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Tommy Makem   •   The Bard Of Armagh (USA)

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  • The Bard Of Armagh
    • 1970 - GWP ST 2006 LP (USA)
  • Side One
    1. Henry Joy
    2. Leather Wing Bat (Arr. & Adap. Alan & John A. Lomax)
    3. Bard Of Armagh
    4. Erie Canal
    5. Butcher Boy
    6. Farewell to Nova Scotia (H. Creighton)
  • Side Two
    1. Winds Of Morning (T. Makem)
    2. Little Beggar Man
    3. Four Green Fields (T. Makem)
    4. Sally O (T. Makem)
    5. True Love And Time (T. Makem)
    6. Gallowa' Hills

  • Musicians
    • Tommy Makem: Vocals & Banjo
    • Ray Durham: Lead Guitar
    • Dick Barton: Second Guitar
    • Martin Walsh: Bass
  • Credits
    • Produced by Tommy Makem
    • Recording Engineer: Darby Carroll of Eamonn Andrews Studios
    • Cover Design: Dolmen Press Ltd, Dublin
    • All tracks: Trad. Arr. & Adap. T. Makem, unless otherwise noted.

Sleeve Notes

THE BIRTH OF A SONG
I heard last night, a timeless, wondrous song
A song, sweeter in melody and tone than honey
Honey gathered by the busy, buzzing bees in the flowery profusions of the bird-warbling glen
The glen wherein you'll find, on every twig and branch, the blackbird, the thrush and the linnet
The linnet who first sang, in the crystal-clear dewy morning, the tune
The tune which was stolen by the silent, swift, Woman-of-the-Wind
The wind which rippled, with gentle fingertips, the waters on the lonely lake.
The lake wherein dwells the bright golden Salmon of knowledge.
The knowledge that filled his being, with his eating of the precious nuts
The nuts that fell from the All knowing Hazel Tree into the silver-sounding river
The river that flows, stone polishing and many-pooled, from the misty purple mountain
The mountain whereon, dwells in simple solitude, the moon-forgotten lover
The lover who wrung from his soul, the sorrow-knowing words
The words that were inhaled and held captive by the Fairy man
The Fairy man who rode the enchanted white horse
The horse that touched neither land nor water until he came to the Great Gathering
The Great Gathering of mysterious magician and made merrymakers, of melodious musicians and master poets.
The poets who wooed with sweet, soul-melting words, the Woman-of-the-Wind.
The Woman-of-the-Wind, who gave to them with kind and open heart, the much-sought and longed-for tune.
The tune which they sampled and tasted and caressed with great tenderness, before they wedded it to the words
The words from the soul of the time-lost, mountainy lover, which were captured by the Fairy man.
The Fairy man, who, surrounded by seven multi-robed magicians, carried the finished song on his enchanted steed to the musicians
The musicians, everyone a master of his art, who performed it with the utmost shades of feeling for the spellbound King
The King who reigns supreme over the Land of All Beauty.
The beauty that is the daughter of perfection
The perfection that is the star-footed dancer
The dancer who glided smoothly and gracefully down the sky-spanning rainbow
The rainbow which infused the song with light and wisdom
The wisdom, born of the ages, which poured it silently into the mind
The mind of the wandering, many-miled, song-laden minstrel
The minstrel who sang the new-ancient, sweet-sad, merry-soulful song.
The song I heard last night.

Tommy Makem