It is news such as this that makes the Renaissance Man feel older. As a child, many happy family hours were spend listening to, and singing along with, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem...a set of their recordings still sits in the Renaissance Man's CD collection. I learned "The Foggy Dew" from their records...before I learned the Act of Contrition.
And so, the news today that Tommy Makem has died, joining with Pat and Tom Clancy in the great Band in Heaven, is bittersweet. While it brings back happy memories of listening to the songs with my parents, particularly my mom, it is sad to know that the great voice is now silenced.
Makem was a wonderful singer, musician, storyteller and songwriter. Anyone familiar with the genre is familiar with the classic "Four Green Fields".
The Renaissance Man is irritated by the Associated Press obituary (appearing in the Toronto Star among other places) which discusses this song. It says
He brought audiences to tears with "Four Green Fields," about a woman whose sons
died trying to prevent strangers from taking her fields.
Of course, anyone who knows anything about the singer, or history, knows that is not what the song is about. The "Four Green Fields" are the four ancient counties of Ireland. The "stranger" stealing the fields is England, and the lost "field" is Ulster. The "old lady" is Ireland herself.
Makem was an Irish nationaist and one sadness is that he died before seeing Ireland united. That said, the Good Friday Accord has set the wheels in motion and we know that one day, within the next generation, Ireland will be re-united.
The Renaissance man hopes that Tommy Makem, watching from his stool up above, will have a smile when the "old lady" finally gets back her "lost field".
0 comments:
Post a Comment