Soldiers who wanna be Heroes

This is a song by Rod Mckuen.
Born Rodney Marvin McKuen in Oakland, California, McKuen ran away from home at the age of eleven to escape an alcoholic stepfather and to send what money he could to his mother. After a series of jobs, from logger, ranch hand, railroad worker to rodeo cowboy[citation needed], throughout the west, he turned to live poetic performance. McKuen began in the 1950s to give poetry readings, appearing with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; during this time, he often used the pseudonym "Dor."
McKuen moved to New York City in 1959 to compose and conduct for the TV show The CBS Workshop. During the early 1960s he spent most of his time in France. There he began to translate the work of Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel into English.
McKuen wrote over 1500 songs, accounting for over 100 million records. His symphonies, concertos, and other classical works have been performed by orchestras around the globeHis work as a composer in the film industry has garnered him two Academy  awards nominations.^[

 

Good Morning to Your Night Cap

This is a fast reel, here played by Karen Ashbrook


I've made a transcription for bouzouki and low whistle, with thanks to Dominique Rivière for the bouzoukiscore

Le Canal En Octobre

This is a melody of Frederic Paris, played as a scottish.

Botany Bay

Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay. Two runways of Sydney Airport extend into the bay.


On 29 April 1770, Botany Bay was the site of James Cook's first landing of HMS Endeavour on the continent of Australia, after his extensive navigation of New Zealand. Later the British planned Botany Bay as the site for a penal colony. Out of these plans came the first European habitation of Australia at Sydney Cove.

Off to California (hornpipe)

Three Drunken Maidens

Craonne

A song, created by a unknown soldier, during Word War 1.
This song has been forbidden during long years by the french and untill now, there are lots of French who walked away the moment they hear this song.

The Arboretum de Craonne (7 hectares ) is an arboretum located near Craonne, Aisne, Picardie, France. The arboretum was planted on the site of the former village of Craonne, totally devastated in April-May 1917 by French artillery during World War I, and serves as its memorial. Its cratered terrain is a reminder of the war's extreme destruction. Today the arboretum contain 57 varieties of trees, together with signs displaying maps and photos of the former village. It is open daily without charge.

Lannigan's Ball

Also known as a fast jig, you can hear it here as a beautifull song by the Bards

Star of the County Down

This well-known song is brought here by GT Moore, an English folksinger. With the Folky Towers we enjoyed some jamsessions with him.


Here you have the sheet music of the Star of County Down, played as a jig

Princess Royal/Miss Mc Dermit

Another lovely O'Carolan tune, here played with classical guitar

An Spailpin Fanach

"An Spailpin Fanach" is an early Irish version of a song that became one of America's most widely known folk tunes. Known originally as "The Bard of Armagh," the melody migrated westward, evolving eventually into a popular song, "The Girl I Left Behind Me."

You can hear the version by Dervish


You find two sheets of music, one with the tune of Spailpin Fanach, the other is the song "The Girl I left Behind"

Three JIGS

I buried my wife and danced on top of her

A lovely Jig with a rather amazing title, here played by one of my favourite bands, Dervish

Bendemeer's stream

Thomas Moore (1779-1852) wrote these lyrics for Bendemeer's Stream. Around 1900 Percy French wrote the lyrics by which the tune is better known as The Mountains Of Mourne,

The sheet music with piano

Preab San Ol

18th century Irish song by Riocard Bairéid, originally in Gaelic; English version by Donald O' Sullivan


1.Why spend your leisure bereft of pleasure?
Amassing treasure you'll scrape and save.
Why look so canny at ev'ry penny?
You'll take no money within the grave.
Landlords and gentry with all their plenty
Must still go empty where'er they're bound,
So to my thinking, we'd best be drinking,
Our glasses clinking on- another round.

2. The huxter greedy will grind the needy
Their straits unheeding, shouts: 'money down!'
His special vice is his fancy prices,
For a florin's value he'll charge a pound.
With hump for trammel, the scripture's camel
Missed the needle's eye and so came to ground
Why pine for riches when still you've stitches
To hold your britches up- another round.

3.The shipmen trading in Spain and Aden
Return well laden with oil and corn.
And from Gibraltar their course they'll alter
And steer for Malta and the Golden Horn.
With easy motion they sail life's ocean
With ne'er a notion they'll soon run aground,
So lads and lasses make all your passes
And fill your glasses for.. another round.

4. King Solomon's glory, so famed in story,
Was far outshone by the lily's guise.
But cold winds harden both field and garden;
Pleading for pardon, the lily dies.
Life's but a bubble of toil and trouble,
A feathered arrow, once shot ne'er found.
It's nought but miming, so ends my rhyming
And still we've time in for- another round.

La Ballade Nord-Irlandaise

This is the French translation of the Irish song 'The water is wide', beautifull brought by Renaud.

The sheet music of this song: