The Bells of Dublin (Paddy Moloney)
Past Three O’Clock (with the Renaissance Singers)
Don Oiche Ud I Mbeithil
A Breton Carol
The Holly She Bears a Berry
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Rebel Jesus (Jackson Browne) / Skyline Jig (P. Moloney)
from The Dingle Set:
Dance (?) – Chieftains & Friends. I’m not sure about the title of this piece; I believe it’s part of the medley given as “Medley: ‘The Wren! The Wren!’/The Dingle Set – Dance/The Wren in the Furze/A Dance Duet – Reels/Brafferton Village/Walsh’s Hornpipe/The Farewell” (wikipedia)
The Wren in the Furze
Brafferton Village
The Christmas Reel
The Bells of Dublin was released in 1991 almost 30 years after the formation of the band. I will certainly try to profile some of the earlier albums soon.
From the bio at allmusic.com by Bruce Eder
The Chieftains were first formed in Dublin during 1963, as a semi-professional outfit, from the ranks of the top folk musicians in Ireland. Until that time, and for some years after, the world’s (and even Ireland’s) perception of Irish folk songs was rooted in either the good-natured boisterousness and topicality of acts such as the Irish Rovers or Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers, or the sentimentality of Mary O’Hara. That began to change in Ireland with the advent of Ceoltoiri Cualann, a group formed from the ranks of the best traditional Irish musicians by a composer named Sean Ó Riada, who hailed from County Cork. Ceoltoiri Cualann, which specialized in instrumental music, stripped away the pop music inflections from Irish music — the dances were played with a natural lilt and abandon that came from deep within the music’s origins, and the airs, stripped of their worst modern inflections, came across with even greater poignancy than anyone had recognized them for in decades, and perhaps centuries. Tempos were changed in midsong, from reel to polka to jig to slow air and back again.
Paddy Moloney came out of Ceoltoiri Cualann to found the Chieftains in 1963, seeking to carry this work several steps further. The earliest recorded incarnation of the group consisted of Moloney (pipes), Sean Potts (tin whistle), Martin Fay (fiddle), David Fallon (bodhran), Mick Tubridy (flute, concertina), and Ó Riada. They were a success virtually from the beginning, their music weaving a spell around audiences in Ireland and later in England, where they quickly became popular as both a performing and recording act — the only thing holding them back was the decision by the members to 
remain a semi-professional, part-time ensemble until the early ’70s. Their first four albums, spread over a period from 1965 through 1973, were originally available only from the Claddagh label in Ireland, but were later picked up by Island Records for release in England and America in 1976, after the group had achieved international renown.
The 1970s saw the group break big in America. A new, younger generation of Irish-American listeners,
who enjoyed folk music and whose cultural and musical tastes weren’t limited to songs about “the troubles” (i.e., England), had already begun discovering the Chieftains’ music in the early to mid-’70s. By that time, the group had elected to go professional, and to expand its lineup. Ó Riada and Fallon left after the first album, and Peadar Mercier (bodhran) and Sean Keane (fiddle) joined with the second. Following the recording of Chieftains 4, they’d added Ronnie McShane (percussion) and Derek Bell (harp, oboe, timpan), a classically trained musician. Bell’s harp lent the group’s sound a final degree of elegance and piquancy.
The group’s big breakthrough in America, however, occurred when they provided the music for Stanley Kubrick’s 1975 movie, Barry Lyndon. The film itself wasn’t a hit, but the Chieftains were, especially one track called “Women of Ireland,” which began getting played heavily on FM progressive rock stations, and even managed to get onto the play lists of some Top 40 stations. Suddenly, the Chieftains were hot in America, and a U.S. tour and a series of performances on television — especially the network morning news/feature shows — brought them into demand.
By that time, Island Records had contracted to release both the group’s latest album, Chieftains 5, and their four previous records in England and America. With their newfound audience, Chieftains records started coming out every year instead of every two or three years — Bonaparte’s Retreat in 1976, Chieftains Live in 1977, and Chieftains 7, 8, and 9 in 1978, 1979, and 1980, respectively, although for their U.S. releases, from 1977 through 1980, they abandoned Island Records in favor of Columbia Records. Ever since the dawn of the CD era, their music has been available on compact disc from Shanachie Records, while their more recent work has shown up on the BMG label, on both compact disc and home video. The latter have included a Christmas concert and a mixed-ensemble performance interweaving the group with orchestras, American folk and country musicians, and rock musicians, and an album (Irish Heartbeat, 1988) recorded with Irish-born R&B shouter Van Morrison. Additionally, the group has been engaged steadily for film work.
Since the late ’70s, the group’s recordings have settled into an effective but not fully inspired level of creativity. The band has kept its sound fresh with the periodic addition of new members and a search for sounds beyond the boundaries of Ireland — as distant as Spain — as sources for its music.
In 2003, long time harp player Derek Bell passed away while on tour in Phoenix, AZ. The group, who continue to play and record, released a tribute in 2005 called Live in Dublin.
O’Donoghue’s Opera is an Irish film starring Ronnie Drew and his bandmates in The Dubliners. The film is a mock opera, based on the ballad “The Night That Larry Was Stretched”. It was shot in 1965, but was left uncompleted after the film’s production ran into financial difficulties. In 1996 filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle of Loopline film oversaw its restoration, and it was first shown at the Dublin Film Festival in the late 1990s. – wiki
full
1/4
2
3
4
The Night Before Larry was Stretched
c. 1816 – Author unknown; see notes.
I
The night before Larry was stretch’d,
The boys they all paid him a visit;
A bit in their sacks, too, they fetch’d—
They sweated their duds till they riz it; [1 pawned their clothes
For Larry was always the lad,
When a friend was condemn’d to the squeezer, [2 gallows or rope
But he’d pawn, all the togs* that he had, [3 clothes
Just to help the poor boy to a sneezer, [4 drink
And moisten his gob ’fore he died.
II
‘’Pon my conscience, dear Larry’, says I,
‘I’m sorry to see you in trouble,
And your life’s cheerful noggin run dry,
And yourself going off like its bubble!’
‘Hould your tongue in that matter,’ says he;
‘For the neckcloth I don’t care a button, [5 halter
And by this time to-morrow you’ll see
Your Larry will be dead as mutton:
All for what? ‘Kase his courage was good!’
III
The boys they came crowding in fast;
They drew their stools close round about him,
Six glims round his coffin they placed— [6 candles
He couldn’t be well waked without ’em,
I ax’d if he was fit to die,
Without having duly repented?
Says Larry, ‘That’s all in my eye,
And all by the clargy invented,
To make a fat bit for themselves.
IV
Then the cards being called for, they play’d,
Till Larry found one of them cheated;
Quick he made a hard rap at his head—
The lad being easily heated,
‘So ye chates me bekase I’m in grief!
O! is that, by the Holy, the rason?
Soon I’ll give you to know you d—d thief!
That you’re cracking your jokes out of sason,
And scuttle your nob with my fist’.
V
Then in came the priest with his book
He spoke him so smooth and so civil;
Larry tipp’d him a Kilmainham look, [7 see Notes
And pitch’d his big wig to the devil.
Then raising a little his head,
To get a sweet drop of the bottle,
And pitiful sighing he said,
‘O! the hemp will be soon round my throttle,
And choke my poor windpipe to death!’
VI
So mournful these last words he spoke,
We all vented our tears in a shower;
For my part, I thought my heart broke
To see him cut down like a flower!
On his travels we watch’d him next day,
O, the hangman I thought I could kill him!
Not one word did our poor Larry say,
Nor chang’d till he came to King William; [8 see Notes
Och, my dear! then his colour turned white.
VII
When he came to the nubbing-cheat,
He was tack’d up so neat and so pretty;
The rambler jugg’d off from his feet, [9 cart
And he died with his face to the city.
He kick’d too, but that was all pride,
For soon you might see ’twas all over;
And as soon as the nooze was untied,
Then at darkey we waked him in clover, [10 night
And sent him to take a ground-sweat. [11 buried him
Notes
Neither the authorship nor the date of these inimitable verses are definitely known. According to the best authorities, Will Maher, a shoemaker of Waterford, wrote the song. Dr. Robert Burrowes, Dean of St. Finbar’s Cork, to whom it has been so often attributed, certainly did not. Often quoted in songbooks and elsewhere.
Stanza V: line 3. Kilmainham, a gaol near Dublin.
Stanza VI: line 7. King William, the statute of William III erected on College Green in commemoration of the Battle of the Boyne. It was long the object of much contumely on the part of the Nationalists. It was blown to pieces in 1836, but was subsequently restored.
Taken from Musa Pedestris, Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536―1896], collected and annotated by John S. Farmer.
My source for the above text, ballad and notes, is fromoldbooks.org.
Gweedore coast
Bunbeg Beach
Dunlewey (Dún Lúiche), one of the five principle “townlands” of Gweedore
Island Roy panorama with holiday homes
1. Landscape and place names of Gweedore
a. Na Casaidigh perform Trasna na dTonnta, Gaelic for ‘across the waves’. The pictures are of Gweedore in the Donegal Gaeltacht
b. Ar Éirinn Ní Neosfainn Cé Hí - Maria McCool
c. Slide show with places identified. Music: Níl Sé’n Lá – Clannad
d. Gleanntáin Ghlas’ Ghaoth Dobhair, a song about Gweedore, written by Proinsias Ó Maonaigh or Francie Mooney (1922 – March 28, 2006) and performed here by Altan.
e. Cósta Ghaoth Dobhair (The Gweedore Coast). A video showing the Gweedore coast. Music by Enya: The Longships and part of River, both from her 1988 album Watermark.
f. Homes of Donegal (Seán MacBride) – Paul Brady
The youtube provider of the last attaches this information:
This song was written by Seán MacBride in about 1955, Seán was a native of Cruit island which is in the Rosses area of Donegal (West Donegal). He was a school Teacher at St.Baithins school in the Carrigans/St.Johnston area (East Donegal) for most of his life. Seán passed away at the age of 90 in August 1996 and is buried on Cruit Island.
Seán only wrote the lyrics, the actual air itself is maybe 150 or more years old, there are many songs around using the same melody, but to my ears the closest one is a song called “The Faughan Side”, This song was part of the Curriculum in national schools in East Donegal and as Seán was a Teacher in the “Laggan Valley” (South Inishowen) I’m pretty sure that is were he got his inspiration for the “Homes of Donegal”. This version by Paul Brady is from his 1985 album “Back to the Centre”
Mount Errigal
the photo is titled “labourer’s house Gweedore”
2. Irish Gaelic – The History of Gweedore is a television program. Broken up into three parts by the youtube provider.
a. – Gnéithe do Stair Ghaoth Dobhair
b. – Topics:
Father James McFadden
Landlords
Land League
Cogadh na Talún
Plan of Campaign
Michael Davitt
An Piobaire Mor
c. – Topics:
An Tuile Mór
Sean Teach an Pobal
Derrybeg
Doire Beaga
An Sagart Mór
Na Doirí Beaga
Gaoth Dobhair
Gweedore
Great flood
Mass
_________________________
Tráthnóna Beag Aréir – Maria McCool
Thíos i lár an ghleanna
Tráthnóna beag aréir
Agus an drúcht ‘na dheora geala
Ina luí ar bharr an fhéir
‘S ea casadh domhsa an ainnir
Ab áille gnúis is pearsa
‘S í sheol mo stuaim chun seachráin
Tráthnóna beag aréir
Agus a Rí, nár lách ár n-ealaín
‘Gabháil síos an gleann aréir
Ag éalú fríd an chanach
Agus ciúineas ins an spéir
A rún mo chléibh nár mhilis
Ár súgradh croí ’s nár ghairid
Ó ’s a Rí na glóire gile
Tabhair ar ais an oíche aréir
Dá bhfaighinnse arís cead pilleadh
Agus labhairt le stór mo chléibh
Nó dá bhrfaighinnse buaidh ar chinniúint
Cér mhiste liom fán tsaol?
Shiúlfainn leat fríd chanach
Is fríd mhéilte ar chiumhais na mara
Agus dúiche Dé dá gcaillfinn
Go bpógfainnse do bhéal
Agus a Rí, nár lách ár n-ealaín
‘Gabháil síos an gleann aréir
Ag éalú fríd an chanach
Agus ciúineas ins an spéir
A rún mo chléibh nár mhilis
Ár súgradh croí ’s nár ghairid
Ó ’s a Rí na glóire gile
Tabhair ar ais an oíche aréir
