Friday, August 03, 2007

Poetry Friday: Tommy Makem


Tommy Makem, who often sang with the Clancy Brothers, passed away this week.

Makem, in addition to performing folk songs, wrote original songs.

So, one of his original songs:



Four Green Fields

What did I have?" said the fine old woman
"What did I have?" this proud old woman did say
"I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, they fought to save my jewels
They fought and died, and that was my grief" said she.

The rest of the song is here.

While I'm hard pressed to pick just one of the many traditional songs Makem sang, my favorite is The Whistling Gypsy:

The gypsy rover came over the hill
Down through the valley so shady
He whistled and he sang 'til the green woods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.

The rest of the lyrics here; also here.

Today's round up is at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

2 comments:

RM1(SS) (ret) said...

Bugger. Too many old folks dying, and not enough decent newcomers to replace them....

Anonymous said...

Oh my, do I love the 4 green fields lyrics, or what????