Raglan Road

Hazys · 30-01-2014 08:18PM #1

Luke Kelly is dead 30 years today.

http://www.rte.ie/archives/2014/0130/500946-luke-kelly-died-30-years-today/

He gave us one of the most beautiful songs ever written and sung. Its one of my favourite songs and anytime when I hear it for the first time in a long time, it gives me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuafmLvoJow

I think at times we get caught up too much in the present which at times can be dour and we forget how beautiful this island actually is and the great artists, poets and musicians that this country has produced. For our population we are punching well above our weight in this category and its something to be very proud of.

What are your favourite Irish artists of past and present?

30-01-2014 08:30PM

That song gives me goosebumps every time.

Truly beautiful, the sentiments are timeless for those of us who've loved and lost in the past.

Written by Patrick Kavanagh, who's immortalised in the statue along the canal on Mespil Road.

Donkey Oaty · 30-01-2014 08:33PM

Wonderful use of the song in "In Bruges".

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 08:35PM

Old Patrick Kavanagh was a bit of a pervert

dxhound2005 · 30-01-2014 08:49PM

The air is The Dawning of the Day which lots of people will recognise as their first tune on the tin whistle. It's not the best fit to the poem, especially if you listen to the song at 2 minutes "I gave her gifts of the mind" etc. There is another song recorded by John McCormack to that air with a much easier scan on the ear.

I like the Luke Kelly version but I heard a version on the radio once by Cathal McConnell from the Boys of the Lough which was brilliant as well. I can't find it anywhere on the net.

Sir Arthur Daley · 31-01-2014 12:41AM

Thanks for the legacy of music and memories.

loubian · 31-01-2014 10:05AM

Hazys wrote: »

Luke Kelly is dead 30 years today.

http://www.rte.ie/archives/2014/0130/500946-luke-kelly-died-30-years-today/

He gave us one of the most beautiful songs ever written and sung. Its one of my favourite songs and anytime when I hear it for the first time in a long time, it gives me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuafmLvoJow

I think at times we get caught up too much in the present which at times can be dour and we forget how beautiful this island actually is and the great artists, poets and musicians that this country has produced. For our population we are punching well above our weight in this category and its something to be very proud of.

What are your favourite Irish artists of past and present?

When my baby was only a few weeks old, if she wouldn't stop crying, my dad would bring her out in the car and put on luke kelly.

To this day, if she's crying and she hears the first few notes of Raglan road coming from you, she stops crying and just listens. It's guaranteed to get her to sleep.

SEPT 23 1989 · 31-01-2014 11:24AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C14U7JYGRgA

For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it fame
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it fame
For what flowed Irelands blood in rivers,
That began when Brian chased the Dane,
And did not cease nor has not ceased,
With the brave sons of ´16,
For what died the sons of Róisín, was it fame
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed
Was it greed that drove Wolfe Tone to a paupers death in a cell of cold wet stone?
Will German, French or Dutch inscribe the epitaph of Emmet?
When we have sold enough of Ireland to be but strangers in it.
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed

To whom do we owe our allegiance today
To whom do we owe our allegiance today
To those brave men who fought and died that Róisín live again with pride?
Her sons at home to work and sing,
Her youth to dance and make her valleys ring,
Or the faceless men who for Mark and Dollar,
Betray her to the highest bidder,
To whom do we owe our allegiance today

For what suffer our patriots today
For what suffer our patriots today
They have a language problem, so they say,
How to write "No Trespass" must grieve their heart full sore,
We got rid of one strange language now we are faced with many, many more,
For what suffer our patriots today.

nelly17 · 31-01-2014 11:41AM

Theres just something about the way he Delivers Raglan Road that can never be equalled - remember that George whats his face chap, he lasted long.

Dr.Winston O'Boogie · 31-01-2014 12:09PM

Love Raglan Road as much as the next man, but he didn't write it so should we really be giving him credit? Granted his version is the definitive one, but I would honour the author of the words far more than the singer.

When Liam Gallagher dies will people be commending him for Live Forever?

Edit: Of course RIP to Luke. His legacy is not to be tarnished, just always wondered the above about Raglan Road more than anything.

mobby · 31-01-2014 12:16PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C14U7JYGRgA

For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it fame
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it fame
For what flowed Irelands blood in rivers,
That began when Brian chased the Dane,
And did not cease nor has not ceased,
With the brave sons of ´16,
For what died the sons of Róisín, was it fame
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed
Was it greed that drove Wolfe Tone to a paupers death in a cell of cold wet stone?
Will German, French or Dutch inscribe the epitaph of Emmet?
When we have sold enough of Ireland to be but strangers in it.
For What Died the Sons of Róisín, was it greed

To whom do we owe our allegiance today
To whom do we owe our allegiance today
To those brave men who fought and died that Róisín live again with pride?
Her sons at home to work and sing,
Her youth to dance and make her valleys ring,
Or the faceless men who for Mark and Dollar,
Betray her to the highest bidder,
To whom do we owe our allegiance today

For what suffer our patriots today
For what suffer our patriots today
They have a language problem, so they say,
How to write "No Trespass" must grieve their heart full sore,
We got rid of one strange language now we are faced with many, many more,
For what suffer our patriots today.

Me thinks the bold Luke could see into the future when he wrote that.

cml387 · 31-01-2014 12:19PM

Did you know that the woman about whom the poem/song is written is Dido's grand aunt?

eamonnq · 31-01-2014 12:24PM

The King of Moo · 31-01-2014 12:47PM

niallo24 wrote: »

Love Raglan Road as much as the next man, but he didn't write it so should we really be giving him credit? Granted his version is the definitive one, but I would honour the author of the words far more than the singer.

When Liam Gallagher dies will people be commending him for Live Forever?

Edit: Of course RIP to Luke. His legacy is not to be tarnished, just always wondered the above about Raglan Road more than anything.

Why not commend both the lyricist and the singer of a song?
It's a beautiful poem by Patrick Kavanagh, but Luke Kelly's delivery gives it a unique dimension.

Hazys · 31-01-2014 02:55PM

Another favourite of mine from Luke and the Dubliners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa7birRBmNM

When i was looking for that i came across this cool version by a very young looking Glen Hansard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgu02XCkrhY

tipptom · 31-01-2014 03:28PM

Think I read somewhere that Lukes father was shot dead by British soldiers on bachelors walk after Erskine Childers landed the guns in Howth,does the dates work out or was it his grandfather?

Riskymove · 31-01-2014 03:37PM

tipptom wrote: »

Think I read somewhere that Lukes father was shot dead by British soldiers on bachelors walk after Erskine Childers landed the guns in Howth,does the dates work out or was it his grandfather?

it would have to be grandfather if true

Luke died in the eighties and was only 43 so hid Dad would have to have been alive in the 1940s

Meauldsegosha · 31-01-2014 04:09PM

loubian wrote: »

When my baby was only a few weeks old, if she wouldn't stop crying, my dad would bring her out in the car and put on luke kelly.

To this day, if she's crying and she hears the first few notes of Raglan road coming from you, she stops crying and just listens. It's guaranteed to get her to sleep.

My dad used to sing it to me when I was a baby, it was one of his favourite songs. We played it at his funeral and it was the first time I cried after his death. A powerful song that evokes stong memories.

Arthur Rimbaud · 31-01-2014 04:21PM

tipptom wrote: »

Think I read somewhere that Lukes father was shot dead by British soldiers on bachelors walk after Erskine Childers landed the guns in Howth,does the dates work out or was it his grandfather?

Yes it was LK's father, but he was only injured.

Luke Kelly senior was an 8 year old boy when he was wounded by the British Army, and was living in a one room flat in a tenement building, with six family members. While he was not musically inclined himself, you can imagine how this must have informed his son's political outlook.

tipptom · 31-01-2014 06:06PM

Arthur Rimbaud wrote: »

Yes it was LK's father, but he was only injured.

Luke Kelly senior was an 8 year old boy when he was wounded by the British Army, and was living in a one room flat in a tenement building, with six family members. While he was not musically inclined himself, you can imagine how this must have informed his son's political outlook.

Thanks Arthur,had the story nearly right but for my minor detail about him being shot dead!!!

NegativeCreep · 31-01-2014 06:15PM

loubian wrote: »

When my baby was only a few weeks old, if she wouldn't stop crying, my dad would bring her out in the car and put on luke kelly.

To this day, if she's crying and she hears the first few notes of Raglan road coming from you, she stops crying and just listens. It's guaranteed to get her to sleep.

Has the same effect on me tbh.

fryup · 31-01-2014 06:24PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Old Patrick Kavanagh was a bit of a pervert

was he stalking her?? peeping through the bushes??

tipptom · 31-01-2014 07:05PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Old Patrick Kavanagh was a bit of a pervert

Worse than that,he was a cantankerous old git as well.

Funkstard · 31-01-2014 07:12PM

cml387 wrote: »

Did you know that the woman about whom the poem/song is written is Dido's grand aunt?

That's not true.

MonstaMash · 31-01-2014 07:21PM

These two would bring a tear to a glass eye...

Il Trap · 01-02-2014 11:06AM

fryup wrote: »

was he stalking her?? peeping through the bushes??

He followed Hilda Moriarty (she was around 19/20 I think, at the time), the song's subject, to Kerry for Christmas and stayed in a B&B up the road. He hadn't been invited. :pac:

But I love Paddy Kavanagh.

tipptom · 01-02-2014 11:56AM

Il Trap wrote: »

He followed Hilda Moriarty (she was around 19/20 I think, at the time), the song's subject, to Kerry for Christmas and stayed in a B&B up the road. He hadn't been invited. :pac:

But I love Paddy Kavanagh.

Meh,a mild bit of stalking perhaps,probably would have been counted as strong bit of courting at the time.

Míshásta · 01-02-2014 12:26PM

The poem/song was very loosely a rewrite of the old Irish song "Fáinne Geal an lae". The imagery is different but has the same basic theme, the lover lusting after an unavailable beautiful girl. The setting is moved from a rural idyll near Loch Léin to a contemporary urban background.

There was also an English language version of the song which Kavanagh would have heard.

The Dubliners also recorded the older song - Seán Cannon singing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ralQCaQ-Jsk

Míshásta · 01-02-2014 12:31PM

Just found the English version of the older song sung by John McCormack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtAXRTGX3ss

conorhal · 01-02-2014 12:37PM

Lately we've had proposals for a statue of Stephen Gatley and Nelson Mandella for Dublin, where's the statue for Luke?

It seems like a silly oversight for Dublin not to celebrate one of it's most iconic characters and greatest artists.

wp_rathead · 01-02-2014 12:37PM

My fav rendition of this song:

Raglan Road

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