This was the first recording by a much under-rated Dublin singer, on Bill Leader's "Trailer" label, released in 1972.
Al O'Donnell was booked for an Inverness Folk Festival, possibly 1973 or 1974, and after hearing him at a concert I headed straight for the record stall and bought the LP. Unfortunately, it got left on the back seat of the car, in the sun, and ended up very warped, but still playable.
Just noticed this on the back of the record sleeve :
"The Ballad Singer"
I watched a piper take the wind that blew around his hair,
And with the supple leather lead
The hard black wood and brittle reed
A dance into the air.
I watched a boy that stood with men
A whistle at his tongue
Breathe the old and smokey air into his breast,
Then with his careful fingers,
Make it young.
I saw a chin rest on a fiddle
And watched the fingers dance
Letting the notes slip from the strings
Into the wind that takes all things,
That music leaves to chance.
I heard the singer read the wind
And listened to his song,
That told of all the wind had known
And when and where the wind had blown,
And why he'd been so long.
Al O'Donnell.....
This was the first recording by a much under-rated Dublin singer, on Bill Leader's "Trailer" label, released in 1972.
Al O'Donnell was booked for an Inverness Folk Festival, possibly 1973 or 1974, and after hearing him at a concert I headed straight for the record stall and bought the LP. Unfortunately, it got left on the back seat of the car, in the sun, and ended up very warped, but still playable.
Just noticed this on the back of the record sleeve :
"The Ballad Singer"
I watched a piper take the wind that blew around his hair,
And with the supple leather lead
The hard black wood and brittle reed
A dance into the air.
I watched a boy that stood with men
A whistle at his tongue
Breathe the old and smokey air into his breast,
Then with his careful fingers,
Make it young.
I saw a chin rest on a fiddle
And watched the fingers dance
Letting the notes slip from the strings
Into the wind that takes all things,
That music leaves to chance.
I heard the singer read the wind
And listened to his song,
That told of all the wind had known
And when and where the wind had blown,
And why he'd been so long.
To Al O'Donnell, 1968, by Archie Fisher
# Posted on October 18th 2009 by Kenny