub found in the area. Even though this song comes from a century before Fanny Power, the orginal lyrics remain with the tune, though updated. The singer, who is either a shepherd or shepherdess, depending on who is doing the singing, has been banished from their homeland for falling in love with one of the heirs to the estate.

My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose

While we're visiting Scotland, here is a beautiful poem by Robert Burns set to a dance tune called "Graham's Strathspey".

Danny Boy

Probably the best known Irish song in North American, these lyrics were written in 1910 by an English Lawyer, Frederick Weatherly. He modified them in 1913 to fit the Irish tune "Londonderry Air". Sir Thomas More also wrote lyrics to this tune called "My Gentle Harp".

The Mountains of Mourne

This song exposes the redoubtable Irish character in a way that I haven't found in many other songs. Though the lad is deeply homesick for the northeast coast of Ireland, he uses a wry homespun humor in his observations about the London society. The tune is an ancient Irish air called "Carrigdhoun".

Down By The Glenside

There's an epigram that goes: "The Irish, a people that God made quite mad: their wars are all happy and their songs are all sad." No song more honestly earns that reputation than this one. Written by Peadar Kearney who also wrote the Irish National Anthem, "The Soldier's Song", it is an important song, so I included it in this collection even if it sends you off looking for a beer in which to cry.

A Nation Once Again

To finish the collection on a high note, here is a rousing, patriotic anthem by Thomas Davis, one of the founding members of the "Young Ireland Movement".