Three Tune Tuesday - Drill Ye Tarriers / The Islands / Kilkelly

Hi Folks

This week for Three Tune Tuesday Im going with the theme of songs that tell stories.

I guess in a way most songs tell stories but the 3 I have picked this week are 3 which paint vivid images in my minds eye. The lyrics kind of create a movie which plays in my mind.

I've always felt that's what a good folk song should do, take the listener on a journey to far of times and places and tell the stories of the characters who lived there.

The first song is "Drill Ye Tarries,Drill" which is a song from 1888.A Tarrier was the name for the Irish labourers who drilled the holes for the dynamite to go in to create railroad tunnels.

I first heard this song played by Donal Clancy ,the eldest son of Liam Clancy. There is an older version from a Liam Clancy and Tommy Makem album so I guess Donal got this one from his father.

Song 2 is "The Islands" by Ralph McTell.I heard this one on a Bill Connelly video which was filmed in 1991.In the video Billy is heading up to do a show in Orkney , one of Scotland's Northern islands. As he is on the ferry the first verse of this song plays. I thought the lyrics were powerful and did paint a very vivid image of Island life. I couldn't find the chords for this one so I came up with my own progression which goes Am/G/Em/Am Am/C/G.

The last song of this set is called "Kilkelly" I heard this one on a Clancy Brothers concert from 1995 which is on youtube.

Robbie O'Connell ,The Clancys nephew plays this one ,he sings it beautifully and his guitar acompanment really suits the song.Agian I couldnt find the chords for this one so I came up with my own progression.

This one tells the story of a father writing to his eldest son who has emigrated to America in 1860.Back then it was rare than people who emigrated to America would ever make it back to Ireland.It likely cost a fortune and would take weeks at sea to make the return journey.Only around 1 out of 10 people who emigrated ever made it back.

The story goes that the song writer Peter Jones found letters in an attic in Washington from his great grandfather and based the song on those letters.

Get the handkerchiefs out, this one is a bit of a tear jerker.

Thats all from me until next week folks.

Take care and stay safe!