【St. Patrick's Day】几首著名的爱尔兰民歌

爱尔兰的每个郡都有自己的民歌。在都柏林听到几首好听的爱尔兰民歌。有的是情歌 love song；有的是Ballad（中文译成叙事民歌），歌词美的像诗歌，向人们叙述着往事。

1. Gold & Silver Days

作词：Sean O'riada

作曲：  Phil Coulter

演唱：Patty Reilly

英文歌词

As I sit here by the fireside
I'm turning back the years.
I can hear my mother singing in the morning
As she scrubbed our shining faces
And then packed us off to school.
All too soon those days were over without warning.

So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days,
Days filled with innocence and light.
Not a penny to our name,
We were happy just the same
In our gold and silver days.

In the parlour on a Friday night,
My father took the floor.
I can hear us join together in the chorus,
Singing "Just a Song at Twilight"
And "The Moon behind the Hill".
Now those voices are all silenced, gone before us.

So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days,
Days filled with innocence and light.
Not a penny to our name,
We were happy just the same
In our gold and silver days.

We gathered at the Daisy Field
On Sunday afternoon,
And we danced to Johnny Quigley and the Royal.
Through the years we all were scattered,
But our friends were good and true,
Always there when they were needed, always loyal.

So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days,
Days filled with innocence and light.
Not a penny to our name,
We were happy just the same
In our gold and silver days.

 

2. The Isle of Innisfree.

作词作曲：Richard Farrelly （1916 - 1990）

演唱： Foster&Allen

英文歌词

I've met some folks who say that I'm a dreamer
And I've no doubt there's truth in what they say
But sure a body's bound to be a dreamer
When all the things he loves are far away
And precious things are dreams unto an exile
They take him o'er the land across the sea
Especially when it happens he's an exile
From that dear lovely Isle of Inisfree
And when the moonlight peeps across the rooftops
Of this great city, wondrous though it be,
I scarcely feel its wonder or its laughte
I'm once again back home in Inisfree

I wander o'er green hills through dreamy valleys
And find a peace no other land could know
I hear the birds make music fit for angels
And watch the rivers laughing as they flow
But dreams don't last
Though dreams are not forgotten
And soon I'm back to stern reality
But though they pave the footways here with gold dust
I still would choose the Isle of Inisfree

 

3. The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill

作词作曲： J. P. Skelly

演唱：Foster&Allen

这是一首很老的爱尔兰民歌。这首歌是Thomas Peter Keenan （1866-1927）为几年亡妻而作。可是有人说本歌的原作是JP Skelly。 李子查到最早的歌谱是1881年由纽约Spear & Dehnhoff出版社发行。那时Thomas Keenan才年仅15岁，怎可能有亡妻呢。不管是谁，JP Skelly是个Irish。

英文歌词

I'm thinking tonight

Of the o-old rustic bridge

That bends o'er the murmuri-ing stream

It was there Maggie dear

With our hearts full of cheer

We strayed 'neath the moo-oon's gentle beam

 

'Twas there I first met you

The light in your eyes

Awoke in my heart a sweet thrill

Though now far away

Still my thoughts fondly stray

To the old rustic bri-idge by the mill

 

Beneath it a stream gently rippled

Around it the bir-irds loved to trill

Though now far away

Still my thoughts fondly stray

To the old rustic bri-idge by the mill

 

I keep in my memory

Our love of the past

With me it's as bright as of old

For deep in my heart

It was planted to last

In absence it ne-ever grows cold

 

I think of you darlin'

When lonely at night

And when all is pea-eaceful and still

My heart wanders back

In a dream of delight

To the old rustic bri-idge by the mill

 

Beneath it a stream gently rippled

Around it the bir-irds loved to trill

Though now far away

Still my thoughts fondly stray

To the old rustic bri-idge by the mill

4. A Mother's Love's A Blessing

作词作曲：Thomas Peter Keenan

英文歌词：

An Irish boy was leaving
Leaving his native home,
Crossing the broad Atlantic,
Once more he wished to roam,
And as he was leaving his mother,
While standing on the Quay,
He threw his arms around her waist
And this to her did say:

And as the years grow onward,
I'll settle down in life,
And I'll choose a nice young colleen,
And take her for my wife.
And as the kids grow older,
They'll play around my knee
And I'll teach them the very same lesson
That my mother taught to me:

A mother's love is a blessing,
No matter where you roam.
Keep her while she's living,
You'll miss her when she's gone.
Love her as in childhood,
When feeble, old and grey,
For you'll never miss a mother's love
'til she's buried beneath the clay.

5. Darling Say you Love me When I am Old 

演唱：Foster&Allen

Two lovers that are walking
hand, in hand.

I am wearing a shiny, wedding band.

I said my love, "You've
won my heart, and soul.

So promise that, you'll
love me when I'm old."

And Darling say "You'll
love me when I'm old."

When dark clouds gather round
and nights are cold.

And say "You'll never trade our love
for gold."

Oh Darling say you'll
love me, when I'm old.

I kissed your lips and
touched your gold-den hair.

you looked upon your
face, its young and fair.

I held you gently to my loving, arms.

Saying "Only God above
could make us part."

And Darling say "You'll
love me when I'm old."

When dark clouds gather
round, and nights are cold

And say "You'll never
trade our love, for gold.

Oh Darling say you'll
love me, when I'm old

Break

We lived so many
years as man and, wife.

With seven kids to grace
Our happy, lives.

Sometimes the clouds grew
dark, and nights were cold.

Somehow Our love grew
strong, as we grew old.

Oh Darling say you'll
love me.... when I'm old.

When dark clouds gather
round, and nights are cold

And say "You'll never
trade our love, for gold.

Oh Darling say you'll
love me, when I'm old

Yes Darling say you'll
love me, when I'm old

6. Dublin in My Tears

作词作曲：The Dublin City Ramblers

演唱：Patsy Watchorn

英文歌词

I have travelled many lands and I still don’t understand
How sad you have become on my return
Your poor heart is filled with care, sad and old they left you there
Your once bright eyes with sorrow, softly burn
I can even sense the change in the sound of children’s games
And the dreams of youths' ambitions have all turned to doubt and fear
It’s an age of wealth I’m told, but I’ve never felt so old
As I recall old Dublin in my tears

All the faces that I meet as I roam each one way street
Reflect the empty statements of the times
And the old cathedral bell can’t be heard above the swell
For the years erase the message in her chimes
All my childhood friends are gone, like the street where we were born
And the time that it has taken, doesn’t seem so many years
They have faded in the gloom, with ‘Sap' Kelly of the Coombe
Just a ghost of dear old Dublin in my tears

There were times when jobs were few, there were hungry days we knew
Some days so bad their memory I’ve cursed
And the prayer I said to God, there onboard the 'Princess Maud'
That our children would restore a pride we lost
But the past we all forsake, as they're dancing at her wake
While the heart of Dublin’s dying, but nobody really cares
And the fools, as they pass by, laugh to see an old man cry
I can’t forget old Dublin in my tears

Gather round brave men and true, though our numbers they be few
We’ll drink one toast before I cross the foam
For soon in London’s dark domain, I’ll recall how I became
No more a stranger there than here at home
Now the Liffey flows along and I listen for her song
And the voice of young James Larkin seems to echo in my ears
But its just the rafters ring, to it’s requiem I’ll sing
Farewell to dear old Dublin in my tears
Farewell to dear old Dublin in my tears

7. Field of Athenry

演唱：Paddy Reilly

作词： Pete St. John

去年六月，李子第一次访问都柏林时听到这首歌。当时觉得这首歌的背景很不寻常，便把歌词大意记下。回家后上网一查，果然这首歌是爱尔兰家喻户晓的民歌，而且是反叛音乐（Rebel Music）。曲作者是皮特·圣约翰。歌词作于1970年。故事以1845-1850年间爱尔兰大饥荒为背景，向人们倾诉爱尔兰人经受的苦难。

这首歌自2009年上传到YouTube后，收到六百多万次点击。一位网民是这么评论的：

8. Flight of Earls

上世纪90年代初，李子工作的试验室来了一个叫G·肯尼迪的博士生。他来自爱尔兰的Cork郡，美国前总统约翰·肯尼迪的故乡。G是个很腼腆的年青人。他说他毕业的学校出过一个很有名数学家，叫George Bool。布尔代数，和编程用的Boolean data type是用他命名的。他大学毕业后周游世界，还在中国云南住了一段时间，结交了很多当地的中国师生。

G学习了不到一个学期，突然不辞而别，消失得无影无踪，连导师都不知他的去向。

据李子考察，这首歌作于上世纪八十年代末到九十年代中期。描写的是，当时爱尔兰经济萧条，很多青年被迫流落海外谋生。这歌名“爵士大逃亡”是借用17世纪初爱尔兰贵族战败后被迫逃亡的典故。

第一次听这首歌时，李子回想了起这段往事。在此祝福G人生美满。

作词：The Wolf Tones

演唱： Paddy Reilly

9. Whiskey in the Jar

这首歌是最古老的爱尔兰民歌之一，作于17世纪（作者不详）。YouTube上的这个视频自2010年11月发表以来，已经有1400多万次点击。

演唱：The Dubliners

歌词：

It's as I was going over the Cork and Kerry Mountains
I met with Captain Farrel and his money he was countin'
I first produced my pistol and I then produced my rapier
sayin', "stand and deliver for I am your bold deceiver:

chorus:
mush a ring a ma dor um dah (4 claps)
whack for the daddy Oh (2 claps)
whack for the daddy Oh
there's whiskey in the jar (yell "HEY" with a simultaneous clap)

I counted up my money and it made a pretty penny
I took that money home and I gave it to my Jenny
she promised and she vowed that she never would deceive me
but the devil take the women for they never can be easy CHORUS

I went into my chamber for to take a little slumber
I dreamt of gold and jewels and for sure it was no wonder
but Jenny took my charges and filled them up with water
and sent for Captain Farrel to be ready for the slaughter CHORUS

It was early in the mornin' before I rose to travel
surrounded by the footmen and likewise Captain Farrel
I went for my old pistol for they'd stolen my old rapier
but I couldn't shoot the water so a prisoner I was taken CHORUS

If anyone can save me it's my brother in the army
I think that he is stationed in Cork or in Killarney
and if he would be here we'd be rovin' in Kilkenny
I know he'd treat be better than my darlin' sportin' Jenny CHORUS

Now some take delight in the fishin' and the fowlin'
others take delight in the carriage wheels a rollin
I takes delight in the juice of the barley
and countin' pretty women in the mornin' oh so early CHORUS

10. As I leave behind Neidin

An Neidin是Kenmare的旧称，它是爱尔兰西南部的凯里郡的一个海湾小镇，风景极为优美。2018年六月李子访County Kerry时途径于此，对此地印象极深。

词作者：Jimmy McCarthy

演唱： Paddy Reilly

歌词：