Hi everyone. I've tried every search and can not find lyrics to this song. OK, I found one, but not only does it not match my Makem/Clancey CD, it doesn't have half the words that my Josephine Marsh CD has, and those are a bit mixed up.
Would appreciate any help.
Cathy Ryan does a really nice vocal version of Ned of the Hills on her CD "Cathy and friends" with Egan, McCleod et al. The best instrumental version I believe was by Phil Smiley on flute. I can't recall which band and I no longer have a copy, but it is burned into my memory forever. Very few times are my eyes filled to overflowing. This one of them.
This is the wrong time of year for this, but this is something to think about for when Christmas rolls around again. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed the seven stanza poem "Christmas Bells" on December 25th, 1864. The poem was re-arranged (dropping stanzas 4 and 5) and set to music by John Baptiste Calkin in 1872, who called the song “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day” In 1956, Johnny Marks wrote new music for it, again re-arranging the poem, and published a new version of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. The Johnny Marks melody was the one I was most familiar with, but I was never happy with that musical setting for the poem. I knew “Eamann an Chnoic” from the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem recording back in the early sixties. While I loved the melody, the only lyrics I knew were the Gaelic. From time to time over the years I had taken stabs at putting English lyrics to it, but could never come up with anything to do it justice. While searching for additional lyrics for some Christmas song or another, I came across the lyrics to Christmas Bells at the same time that the “Eamann an Chnoic” melody was running through my head. By combining stanza 1 with stanza 2, 4 with 5 and 6 with 7, I ended up with 3 8-line stanzas that fit the melody like they were written with it in mind. I call the song “Christmas Bells” to differentiate it from the two earlier versions and to bring it back to the title that Longfellow used. You might like the fit.
Eamonn an Chniuic
Eamonn an Chniuic
Hi everyone. I've tried every search and can not find lyrics to this song. OK, I found one, but not only does it not match my Makem/Clancey CD, it doesn't have half the words that my Josephine Marsh CD has, and those are a bit mixed up.
Would appreciate any help.
# Posted on January 30th 2004 by Maple Beet Pi
Re: Eamonn an Chniuic
Might just be a minor spelling glitch. Try "chnoic" instead of "chniuc"
I've only heard this "as Gaeilge" back in my schooldays, and I think it was pretty much what's printed here (along with an English translation
http://members.aol.com/JamusN/Eamonn.html
# Posted on January 30th 2004 by grego
Re: Eamonn an Chniuic
go raith maith agat.
# Posted on January 30th 2004 by Maple Beet Pi
Re: Eamonn an Chniuic
Cathy Ryan does a really nice vocal version of Ned of the Hills on her CD "Cathy and friends" with Egan, McCleod et al. The best instrumental version I believe was by Phil Smiley on flute. I can't recall which band and I no longer have a copy, but it is burned into my memory forever. Very few times are my eyes filled to overflowing. This one of them.
# Posted on January 31st 2004 by windybaer
Re: Eamonn an Chniuic
This is the wrong time of year for this, but this is something to think about for when Christmas rolls around again. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed the seven stanza poem "Christmas Bells" on December 25th, 1864. The poem was re-arranged (dropping stanzas 4 and 5) and set to music by John Baptiste Calkin in 1872, who called the song “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day” In 1956, Johnny Marks wrote new music for it, again re-arranging the poem, and published a new version of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”. The Johnny Marks melody was the one I was most familiar with, but I was never happy with that musical setting for the poem. I knew “Eamann an Chnoic” from the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem recording back in the early sixties. While I loved the melody, the only lyrics I knew were the Gaelic. From time to time over the years I had taken stabs at putting English lyrics to it, but could never come up with anything to do it justice. While searching for additional lyrics for some Christmas song or another, I came across the lyrics to Christmas Bells at the same time that the “Eamann an Chnoic” melody was running through my head. By combining stanza 1 with stanza 2, 4 with 5 and 6 with 7, I ended up with 3 8-line stanzas that fit the melody like they were written with it in mind. I call the song “Christmas Bells” to differentiate it from the two earlier versions and to bring it back to the title that Longfellow used. You might like the fit.
# Posted on February 4th 2004 by darcymarsden
Re: Eamonn an Chniuic
P.S.
Here's a link to the Poem in its original 7-stanza from, and some of the history surrounding it.
http://www.lavenderway.com/story_behind.htm
# Posted on February 4th 2004 by darcymarsden