Kilkenny

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:10 pm

I absolutely love the song, 'Kilkenny' on the 'Music at Matt Malloy's recording. It's got a haunting beauty which is perfect for the subject matter. And the singer is wonderful. I only have a downloaded version with no liner notes, so I don't know who anyone is.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:34 am

Kilkelly John..it's Kilkelly

Most of the musicians and singers on the album are not very well known. I don't have any sleeve notes myself as I got mine from the same source as you did

Slan,
D.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:42 am

And he went unto Google, saying "music at matt molloy's track list", and Google did respond with

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/ ... 2425&ITM=1

wherein was found

ALBUM CREDITS

Performance Credits

Matt Molloy Primary Artist, Fiddle, Flute

Tom Doherty Accordion

Pat Friel Accordion

Peter Gallagher Accordion

Padraic Morrell Banjo

Paul Doyle Bouzouki

Paul Doyle Bouzouki

Terry Crehan Fiddle

Liam Grealis Fiddle

Peter Horan Fiddle, Flute

Paul McGrattan Fiddle

Kevin McHugh Fiddle

Jimmy Murphy Fiddle, Flute

Mick O'Grady Fiddle

Breda Smyth Fiddle, Human Whistle

Sean Smyth Fiddle

Becky Egan Guitar, Vocals

Pat Egan Guitar, Vocals

Arty McGlynn Guitar

Johnny Curtis Mandolin

Matt Malloy Track Performer

Technical Credits

Kasper de Graaf Art Direction

Martin Murray Engineer, Producer

Merrily Harpur Liner Notes

Arty McGlynn Producer

Matt Molloy Producer

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:43 am

It's actually "Kilkelly," not Kilkenny. The sleeve notes state the vocalists to be "Pat and Becky Egan." There's an even better version (only in my opinion of course!) on the BBC set of CDs that accompanied the five-part TV series "Bringing It All Back Home" in the early 90s. The song was played then by Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane and Robbie O'Connell, though the sleeve doesn't say which ones are actually singing. The song was written by Peter Jones and is based on some real letters that were owned by his great grandfather in Ireland. I think (but I'm not sure) that this was the original version of the song. While I'm at it, I'd recommend those BBC CDs unreservedly to anyone who likes to take a fairly broad view of Irish music - they're superb. Here's a track list I copied from a website - anything with an accent got a bit screwed up for which I apologise but you can make it all out!

1. April the 3rd - Donal Lunny
2. My Love Is in America - Dolores Keane, Mick Hanly
3. A StÃ³ir Mo ChroÃ - Rita Keane, Sarah Keane
4. When First into This Country - Lee Valley String Band
5. Carolina Star - Lee Valley String Band
6. Kilkelly - Jimmy Keane, Robbie O'Connell, Mick Moloney
7. Thousands Are Sailing - Philip Chevron
8. The Bucks of Oranmore - Hughes Band
9. Rose Connolly - The Everly Brothers
10. Lakes of Ponchartrain - Hothouse Flowers
11. Humours of Galway - De Danann
12. Sonny - Mary Black, Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane
13. Grey Funnel Line - Mary Black, Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane
14. Nothing But the Same Old Story - Paul Brady
15. Kevin Griffins - Eoin ONeill, Sharon Shannon, Mary Custy
16. No Frontiers - Mary Black
17. You Couldn't Have Come at a Better Time - Luka Bloom
18. Im Long Me Measaim - CÃ³r Cuil Aodh, Peadar Ã“ Riada
19. Carolan's Farewell to Music - Maire Ni Chathasaigh
20. An T-AisÃ© - Monks of Glenstall Abbey, NÃ³irÃn NÃ Riain
21. Oilean/Island - MicheÃ¡l OSuilleabhÃ¡in, Irish Chamber Orchestra, John McCarthy
22. Idir Eatarthu/Between Worlds - Irish Chamber Orchestra, MicheÃ¡l OSuilleabhÃ¡in
23. Mischievous Ghost - Mary Coughlan, Elvis Costello
24. Equinox - Davy Spillane
25. Blue - MÃ¡ire NÃ BhraonÃ¡in, An Emotional Fish
26. St. Anne's Reel - Paddy Glackin, Mark O'Connor, Ricky Skaggs
27. Dimming of the Day - Richard Thompson, Mary Black, Dolores Keane
28. Cooler at the Edge - Sonny Conde
29. Glen Road to Carrick - Seamus Glackin, Paddy Glackin, Kevin Glackin
30. Don't Let Our Love Die - The Everly Brothers
31. Easter Snow - Liam O'Flynn, Catherine Ennis
32. All Messed Up - Pierce Turner
33. Tunes - Eilish Byrne, Siobhan O'Donnell, John Bowe, Bobby Casey
34. Western Highway - Maura O'Connell
35. Song for the Life - The Waterboys
36. The Parting Glass - The Voice Squad
37. A StÃ³ir Mo ChroÃ - Liam O'Flynn

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon May 22, 2006 8:48 am

PS John... it's Kilkelly, not Kilkenny. Kilkenny is what they do on Southpark.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon May 22, 2006 9:08 am

Oops - posted mine before I saw Dub's.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Mon May 22, 2006 9:12 am

Never did like the name of that town, myself.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon May 22, 2006 9:21 am

I was a bit worried meself, when he had "Kilkelly" as the thread title...

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:36 am

SteveShaw wrote:There's an even better version (only in my opinion of course!) on the BBC set of CDs that accompanied the five-part TV series "Bringing It All Back Home" in the early 90s.

I agree with you there, Steve. I like that version better. Another stellar track is the Paul Brady song. I'm not much of a song person but I found those 2 especially striking.

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Mon May 22, 2006 11:21 am

Got me to weeping... our middle child is getting ready to head off to college...

from h[url]ttp://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiKILKELY.html[/url]

Kilkelly
(Peter Jones)

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 60, my dear and loving son John
Your good friend the schoolmaster Pat McNamara's so good
as to write these words down.
Your brothers have all gone to find work in England,
the house is so empty and sad
The crop of potatoes is sorely infected,
a third to a half of them bad.
And your sister Brigid and Patrick O'Donnell
are going to be married in June.
Your mother says not to work on the railroad
and be sure to come on home soon.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 70, dear and loving son John
Hello to your Mrs and to your 4 children,
may they grow healthy and strong.
Michael has got in a wee bit of trouble,
I guess that he never will learn.
Because of the dampness there's no turf to speak of
and now we have nothing to burn.
And Brigid is happy, you named a child for her
and now she's got six of her own.
You say you found work, but you don't say
what kind or when you will be coming home.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 80, dear Michael and John, my sons
I'm sorry to give you the very sad news
that your dear old mother has gone.
We buried her down at the church in Kilkelly,
your brothers and Brigid were there.
You don't have to worry, she died very quickly,
remember her in your prayers.
And it's so good to hear that Michael's returning,
with money he's sure to buy land
For the crop has been poor and the people
are selling at any price that they can.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 90, my dear and loving son John
I guess that I must be close on to eighty,
it's thirty years since you're gone.
Because of all of the money you send me,
I'm still living out on my own.
Michael has built himself a fine house
and Brigid's daughters have grown.
Thank you for sending your family picture,
they're lovely young women and men.
You say that you might even come for a visit,
what joy to see you again.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 92, my dear brother John
I'm sorry that I didn't write sooner to tell you that father passed on.
He was living with Brigid, she says he was cheerful
and healthy right down to the end.
Ah, you should have seen him play with
the grandchildren of Pat McNamara, your friend.
And we buried him alongside of mother,
down at the Kilkelly churchyard.
He was a strong and a feisty old man,
considering his life was so hard.
And it's funny the way he kept talking about you,
he called for you in the end.
Oh, why don't you think about coming to visit,
we'd all love to see you again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
recorded by Moloney, O'Connell & Keane on "Kilkelly" (1988)
copywrite Green Linnet Music 1983
130 years after his great grandfather left the small village of Kilkelly in
Co. Mayo, Peter Jones found a bundle of letters sent to him by his father
in Ireland. The letters tell of family news, births, death, sales of land and
bad harvests. They remind the son, that he is loved, missed and remembered
by his family in Ireland. The final letter informs him that his father, whom
he has not seen for 30 years, has died, the last link with home is broken.
Peter Jones used these letters to make this song.

The "trouble" in verse two is probably the Fenian rising of 1867.

MJ

Thanks to Mudcat http://www.mudcat.org/ for the Digital Tradition!

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Mon May 22, 2006 11:40 am

Kilkelly. Got it. Thanks. It sounded like kenny on the CD to me, who's ears are getting worse, not better.

Thanks for the lyrics, Annie.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:12 pm

Here's the actual letters by Pat McNamara, which inspired the song

Also, here's an interesting writeup about the song

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon May 22, 2006 1:29 pm

FJohnSharp wrote:Kilkelly. Got it. Thanks. It sounded like kenny on the CD to me, who's ears are getting worse, not better.

Thanks for the lyrics, Annie.

Don't worry John, I thought I heard Kilkenny too. Speaking of which, my wife and I spent a partly-overcast-with-some-rain day and a half there a couple of years ago. It's a nice little town with a great castle to tour and an artisans' market. A couple of nice pubs, too.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Mon May 22, 2006 1:40 pm

What a great thread! I have some reading to do.

jsluder · Post by **jsluder** » Mon May 22, 2006 1:51 pm

I sang "Kilkelly, Ireland" as my recital piece for a voice class I took several years ago. Made at least half the audience cry.