Four comments
Children’s Songs From Ireland
a Fonn record c/o Gael-Linn 1996
When I Was Young
There’s no shortage of praise for this now classic collection of songs in English. (see for example: http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/webrevs/fonncd001.htm)
It makes very enjoyable listening for grownups too as it is a far, far cry from the cheap nursery rhyme recordings that have driven many a driver or child minder insane! Hear for yourself (extracts) at : http://www.chivalry.com/shortdescs/when_I_was_young.html
Here’s a lyrics sampler I put together for you;
‘I have […] a song for every day’ and it’s true:
‘Johnny when you die will you leave to me the fiddle O’
‘I have a dream of snow’
‘With a hey, with a ho, with a sound of a drum’
‘Miss Frog was splashing in the pond
Of which she was extremely fond’
‘And she’s got sweethearts 20, 18 and 16 and […] none’
‘She had a dark and a roving eye’
‘All the little rabbits All engaging in their habits
And they’re all having fun but me’
‘Every rose grows merry and fine
Between the salt-sea and the salt-sea strand’
‘When I was young I had no sense
I bought a fiddle for eighty pence…’
‘What did you have to eat, my beloved one
Poisons Beans, poison beans’
‘Now the next thing he called for was water to console-ium
But old Nick shouted to shovel on the coal-ium’
‘hard green pears, Conversation lozenges’
‘What would you do if the kettle boiled over!?
‘I’ll give you a diamond pin
If that’s the way that love begins’
‘If it be I he will wag his tail
But if it be not he will bark and wail’
‘The moral of this story is
Never stick a penknife in a baby’s heart’
‘Why did he go and act that way?
Cause he was a foold and us all do say’
‘The moon is moving over Poll na Brón’
‘Fair Rosa will not sleep no more,
A long time ago’
‘Her face full of wrinkles
And her eyes were all twinkles
And her voice full of tinkles’
‘I went down to Cork and I met a little tailor
Put him in my pocket for fear the dogs would eat him…’
‘The next came in was a big fat snail
And his pipes upon his tail’
‘said the lovely little child
Who was only seven years old’
‘When he woke up, sure he found he was dead’
for children (never mind the number of years) who ‘know where [they are] going’
‘There’s tea in the teapot
And bread on the shelf
If you want any more
You can sing it yourself’
(The last 4 lines above end their version of ‘Do You Love An Apple’ but they’re frequently heard in folk songs)
additional lyrics
Do anyone have the lyrics to Early in the Morning? I’m not able to make out one line in the second verse, particularly.