I think Seamus must of had some mushrooms for breakfast that morning.

RORY

_________________
I'm Spartacus .

That's the second track on "Forty Years of Irish Piping."
Seamus Ennis was a very entertaining storyteller. Some of the terms he uses here are rather obscure, though. An academic article by Lynnsey K. Weissenberger (who is also a fiddler and harpist) describes "truckly-how" as "the philosophical 'why' of the musical tradition." Source, page 4 of this document: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=docam

I think calling this 'a poem' rather than something Séamus made up on the fly puts the writer on the wrong foot right from the start.

_________________
My brain hurts

This guy and Seamus could be long lost cousins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UJZF5iRhNg

RORY

_________________
I'm Spartacus .

I also recall him using a term "Sylvan Tunnel"

I always wondered what he meant, I seached up Truckly-how only to find "Truckley-Howl"


Sounds like he certainly had a strong intellect, the more I read up about him.

_________________
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

A road overarched by trees, I'd think. 'Sylvan' is not that obscure.

But it is not strange to see him used florid language if you realise he had some literary aspirations, as a translator (from Irish) of poetry and prose. Breathnach mentions 'felicitous translations' and perhaps his most widely read (and dreaded by generations of Irish schoolchildren) work is the translation of Peig Sayers autobbiography 'Peig'. But he also wrote prose, short stories as I understand it, although these went unpublished. Again, I have heard Breandán Breathnach refer to these, and he also referred to them in writing although I can't immediately located the article. From Breathnach's description I understood his work was florid and wordy, not a surprise if you heard Ennis' choice of words and phrases in his spoken language. And that is before we get to the dirty limericks Clancy and himself spend nights putting together.

_________________
My brain hurts

I've always assumed that Seamus got the idea from listening to Stanley Unwin.

_________________
"Only connect!"

https://youtu.be/ezbWVysJAOY
https://tapm.bandcamp.com/

Ah I see, never heard the term "Sylvan Tunnel" in these parts. However yes, very intriguing, he certainly did strike as being very intense and ornate, occasionally hard to follow or understand. I'm almost persuaded into thinking that he possessed some kind of ethereal knowledge that has since been lost. It's no wonder when people said he would often leave a big impression. No doubt his character was just as vibrant and passionate as his piping.

Interestingly, and unsurprisingly, it also appears that some may have found him a bit too intense, or cerebral.

_________________
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

I have a similar tape of him doing a gig in New York around that time. Not sure it had much to do with intensity, more with the pipes not working very well and trying to make do and giving the audience something they're more used to, for feck's sake he was singing the Spinning Wheel and the Leaving of Liverpool and stuff like that. He was trying to make a living. Even today not many concert organisers would give a full gig to a solo piper, it takes a very specialised audience and those are few and far between.

_________________
My brain hurts

Who ever thought gibberish could be an art form.
RORY

_________________
I'm Spartacus .

Jame Joyce?

_________________
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

That makes more sense, different climate for the instrument too.

_________________
We musicians are enemies by disposition, so treat every musician you happen to meet, accordingly.

A definite touch of the stage about Ennis, but then again pipers were always entertainers - all those 19th century and earlier descriptions of concerts including animal impressions / human voice impressions / big set piece tunes come to mind. The emigre community in America understood this tradition very well - look at all those now-forgotten vaudeville pipers Nick Whitmer has researched, all respected musicians in their time.

I think we think of having an 'act' alongside the music as a bit undignified these days but I'm not sure previous generations thought the same way.

I also think Ennis was having a bit of fun with his audience as well - the joke was on them.

Some of Séamus's folkloric storytelling flourishes couldn't have been meant to take literally.
For example, there's a recording of him playing a couple jigs, including Port an Bráthair. He explains that the title means The Reverend Brother's Jig... "in the language of the Saxon." Saxon??