Fields of Athenry »
Posted By Spadecaller 8 months ago in Arts & EntertainmentA Spadecaller video about the potato famine of 1845 to 1851, which killed over a million men, women, and children in Ireland and caused another million to flee the country. This Irish ballad sung by Paddy Reilly is a fictional story about a man from Athenry sentenced for transportation to Australia for stealing food for his starving family. This video features the paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky, William Bougereau, Antonio Mancini, Pierre - Auguste Renoir, and John William Waterhouse.
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Spadecaller
By envisioning, communicating, and creating something different we can help each other find peace and understanding. I usually enjoy the effort despite the obstacles.
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Spadecaller8 months ago
Lyrics:
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By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matter Mary when your free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry. -
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Spadecaller8 months ago
My son came home from school the other day and he was shocked that some of his schoolmates who happened to be Irish knew nothing at all about the Potato Famine of 1845 to 1851.
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His teacher talked about the hardships and suffering that occurred; that people were found dead along the roadside with grass in their mouths. He then played this song for them. My son gave me the name of this song and at his request, I made this video. Hope you enjoy...-
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not2needy8 months ago
I know you are so proud of your son SC, and i bet he's proud of you as well!
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That was a great video. The song brought me to tears! Thanks. -
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BronxBomber8 months ago
A shame that the boy's parent's didn't carry the old fashioned tradition of telling the significance of the history of the Irish around the dinner table for example. Nice one SC. Thanx!
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bruhaha8 months ago
My wife and I saw the National Famine Monument when we were in Ireland it 2006. Very moving.
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Thanks for the great posts.
http://ireland2000seven.com/nationalmonument.html
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hurr1Comment removed: User banned.
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uncle-dave8 months ago
I went to Catholic grade school and never heard anything about the Irish potato famine, and it was the same in the public high school that I went to. A few years ago I saw a docu-drama on PBS about the Irish potato famine and it was only then that I really knew the facts about this tragic event. It has been estimated that between 1 and 1.5 million people died as a result of the “great hunger”. And another 250,000 emigrated to the New World.
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A lot of the deaths could have been averted simply by stopping the grain exports to England, buy the merchants didn’t want to see their business suffer although hundreds of thousands of people were starving.
Excellent work SC. -
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greenmac8 months ago
Thanks Spade. The potato famine is part of our history in this part of Canada. This is a bit of the history of the event.
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FTA
" During the first part of the 1800's, Ireland was supporting its people very largely by its potato crop. It happened that for several seasons these crops were poor and this led to what was known as "The Potato Famine." With their chief means of sustenance removed, many of the people became paupers. To help ease the situation, thousands of these unfortunates were shipped to North America. They were half-starved and in a debilitated state, and the vast majority came in vessels that were poorly provisioned and dreadfully overcrowded. Some owners and masters took the opportunity to make money and added an extra deck in their vessels, allowing them to nearly double the number of passengers they could carry. This practice was fairly widespread and in Saint John alone, thirteen shipmasters were convicted of overcrowding and illfeeding their passengers."
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Endoscopy8 months ago
Typical. Take a disease that killed potatoes and turn it into a thousand year systematic persecution. What garbage. While the English did bad things at that time there were also English who tried to help the starving people. It depended on where the people lived how they were treated.
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CHAM8 months ago
Spadecaller. Beautiful. And it reminded me of the score of the movie "Veronica Guerin", one of the very best ever. I believe the melody was a composition of parts of several Celtic songs sung by Brian O'Donnell and Sinead O' Connor.
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Sometimes when I go to bed i place the score on and listen to it with that haunting melody, especially where some of the "Fields of Athenry" are woven in.
By the Way. Veronica Guerin is a true story. A more courageous woman is hard to imagine. She toppled the drug cartel that was destroying Ireland's youth. And was murdered for her efforts.
It is a must see for those who may have missed it. -
refinanceComment removed: User banned.
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chevydog8 months ago
Really nice song spade, with the usual good visuals. I guess many of us have a portion of Irish in us. It's hard to have a much more streotypical Irish name than my 3g-grandmother Catherine Kennedy.
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quackpot7 months, 2 weeks ago
Certainly a part of my history. Thanks for the beautiful piece, spade.
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