FTX-169 - ROCKING THE CRADLE

SEAMUS ENNIS

The outstanding Irish collector-folksinger with 19 songs encountered on his travels, of which 7 are in Gaelic. A number are for dandling or lullaby, others may awake the celtic spark. This selection includes many of the songs that Seamus made widely popular, including: AS I WALKED THROUGH DUBLIN CITY, THE RATTLING BOG, LIMERICK RAKE, UNCLE FROG, Mrs McGRATH and SOLDIER, SOLDIER, WILL YOU MARRY ME?

1. THE LIMERICK RAKE - 3'28"

2. Song in Gaelic: WILL YOU MARRY ME? - 0'44"

3. SOLDIER, SOLDIER (talk bef/ tune on fiddle bef & aft) - 2'17"

4. GREEN GRASS IT GROWS BONNY (talk aft) - 2'43"

5. THE RARE BOG, A RATTLING BOG (THE TREE IN THE BOG - talk aft) - 3'04"

6. THE SUMMER IS COME - 1'17"

7. UNCLE FROG (talk aft) - 1'34"

8. DANCE TO YOUR DADDY-O (with fiddle/ sung twice) - 1'24"

9 & 10. Song in Gaelic: MOLLY MALONE (translated bef/ talk aft) - 0.10" & 5'26"

11. IF ALL THE YOUNG MAIDENS (with fiddle bef & aft) - 1'23"

12. Song in Gaelic: THE WOMAN OF THE FAIRY MOUND (talk bef & aft) - 3'57"

13. Song in Gaelic: THE STOLEN PIG (talk bef & aft) - 1'42"

14. Mrs McGRATH - 3'08"

15. Song in Gaelic: TOO MUCH BUTTER (talk bef & aft) - 1'49"

16. Song in Gaelic: THE LOST PUPPY (talk bef & aft) - 1'47"

17. AS I WALKED THROUGH DUBLIN CITY - 1'00"

18. Song in Gaelic: I'LL GO TO KANNORE (talk bef & aft) - 1'42"

19. Song in Gaelic: LULLABY (talk aft) - 0'50"

20. THE OLD MAN ROCKING THE CRADLE - 2'20"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy in London 1958. Edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1982.

SEAMUS ENNIS (1919-1982). Born in Jamestown, Dublin, his father worked for the Irish government and played fiddle, flute and the (mouth-blown) Highland or War Pipes. Seamus's mother, who came from Co. Monaghan, also played fiddle and encouraged him in his folk music interests. After leaving a commercial college in Dublin in 1938, Seamus worked for 4 years with Colm O Lochlainn at The Three Candles Press, and it was here that he developed an interest in folk song. In 1942 he joined The Irish Folklore Commission as a folk music collector and during the next 5 years he was to travel all over Ireland and Western Scotland writing down and memorising hundreds of tunes and stories. He also translated Gaelic songs for the Hebridean collection of John Lorne Campbell. In 1947 Seamus was offered a job at Radio Eireann, and it was during this period that he acted as a guide to the American folk collecrtor, Alan Lomax. As a result of this, in 1951, he found himself working for the BBC, alongside Peter Kennedy, collecting folk music and dialect in Britain and Ireland for BBC Recorded Programmes Permanent Library. Out of this came the regular weekly Sunday morning radio programmes, AS I ROVED OUT, in which Seamus and Peter presented the people they had met on their travels and played their recordings.

Other recordings of SEAMUS on FOLKTRAX:-

FTX-079: MUSIC AT THE GATE

FTX-302: FOLKTALES & INSTRUMENTALS

FTX-374: UILLEAN BAGPIPES