Dunno if the right forum or thread, but I'm trying - please feel free to correct or instruct
As a Norwegian I'm not familiar with all aspects of language and culture and history, so sometimes I get puzzled by some of the lyrics in the Irish songs I love to sing.
This first time I would like to know if anyone have got an explanation of the implicated meaning of this phrase:
"And others without scruples pelting wattles at poor Maggie
And her daddy well contented to be gazing at his daughter"
And while we're at it:
Who are "The boys of Connemara and the Clare unmarried maidens" - is there any implicated significance to this or just some incidental poetics?
Regards
Egil
Some lyrics explanation - "Galway Races"
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Re: Some lyrics explanation - "Galway Races"
Hi, and welcome. I'm no expert, but I'm guessing ...
Going deeper, the opportunities in rural Ireland to meet people outside your own village and area were relatively rare. The song emphasizes the Races as a special event that draws people from all over the West of Ireland. After the Famine, the emigration of so many young Irish men overseas left many rural Irish women without good marriage prospects. So the function of regional races, markets etc. as courting opportunities became even more important as a social lubricant.
Throwing sticks (wattles) at a pretty girl (Maggie) is the immature (without scruples) adolescent boys' way of showing that they like her, which pleases her father because it means that her prospects for marriage are good.Didjeridust wrote:This first time I would like to know if anyone have got an explanation of the implicated meaning of this phrase:
"And others without scruples pelting wattles at poor Maggie
And her daddy well contented to be gazing at his daughter"
That's pretty straightforward, no? The unmarried men of Connemara (roughly West Galway) and the unmarried girls of Clare, coming together at the races where, er, romance happens.Didjeridust wrote:And while we're at it:
Who are "The boys of Connemara and the Clare unmarried maidens" - is there any implicated significance to this or just some incidental poetics?
Going deeper, the opportunities in rural Ireland to meet people outside your own village and area were relatively rare. The song emphasizes the Races as a special event that draws people from all over the West of Ireland. After the Famine, the emigration of so many young Irish men overseas left many rural Irish women without good marriage prospects. So the function of regional races, markets etc. as courting opportunities became even more important as a social lubricant.
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Re: Some lyrics explanation - "Galway Races"
While Irish marriage patterns did change dramatically in the post famine years, I'd suggest current thinking about this, the mechanism was far more complex than just the young men emigrating. In fact the patterns persisted and well into the twentieth century when there was in fact a surplus of unmarried men. But that's well outside the realms of this thread.After the Famine, the emigration of so many young Irish men overseas left many rural Irish women without good marriage prospects.
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Re: Some lyrics explanation - "Galway Races"
Hey this is fantastic.
Not only did I get plausible answer to what I wondered about, but more interesting facts as a bonus.
I love this forum after only 1 post
Regards
Not only did I get plausible answer to what I wondered about, but more interesting facts as a bonus.
I love this forum after only 1 post
Regards