{"id":484,"date":"2015-10-06T14:06:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T13:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/holly-and-ivy-girl-the\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T11:46:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T11:46:23","slug":"holly-and-ivy-girl-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/holly-and-ivy-girl-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Holly and Ivy Girl, The"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Holly and Ivy Girl, The<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-484-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/holly-and-ivy-girl-the.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/holly-and-ivy-girl-the.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/holly-and-ivy-girl-the.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/holly-and-ivy-girl-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> Holly and Ivy Girl, 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> 840116.<\/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> 3188.<\/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> unavailable.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 29\/11\/1983.<\/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> evening class.<\/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>Joe Heaney: That used to a Dublin- That used to be a broadsheet ballad long ago, and I haven&#8217;t sung this for ages. My father used to sing it regularly, but. Oh, yeah, he had all these songs, every one of them.<\/p>\n<p>Student: Maybe that&#8217;s why an American version of that exists, if it was a broadsheet ballad.<\/p>\n<p>JH: It was a broadsheet. Quite a suitable song, I suppose, for the occasion &#8211; the way he used to sing it. Where is it?<sup class=\"tagairt-n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">1<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Come buy my nice fresh ivy, my holly sprigs so green<br \/>\nI have the finest branches that ever you have seen<br \/>\nCome buy from me, good Christians, and let me home, I pray<br \/>\nAnd I wish you a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/p>\n<p>Ah! Won&#8217;t you take my ivy, the loveliest ever seen?<br \/>\nOr won&#8217;t you have my holly boughs, all you who love the green<br \/>\nDo take a little bunch of each, and on my knees I&#8217;ll pray<br \/>\nThat God may bless you Christmas and be with you New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/p>\n<p>This wind is black and bitter, the hailstones do not spare<br \/>\nMy shivering form, my bleeding feet, stiff entangled hair<br \/>\nThen when the skies are pitiless, be merciful, I say<br \/>\nSo heaven will light your Christmas and the coming New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Twas thus a dying maiden sung, while the cold hail rattled down<br \/>\nAnd fierce winds whistled mournful o&#8217;er Dublin&#8217;s dreary town<br \/>\nOne stiff hand clutched her ivy sprigs and holly boughs so fair<br \/>\nWith the other she kept brushing the hail-drops from her hair.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Twas in the broad, bleak Thomas Street I heard the wanderer sing<br \/>\nI stood a moment in the mire, beyond the ragged ring<br \/>\nMy heart felt cold and lonely, my thoughts were far away<br \/>\nWhere I was many a Christmastide and happy New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/p>\n<p>I dreamed of wandering in the woods among the holly green<br \/>\nI dreamed of my own native cot and porch with ivy screen<br \/>\nI dreamt of lights forever dimmed, of hope that can&#8217;t return<br \/>\nAnd dropped a tear on Christmas fire that never more can burn.<\/p>\n<p>The ghost-like singer still sung on, but no one came to buy<br \/>\nThe hurrying crowd passed to and fro, but did not heed her cry<br \/>\nShe uttered one low piercing moan, then cast her boughs away<br \/>\nAnd smiling cried, &#8216;I&#8217;ll feast with God before it&#8217;s New Year&#8217;s Day.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>On New Years&#8217;s Day I said my prayers above a new-made grave<br \/>\nDug recently in sacred soil, by Liffey&#8217;s murmuring wave<br \/>\nThe minstrel maid from earth to heaven has winged her happy way<br \/>\nAnd now enjoys with sister saints an endless New Year&#8217;s Day.<\/p>\n<p>JH: Is that the same? That was a broadsheet ballad. I think my father &#8211; I think that&#8217;s where he got that song &#8216;O&#8217;Brien from Tipperary,&#8217; I think, too. He used to-<\/p>\n<p>Student: Do you have any other songs that were broadsheet ballads?<\/p>\n<p>JH: Not that I know of<sup class=\"tagairt-n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">2<\/sup>. That&#8217;s the only one &#8211; I think it was broadsheet. I think it was. I&#8217;m not sure. It looked like one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p class=\"n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">1. Joe is searching among a packet of song-texts that he was in the habit of handing out to his classes. From his correction of the text in the middle of the first line, it&#8217;s clear that he&#8217;s reading from the song-sheet as he sings this song.<\/p>\n<p class=\"n\u00f3ta-bun-leathanaigh\">2. A great many of Joe&#8217;s songs in English no doubt originated as broadsheets. What Joe perhaps means is that he didn&#8217;t know of any other broadsheets that his father had physically in the house. It&#8217;s interesting that Joe also thinks he recalls seeing one of his father&#8217;s favourite songs, &#8216;O&#8217;Brien from Tipperary,&#8217; printed as a broadsheet at home. Joe was in the habit of saying that he never got a song out of a book &#8211; maybe it&#8217;s true and maybe not &#8211; but it is nonetheless clear that a great many songs to be found in Joe&#8217;s repertoire &#8211; or in that of any traditional singer, for that matter &#8211; ultimately derived from printed sources. The dividing line between oral and literary transmission is impossible to determine, because there was so much back-and-forth between the two.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The Holly and Ivy Girl&#8217; was composed by John Keegan (1809-49), a poet and writer born in Co. Laois who contributed to a number of publications; many of his poems reflect upon the horrors of the Famine, and he himself died of cholera at a young age. &#8216;The Holly and Ivy Girl&#8217; bears no relation to the popular English Christmas carol, &#8216;The Holly and the Ivy,&#8217; which is perhaps what Joe&#8217;s student questioner was thinking of on this occasion.<\/p>\n<p>Air: &#8216;Captain Wedderburn&#8217;s Courtship.&#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-484","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\/484","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=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}