I've been asked to find a song for a friend whose daughter is "coming of age." And it can be in either English or Irish language.
I don't think that means first communion, nor being bethrothed nor married. It would be wonderful to have one that's been recorded for audio reference.
I really don't know of any. Thanks for any and all recommendations.
How about 'Éirigh Suas a Stóirín' by Clannad, from their 'Dúlamán' album. A beautiful and sad rendition, or 'Bríd Óg ní Mháille' by the Wild Geese, also done by Mícheál Ó Domhnaill.
"Brid Og ni Mhaille: is probably my favorite air, but it defines 'terminally sad.' You said song and referenced language, so you are planning on singing something?
Hmm, a girl's "coming of age" song, eh? There's plenty of them about...
"I don't think that means first communion, nor being bethrothed nor married", you say. Well, these would fit those requirements:
How about this one, which Dolores Keene sang with de dannan. I found the lyrics on line but made a couple of changes where I disagreed -
"Eighteen Years Old "
I am eighteen years old today mama and I'm longing to be wed,
So buy for me a young man to be with me, she said,
Oh buy for me a young man to be with me at night,
And I'll roll him in my arms, he'll be my heart's delight.
Oh hold your tongue, dear daughter then, or your cause I will pull down,
Your silks and satins I will pull down, you will wear your morning gown,
I'll send you to the meadow for to reap and mow the hay,
With your pike and shaft all in your hand, you will stop your drinking tay.
Oh hold your tongue, dear daughter then, I was forty before I was wed,
Although it was too late, I found it was no weight for to carry my maidenhead.
That may be the way for you, Mama, but it isn't the way with me
For I'm young and easy, light and crazy, and married I long to be.
Hold your tongue dear daughter then, and I'll find you a man.
A man for me, Oh mother, she said, you must hasten, you must and can.
The sooner the better, o mother, she said, you must hasten a man to me,
For I'm young and easy, light and crazy, and married I long to be.
==========
It's a powerful song, done very well by doloros and the guys. Perhaps not what your mate'll be looking for his daughter mind, stv
I'll tell me ma when I get home the boys won't leave the girls alone
Pulled me hair stole me comb, but that's alright till I get home
she is handsome she is pretty she is the bell of Belfast City
She is a courtin one two three please can't ya tell me who is she
This is a tender Gaelic coming-of-age song, just written in English by me. But its spirit is Gaelic. Just put it by the translated lyrics found in the album of any Gaelic singer and honestly, you couldn't see the join. Here goes:
A SONG FOR A COMING OF AGE
Hello, my little colleen. Which one are you?
Oh yes, one of hers. You look more like your mother than she does.
You do not look happy when I say that.
I do not blame you, because she is horrible.
You will look just like her when you grow up.
Honestly, I was only teasing you.
Today you are a big girl, and big girls don't cry.
Oh, you are crying because I have not given you money.
I brought some, but I spent it on the plane
Drinking the Devil's buttermilk to the sound of banjos.
Or perhaps you are sad
Because all that tedious feminine stuff is starting to happen.
I do not know very much about it
Except it makes them extremely irritable.
It has obviously started to happen
Because you are attacking me with a carving fork.
Have this. It is Bailey's. It will make you happy.
Now I will tell you the facts of life.
Never go with men who play traditional music,
For the unbroken bliss of your life would bore you greatly.
I can see by the roguish look in your eye
That you know this is a very bad joke.
You should marry a handsome footballer
Who will being home many cows under your roof
When he has scored in places away from home.
Sometimes you will be sad but you will have lots of gold,
Especially when you have sold your story to The News Of The World.
If you do not wish to do that, I will do it for you,
And thus your poor old Uncle can spend his remaining days
Marinating himself in the juice of the barley.
But do not go with a traditional musician
Because they are all as mad as weasels
And play music that sounds like crucified foxes and cats.
He will give you a car that doesn't work
And his clothes could take the dog for a walk by themselves,
Except that he is too lazy to take them off.
He will promise you money and give you everything else,
A stupid poem or a baby raven
Or an armful of other people's number-plates
Taken from the golf course after a long session,
But these are things you cannot eat
Or even take to the pawn shop.
Even the people in the Oxfam shop would see you coming
And set the dogs on you.
One day he will take your bones out
To sell them for a bottle of Bushmills.
I do not know who he thinks would buy them,
But people like him do not usually think ahead.
Myself, I would sell them to a Chinese apothecary
Because you would look great with all those bottled snakes.
...Imagine that transposed into Gaelic and rendered exquisite, poignant and (to most of us) entirely inscrutable by Julie Fowlis or someone: it would work, really it would.
Check out YouTube for Liam O'Maonlai singing Worry Not on the Transatlantic Sessions. I sang it recently at a Christening but I guess it works for any age.......
song for a girl coming of age?
song for a girl coming of age?
I've been asked to find a song for a friend whose daughter is "coming of age." And it can be in either English or Irish language.
I don't think that means first communion, nor being bethrothed nor married. It would be wonderful to have one that's been recorded for audio reference.
I really don't know of any. Thanks for any and all recommendations.
stv
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by stv culchie
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
My friend just reminded me: She'd like one that isn't "completely and terminally sad."
May there be such a thing!
Thanks,
stv
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by stv culchie
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
How about 'Éirigh Suas a Stóirín' by Clannad, from their 'Dúlamán' album. A beautiful and sad rendition, or 'Bríd Óg ní Mháille' by the Wild Geese, also done by Mícheál Ó Domhnaill.
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by amhrán
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
"Brid Og ni Mhaille: is probably my favorite air, but it defines 'terminally sad.' You said song and referenced language, so you are planning on singing something?
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by mickm
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Most trad songs about young girls seem to be about seduction / failed suits and heartbreak / wily escape mechanisms.
Is there a possibility that the RCC might have something less liable to frighten the horses?
Maybe Sessioner zippydw might come up with something from the Liturgical Sausage Factory.
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by nicholas
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
"Wild Thyme"
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by ceolachan
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
The Maid on the Shore? I think that's its name, sung by Caran Casey. Possibly Solas.
Might promote naughtiness, but hey!
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by eiluned
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Not trad, but how about Charlie McGettigan's "If Anything Happened to You"? Recorded by De Dannan, among others.
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by Tracie
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Mr. C's suggestion:
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiTHYMEPRE;ttTHYMEPRE.html
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Hmm, a girl's "coming of age" song, eh? There's plenty of them about...
"I don't think that means first communion, nor being bethrothed nor married", you say. Well, these would fit those requirements:
Sixteen Come Next Sunday: http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/bothyband/sixteen.htm
Pretty Peg :http://www.lyricstime.com/the-bothy-band-pretty-peg-lyrics.html
The Lusty Young Smith: http://thebards.net/music/lyrics/Lusty_Young_Smith.shtml
The Cuckoo's Nest: http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/guvnor/songs/cuckoosnest.html
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by Joe CSS
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Yikes, Joe and C...
Beware of saucy sailors, umm...blacksmiths, and all the rest.
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by Michele Sims
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Isn't there something out there that would encourage them to get advanced degrees, invest in real estate and found successful non-profits?
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by Michele Sims
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Look through the compositions of Tommy Makem.. There might be something suitable there, especially if her name was Annie
# Posted on February 25th 2010 by deeor
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Most of the songs I know of about young women warn them, in various ways, to avoid young men. I think this is generally good advice.
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by DrSilverSpear
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
How about one of those "She's so great" songs like Star of the County Down or Queen of Argyll? (though that last one's Scottish)
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by fuzzygreen
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
"Coming of age"
It's 2010 not 1810 - is this an elderly lady, a spinster pray chance?
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by Steamwilkes
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
How about this one, which Dolores Keene sang with de dannan. I found the lyrics on line but made a couple of changes where I disagreed -
"Eighteen Years Old "
I am eighteen years old today mama and I'm longing to be wed,
So buy for me a young man to be with me, she said,
Oh buy for me a young man to be with me at night,
And I'll roll him in my arms, he'll be my heart's delight.
Oh hold your tongue, dear daughter then, or your cause I will pull down,
Your silks and satins I will pull down, you will wear your morning gown,
I'll send you to the meadow for to reap and mow the hay,
With your pike and shaft all in your hand, you will stop your drinking tay.
Oh hold your tongue, dear daughter then, I was forty before I was wed,
Although it was too late, I found it was no weight for to carry my maidenhead.
That may be the way for you, Mama, but it isn't the way with me
For I'm young and easy, light and crazy, and married I long to be.
Hold your tongue dear daughter then, and I'll find you a man.
A man for me, Oh mother, she said, you must hasten, you must and can.
The sooner the better, o mother, she said, you must hasten a man to me,
For I'm young and easy, light and crazy, and married I long to be.
==========
It's a powerful song, done very well by doloros and the guys. Perhaps not what your mate'll be looking for his daughter mind, stv
- chris
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
before I got married I wore a black shawl
and since I got married a wear bugger all
Oh I love him, I can't deny him
I'l go with him wherever he goes
Mairead and Triona Ni Domhnaill's late aunt sang this I think as did the Boths.
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by iwerzon
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Have to repeat the Sound of Music...
# Posted on February 26th 2010 by vonnieestes
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
I'll tell me ma when I get home the boys won't leave the girls alone
Pulled me hair stole me comb, but that's alright till I get home
she is handsome she is pretty she is the bell of Belfast City
She is a courtin one two three please can't ya tell me who is she
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by Gone to work
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Billy Grimes the Rover...
Tomorrow morn I'll be sixteen
And Billy Grimes, the rover,
He's popped the question to me, Ma,
And he wants to be my lover.
And he'll be here in the morning, Ma,
And he'll be there quite early
To take a pleasant walk with me
Across yon fields of barley.
Oh, daughter, dear, you shall not go,
There is no use in talking,
You shall not go with Billy Grimes
Across yon fields a-walking.
Just think of such presumption, too,
The dirty ugly rover,
I wonder where your pride has gone
To think of such a lover.
Oh, Mama dear, I must confess
That Billy isn't quite clever,
But a nicer beau could not be found
In this wide world all over.
Oh, daughter dear, I am surprised
At your infatuation.
To think of having Billy Grimes,
It would be ruination.
Oh, Mama dear, old Grimes is dead
And Billy is the only
Surviving heir of all that's left,
About six thousand yearly.
Oh, daughter dear, I did not hear
Your last remarks quite clearly,
But Billy is a nice young man
And no doubt loves you dearly.
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by airport
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxN0XK_WQh0
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by airport
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
oh... "doesn't" mean betrothed. What the hell does coming of age mean these days anyway? Is she getting a car?
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by airport
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
What about this? I can't find a translation, so I could be way off, but it sounds nice.
http://www.realworldrecords.com/catalogue/invisible-fields
The Day you Were Born"
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by tracywag
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Maybe it means she's coming of legal drinking age, either 18 or 21 depending on which country she's in.
In which case "Seven Drunken Nights" might be an appropriate song.
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by DrSilverSpear
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
if she's in the US, 18 would also mean she's old enough to be tried as an adult - in which case "The Gaol Song" or maybe "Black Velvet Band"?
# Posted on February 27th 2010 by airport
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
I do hope you don't mean it's her Bat Mitzvah (12 years old)....
# Posted on February 28th 2010 by Joe CSS
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
This is a tender Gaelic coming-of-age song, just written in English by me. But its spirit is Gaelic. Just put it by the translated lyrics found in the album of any Gaelic singer and honestly, you couldn't see the join. Here goes:
A SONG FOR A COMING OF AGE
Hello, my little colleen. Which one are you?
Oh yes, one of hers. You look more like your mother than she does.
You do not look happy when I say that.
I do not blame you, because she is horrible.
You will look just like her when you grow up.
Honestly, I was only teasing you.
Today you are a big girl, and big girls don't cry.
Oh, you are crying because I have not given you money.
I brought some, but I spent it on the plane
Drinking the Devil's buttermilk to the sound of banjos.
Or perhaps you are sad
Because all that tedious feminine stuff is starting to happen.
I do not know very much about it
Except it makes them extremely irritable.
It has obviously started to happen
Because you are attacking me with a carving fork.
Have this. It is Bailey's. It will make you happy.
Now I will tell you the facts of life.
Never go with men who play traditional music,
For the unbroken bliss of your life would bore you greatly.
I can see by the roguish look in your eye
That you know this is a very bad joke.
You should marry a handsome footballer
Who will being home many cows under your roof
When he has scored in places away from home.
Sometimes you will be sad but you will have lots of gold,
Especially when you have sold your story to The News Of The World.
If you do not wish to do that, I will do it for you,
And thus your poor old Uncle can spend his remaining days
Marinating himself in the juice of the barley.
But do not go with a traditional musician
Because they are all as mad as weasels
And play music that sounds like crucified foxes and cats.
He will give you a car that doesn't work
And his clothes could take the dog for a walk by themselves,
Except that he is too lazy to take them off.
He will promise you money and give you everything else,
A stupid poem or a baby raven
Or an armful of other people's number-plates
Taken from the golf course after a long session,
But these are things you cannot eat
Or even take to the pawn shop.
Even the people in the Oxfam shop would see you coming
And set the dogs on you.
One day he will take your bones out
To sell them for a bottle of Bushmills.
I do not know who he thinks would buy them,
But people like him do not usually think ahead.
Myself, I would sell them to a Chinese apothecary
Because you would look great with all those bottled snakes.
...Imagine that transposed into Gaelic and rendered exquisite, poignant and (to most of us) entirely inscrutable by Julie Fowlis or someone: it would work, really it would.
# Posted on February 28th 2010 by nicholas
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Hmmm.......just been through a rough breakup Nicholas?
# Posted on March 1st 2010 by Gone to work
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
No, I'm always like this...
# Posted on March 1st 2010 by nicholas
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Have you ever thought of teaching a course on creative writing?
Or do you make your living as a songwriter?
# Posted on March 1st 2010 by fiddlerdan
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
I Saw Her Standing There. Sexy and Seventeen. Anything by Jerry Lee Lewis.
# Posted on March 3rd 2010 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: song for a girl coming of age?
Check out YouTube for Liam O'Maonlai singing Worry Not on the Transatlantic Sessions. I sang it recently at a Christening but I guess it works for any age.......
# Posted on March 6th 2010 by Curtin