The Gun Counter

Chris posted an Irish song on his blog. As he said, the "behind the music" is

a bit esoteric, so if you have no interest, just listen to the pretty music.

...and what pretty music it is. Amazing, in my opinion.

It reminded me of my favorite performance of another Irish song, Danny Boy. Now, now, stop groaning. I didn't say it's my favorite song, but my favorite performance of that song. I'd imagine anyone from Ireland would roll their eyes, because the song's frankly overplayed and become a caricature rather than having any meaning in and of itself. For those of us who were raised in America without outside cultural influences or immigrant experiences, the equivalent would be when someone sings "American Pie:" done a thousand times by a thousand people, and none especially well.

Anyway, here it is: Wait to be blown away at 0:35.

CByrneIV wrote:Danny Boy may be cliched, but it's a great song. Unfortunately it's not really an Irish song; it's actually a Jewish song, including a jewish religious music influenced tune; but sung with irishy lyrics.

S'okay, we adopted it as our own.

I did not know that!


What a cool thing. I suppose I could just look it up, but did Ireland get a complement of Sephardic Jews after the Spanish explusion of 1492? That may explain where Ireland got it from.

Barry McGuigans father sometimes sang 'Danny Boy' in the ring before his boy's fights.

The Irish are a sentimental race and no mistake ( which makes me a quarter sentimental, when I find that part of me I'll be sure to let you guys know )

What I always liked about Barry McGuigan, apart from him being a tough little bastard, was that he refused to get sucked into sectarianism. He was fighting for the 99.99% of people who want nothing to do with the IRA or the UVF ( they are just as bad as each other ), or terrorism in any way shape or form.

He was a great sportsman. Although we got a little fed up of him being called an "Irish boy" before a fight by the British media, and an "English boy" after he won it.

Boy, can you guys touch a cord, or pull a string.

Back in the late 60s & early 70s, I used to hang out in some folk music clubs. Got to know, well, a chap named Tom, born on the "auld sod." Ex-Marine. Corporate exec. Always wore a dark suit with a tie. A rarity in the clubs even then.

"Irish" (as he was known) was the classic Irish tenor. Having grown up in a mixed neighborhood, Irish, Italian, and Jewish, I knew most of the songs. I sang bass-baritone, and we harmonized. We played all the clubs on amateur nights, and on St. Patrick's Day, hit as many Irish pubs as we could.

Irish would always introduce me, to tremendous cheers, as "the only Jewish bass-baritone who knows the songs." We sang for beers.

Irish was 20-30 years my senior, and has been gone many years. I still miss him. What fun we had.

And we never sang "Danny Boy."

What's that water on my cheek? I'm having another bourbon.