The South Wind waltz

South wind of the gentle rain, you banish winter weather
Bring salmon to the pool again, the bees among the heather
If northward now you mean to blow, as you rustle soft above me
God speed be with you as you go and a kiss for those that love me

From south I come with velvet breeze, my word all nature blesses,
I melt the snow and strew the leaves with flowers and warm caresses;
I’ll help you to dispel your woes, with joy I’ll take your greeting
And bear it to your loved Mayo upon my wings so fleeting.

Ny Connaught, famed for wine and play, so leal, so gay, so loving
Here’s my fond kiss I send today borne on the wind in its roving.
Those Munster folk are good and kind, right royally they treat me

My very first Irish band was called “Southwind.” This was back in 1973 in Southern California - we were based near Santa Monica.

very beautiful tune. thank for posting it and the lyrics as well!

But this land I’d gladly leave behind
With your Connacht pipes to greet me

I love this song. Archie Fisher does a fine job of it on his recording “The Man With A Rhyme”, Folk Legacy records.
One correction in the lyrics printed above,
it should be:
“… strew the leas (meadows) with flowers…”
It sounds like leaves, but the word is really leas.

Last verse complete:
My Connaght famed for wine and play,
So leal, so gay, so loving,
Here’s my fond kiss I send today,
Borne on the wind in its roving.
These Munster folk are good and kind,
Right royally they treat me,
But this land I’d gladly leave behind,
With your Connaght pipes to greet me.

Another song set to this tune was done by Thomas Moore. I’ve seen it titled in recordings as “Love in Secret”, an instrumental on Hyperion’s issue of “Thomas Moore’s Melodies”, and sung on the 2CD set of “Dear Harp of My Country”, issued by J.S. Sanders & Co., as “I’ve A Secret To Tell Thee”. Thomas Moore, as many in Ireland at the time, referred to Egyptian mythology in his lyrics, a god pictured as a boy with his finger to his mouth, the god of discretion.

I’ve A Secret To Tell Thee
Thomas Moore (tune, South Wind)

I’ve a secret to tell thee, but hush, not here,
Oh, not where the world it’s vigil keeps,
I’ll seek to whisper it in thine ear.
Some shore where the spirit of Silence sleeps,
Where summer’s wave unmurm’ring dies,
Nor fay can hear the fountain’s gush,
Where if but a note her nightbird sighs,
The Rose saith chidingly, “Hush, sweet hush”.

There ‘mid the deep silence of that hour,
When stars can be heard in ocean’s dip,
Thyself shall under some rosy bower,
Sit mute with thy finger on thy lip.
Like him, the boy, who born among
The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush,
Sits ever thus, his only song,
To earth and heaven, “Hush, sweet hush”.
(or in last line, “Hush, all hush”.)

There is another contemporary set of lyrics to South Wind that is really attuned to the session experience. It is called “All The Tunes In The World”, You can find it by searching the Mudcat Cafe forum.
go to http://ragtime.mudcat.com or http://www.mudcat.com .

Alice Flynn

I made a mistake on the URL I posted to get the lyrics for All The Tunes In The World… it should be org, not com.
http://ragtime.mudcat.org or http://www.mudcat.org/
Do a forum search and you will find the lyrics in a discussion thread.

Alice Flynn

The lyrics I referred to were written by Ewan McVicar. This is what he says about it:
“The All The Tunes In The World air is an amended
version of The South Wind - key difference is that the original has more notes at the end of each line, and in some phrases. The song was
written for Jim Daily, who would not stop playing tunes at closing time - when at last he did he would start to ‘diddle’ the tunes to me,
while the publican told me to stop him! The publican could tell that there was no use him trying to talk sense to a fiddle player, but I play
guitar so am clearly more sensible. My lyric as given above, except that I wrote and sing ‘playtime is done’, not ‘o’er’, which was Janet
Russell’s amendation in her wonderful recording of the song. By the way, the ‘gantry’ is the frame behiond the bar where the bottles and
glasses hang. Best regards.” Ewan

All the tunes in the world
Ewan McVicar

Lay down the borrowed guitar
Lay down the fiddle and bow
You’d like one more drink from the bar
But the manager says you must go.

CHORUS:
And all the tunes in the world
Are dancing around in your head
But the clock on the gantry says playtime is o’er
You’ll just have to sing them instead.

Lay down the jig and the reel
Lay down the planxty and slide
Everyone knows how you feel
But there’s no time to take one more ride.

The barmaid has put on her coat
And the barman has emptied the slops
The manager’s pals are afraid
The music will bring in the cops.

Everyone here feels the same
Oh yes, you deserve one more tune
But you know the rules of the game
It’s time to go howl at the moon.

Have fun singing,
Alice Flynn

We always closed our gigs with this one, but we played it in Bflat, hehe. Brings tears to the eyes, it does. Thanks for the memories! 🙂

T:An Ghaoth Andheas
M:3/4
L:1/8
S:Dan Healy & Ciaran O’Raghallaighg : The Windy Turn
R:waltz
K:G
c2|B3A G2|B3c d2|A3B A2|D4 cd|B3A G2|E3D E2|1G4 G2|G4:|2G3A G2|G3B d2||
g4 g2|g3f e2|d3e d2|d4 cd|B3A G2|B3c d2|A3B A2|A2B2d2|
g3a g2|g3f e2|d3e d2|d4 cA|B3A G2|Ac-c2 F2|G3A G2|G4|

Hello,
As part of research for a play I’m writing, I need to know what year the Irish waltz “Southwind” was written. If it was AFTER 1895 I have another question: Do you have titles for any waltzes written in Ireland PRIOR to 1895?

Thanks so much.

Lawrence Bullock

“South Wind was written in the 1700s by “Freckled Donal Macnamara” in homesickness for his homeland in County Mayo, as described in Donal O’Sullivan’s wonderful book, “Songs of the Irish.”

I found it! Thanks for reading but there’s no need to reply now.

Cheers!

I’ve got it in D major, with many differences, mine is more simple. I like both now. 😀

Marian

Is there an instrument that this is not breathtaking on? Harp - flute - whistle - violin - cello - I love this tune.

Thanks for putting the lyrics up here - I did not know it had lyrics - I first heard it from the Cheiftains. Side note: I saw the Cheiftains in Eugene last year and won’t soon forget it.

http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm
http://sniff.numachi.com/aidx/aidxS.html
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiSOUTHWND;ttSOUTHWND.html

X: 1
T: South Wind, The
S: Digital Tradition, southwnd
D: Recorded by Archie Fisher. He credits it to Donal O’Sullivan.
D: Redpath, who also recorded it, calls it trad. SD, BW
O: Irish
Z: dt:southwnd
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
Q: 1/4=100
W: South wind of the gentle rain, you banish winter weather ~

“Music from Ireland: Volume One”
compiled by Dave Bulmer & Neil Sharpley
ISBN: 0-9503784-02

Page 31, tune #79

X: 3
T: South Wind, The
S: Bulmer & Sharpley: “Music from Ireland: Volume One”
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Gmaj
|: dc |\
B3 A G2 | B3 c d2 | A6 | A2 dc | B3 A G2 | E3 D E2 | G6 | G4 :|
|: Bd |\
g4 gf | g2 f2 e2 | d6 | d4 c2 | B3 A G2 |[1 B3 c d2 | A6 | A4 :|[2 Ac- c2 F2 | G6 | G4 |]

Here is a beautiful version on guitar which he follows with The Blarney Pilgrim. He uses the tuning DADGBD and quickly tunes his 5th string to G in mid flow for the 2nd tune. There is another guitar version by Pat Kirtley in DADGAD tuning on the CD The Blarney Pilgrim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEy-tPyy-vw

play video

X: 5
T: An Gaoth Aneas / The South Wind
S: Cathal McConnell
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: GMaj
|: d2 | B3 A G2 | B3 c d2 | A3 B A2 | A4 d2 |
B3 A G2 | E3 D E2 | G3 A G2 | G4 :|
d2 | g4 g2 | g3 f e2 | d3 e d2 | d4 c2 |
B3 A G2 | B3 c d2 | A3 B A2 | A4 d2 |
g4 g2 | g3 f e2 | d3 e d2 | d4 c2 |
B3 A G2 | Ac- c2 F2 | G3 A G2 | G4 |]

T: An Gaoth Aneas / The South Wind - with some variations

|: c2 | B3 A G2 | B2 c2 d2 | A3 B A^G | A4 dc |
B2 BA G2 | E3 D E2 | G6- | G4 :|
d2 | g3 a gf | g2 f/g/f e2 | d3 e d2 | d4 c2 |
B3 A G2 | B2 c2 d2 | A3 B A2 | A4 d/e/f |
g2 ga gf | g2 f2 e2 | d3 e d2 | d4 cd |
B3 d G2 | Ac- c2 F2 | G3 A GF | G4 |]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tD6O-qi9Z4&list=PL-4zK9iq9WNOysP9qRCDFInP4Eiz0yk6o

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bek_XoGT39E

play video

http://www.tinwhistletutorials.com/
http://www.tinwhistletutorials.com/lessons/lesson.asp?TutorialID=11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t3efUqxYNI

play video

This is the version of this song that I play, albeit with many variations, taken my garbled memory of a Joanie Madden recording which can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrTiefl3TVI

play video

I hope this maybe opens up some new possibilities for this tune, though it sticks relatively close to the traditional style.
Have fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3FVxaibIro

play video

x:10 is a good setting I think and part 1 is different from part 1 of previous settings. BUT 1st time repeat sounds weird on MIDI - I don’t know why my transcription went wrong, it seemed OK to me from the MS. Maybe someone can advise?

Sure! You included a pickup at the beginning, but didn’t chop it off the end. The G4 following the repeat would also be cut off to make the bars even. You can edit the setting and insert the following.

dc | B3 A G2 |B2 c2 d2 | d4 cB |A4 dc |
B3 A G2 | E2 D2 E3 | G6 |G4 :|
d2 | g4 ga | g2 f2 e2 | d4 c2 | B4 dc |
B3 A G2 |B2 c2 d2 | d4 cB | A4 d2 |
g4 ga | g2 f2 e2 | d4 c2 |B4 dc |
B3 A G2 | A2 c2 F2 | G6 | G6 |]

Tweaked x:10 and it’s better.

I’m out of the country, left my songbook at home, and was just looking for this very song two days ago! I kept calling it The East Wind, so of course I didn’t find it –thanks so much for posting it!