{"id":460,"date":"2015-10-06T14:06:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T13:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/widow-from-mayo-the\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T16:08:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T16:08:21","slug":"widow-from-mayo-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/widow-from-mayo-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow from Mayo, The"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Widow from Mayo, The<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-460-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/widow-from-mayo-the.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/widow-from-mayo-the.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/widow-from-mayo-the.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/widow-from-mayo-the.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<div class=\"dmeite\">\n<p><span id=\"neasc-nocht-ceilth\" class=\"nmeite\">view \/ hide recording details [+\/-]<\/span><\/p>\n<ul id=\"clarMeiteashonrai\" class=\"meiteashonrai\">\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teideal <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Title)<\/span>:<\/span> Widow from Mayo, The.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chatal\u00f3ige Ollscoil Washington <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(University of Washington Catalogue Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 850403.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Chnuasach Bh\u00e9aloideas \u00c9ireann <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(National Folklore of Ireland Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Roud <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Roud Number)<\/span>:<\/span> 5334.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Laws <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Laws Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Child <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Child Number)<\/span>:<\/span> none.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Cnuasach <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Collection)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney Collection, University of Washington, Seattle.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Teanga na Cro\u00edmh\u00edre <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Core-Item Language)<\/span>:<\/span> English.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Catag\u00f3ir <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Category)<\/span>:<\/span> song.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a thug <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Informant)<\/span>:<\/span> Joe Heaney.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Ainm an t\u00e9 a th\u00f3g <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Name of Collector)<\/span>:<\/span> Jill Linzee.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> between 1982 and 1984.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Su\u00edomh an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Location)<\/span>:<\/span> University of Washington, United States of America.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Oc\u00e1id an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Occasion)<\/span>:<\/span> private.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Daoine eile a bh\u00ed i l\u00e1thair <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Others present)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">St\u00e1das ch\u00f3ipcheart an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording copyright status)<\/span>:<\/span> unavailable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>On a sunny summer&#8217;s evening in the merry month of May<br \/>\nTo a local railway station I carelessly did stray<br \/>\nI heard a widow wailing, down her cheeks the tears did flow<br \/>\nHer only daughter was going away, far far from sweet Mayo.<\/p>\n<p>Mother:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Musha, gr\u00e1 mo chro\u00ed, you&#8217;re parting me,&#8217; she mournfullly did moan<br \/>\n&#8216;You&#8217;re going away across the sea, and leaving me alone<br \/>\nTo face the breeze of the stormy seas, you&#8217;re bound for Mexico<br \/>\nYou could not stand the tyrant&#8217;s hand in flowery sweet Mayo.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My curse on you oppressors that sent you to a foreign shore<br \/>\nNo more you&#8217;ll travel the green old sod, outside my cabin door<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s foreign lords have been the cause of all our grief and woe<br \/>\nFor tyrants cruel do now misrule the people of Mayo.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Daughter:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Croagh Patrick high up in the sky, this year I cannot climb<br \/>\nAnd around Clew Bay I cannot sail, in this good old summertime<br \/>\nWith the lovely sheen of the shamrock green I often trampled down<br \/>\nWith the girls so neat and the boys so sweet in my own native town.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Forgive those cruel oppressors now, before I bid goodbye<br \/>\nFor they have yet one judge to meet, the Lord who rules in high<br \/>\nIf it was death&#8217;s sentence that parted us, God&#8217;s will we must obey<br \/>\nFor it&#8217;s poverty that now sends me to the lands of Americay.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Mother:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And when you&#8217;re on the ocean blue, for you I will always pray<br \/>\nIn hope that God will bring you safe to the land of Americay<br \/>\nHis blessed Mother may guide you, I fervently implore<br \/>\nUntil you do return again to your home in sweet Mayo.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Daughter:<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It breaks my heart that I must part from all I love so dear<br \/>\nMy comrades all, both great and small, o&#8217;er the ocean I must steer<br \/>\nI have to sigh as I bid goodbye to my mother who&#8217;s old and grey<br \/>\nFarewell awhile, green Erin&#8217;s isle, I&#8217;m bound for Americay.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p>This song (also known as &#8216;Flowery Sweet Mayo&#8217;) is somewhat confusing until you realize that it takes the form of a dialogue, as suggested above. Joe also recorded the song for Ewan Mac Coll and Peggy Seeger in 1963, and it is included on the CD produced from those recordings, The Road from Conamara. While the scene may seem overly melodramatic to our generation, Joe&#8217;s passionate involvement in songs like &#8216;The Widow from Mayo&#8217; and &#8216;A St\u00f3r mo Chro\u00ed&#8217; reflects their resonance with Irish people at a time when emigration meant nothing less than permanent separation from loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Munnelly, in his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mustrad.org.uk\/reviews\/j_heaney.htm\">review<\/a> of The Road from Conamara, points out that when Joe recorded the song for Mac Coll and Seeger:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Disenfranchised Irish people were everywhere on the streets of Britain and North America, with little hope of returning home permanently. Songs such as this touched a deep chord in the hearts of Irish people, at home or abroad, who found these songs extremely moving.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Air: &#8216;The Faithful Sailor Boy&#8217;.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amhrain","category-amhrain-i-mbearla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1687,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/1687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}