{"id":651,"date":"2015-10-06T14:06:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T13:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/old-woman-of-wexford-the\/"},"modified":"2016-01-25T13:43:16","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T13:43:16","slug":"old-woman-of-wexford-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/old-woman-of-wexford-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Woman of Wexford, The"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id=\"t:seinnteoirin1\">Play recording: Old Woman of Wexford, The<\/h2>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-651-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/old-woman-of-wexford-the.mp3?_=1\" \/><source type=\"audio\/ogg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/old-woman-of-wexford-the.ogg?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/old-woman-of-wexford-the.mp3\">https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/00-micil\/me\u00e1in\/old-woman-of-wexford-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> Old Woman of Wexford, 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> 841417.<\/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> 183.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Uimhir Laws <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Laws Number)<\/span>:<\/span> Q2.<\/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> Joan Rabinowitz.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">D\u00e1ta an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Date)<\/span>:<\/span> 10\/06\/1983.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai\">Su\u00edomh an taifeadta <span class=\"lipead-meiteashonrai-bearla\">(Recording Location)<\/span>:<\/span> Bainbridge Island, 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> day 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> Fredric Lieberman.<\/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>There are certainly different kinds of love. And the man who can describe love &#8211; I suppose his mother hasn&#8217;t been born yet. Well, my grandmother had a great explanation for love, because when I was growing up, I thought I fell in love ten times each day. And she called me aside one day and she said, &#8216;Remember,&#8217; she said, &#8216;love is blind &#8211; but marriage can be a great eye-opener.&#8217; And that advice, you know, has kept ringing in my ears all these years. But it&#8217;s an awful coward who didn&#8217;t make an attempt, anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Well, this lady was in love, and it was the most contrary love I ever heard of in my life. She wanted to make her husband blind, and nobody knew why. But people were saying she was up to no good, anyway. And she wasn&#8217;t young, either &#8211; she was like myself, getting on in years and facing very little future. And she said- She went to the doctor, but she forgot the doctor was a friend of the old man. And she said, &#8216;Doctor, give me something to make the man blind.&#8217; What an awful thing she had up her sleeve! And the doctor, as I said before, being a friend of the old man, he told her to give him something that would make him strong. Then he wrote the old man a letter, telling him what the old lady was up to. &#8216;And whatever you do &#8211; play into her hands! Pretend you&#8217;re blind!&#8217; Now, this is what happened:<\/p>\n<p>There was an old woman in Wexford, and in Wexford town did dwell<br \/>\nShe loved her husband dearly, but another man twice as well.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>And one day she went to the doctor some medicine for to find<br \/>\nShe said &#8216;I want something for to make me old man blind.&#8217;<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Oh, feed him eggs and marrow-bones, and make him suck them all<br \/>\nIt won&#8217;t be so very long after &#8217;til he can&#8217;t see you at all.&#8217;<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<br \/>\nBut the doctor wrote a letter, and he sealed it with his hand<br \/>\nHe sent it to the old man just to let him understand.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>She fed him eggs and marrow-bones and made him suck them all<br \/>\nIt wasn&#8217;t so very long after &#8217;til he couldn&#8217;t see the wall.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Oh,&#8217; he said, &#8216;I&#8217;d go and drown myself, but that would be a sin.&#8217;<br \/>\nShe said, &#8216;I&#8217;ll come to the water&#8217;s edge and help to push you in.&#8217;<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>And they jogged and jogged and jogged along &#8217;til they came to the water&#8217;s brim<br \/>\nShe said, &#8216;You came here to drown yourself, and me to push you in.&#8217;<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>And the old woman stepped back a bit for to push him in;<br \/>\nThe old man quickly stepped aside and she went tumbling in.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>How loudly did she yell and how loudly did she bawl!<br \/>\n&#8216;Arra, hold your whist, dear woman&#8217; he said, &#8216;sure I can&#8217;t see you at all.&#8217;<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>She swam and swam and swam around &#8217;til she came to the farther brim<br \/>\nHe grabbed a sally wattle and he pushed her further in.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>Now eggs and eggs and marrow-bones may make your old man blind<br \/>\nBut if you want to drown him you must creep up close behind.<br \/>\nTo me rye-fol diddle-la-lair-oh, and me rye-fol dye-fol dee.<\/p>\n<p>And the ending of the story was &#8211; the blind man he could see!<\/p>\n<div class=\"n\u00f3ta\u00ed-bun-leathanaigh\">\n<h2 id=\"t:notai\">Notes<\/h2>\n<p>This song appears on <cite class=\"albam-ceoil\">The Road from Conamara<\/cite>, the CD compiled from recordings made by Ewan Mac&nbsp;Coll and Peggy Seeger in 1963, when Joe was living in London.<\/p>\n<p>In his review of this compilation, Tom Munnelly <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mustrad.org.uk\/reviews\/j_heaney.htm\">suggests<\/a> Joe may have learned it from S\u00e9amas Ennis or the Clancy Brothers, as &#8216;it does not appear in <cite class=\"amhr\u00e1n\">Cl\u00e1r Amhr\u00e1n Bhaile na hInse<\/cite>, R\u00edonach N\u00ed Fhlathairtaigh (U\u00ed \u00d3g\u00e1in)&#8217;s exhaustive index of songs collected by the Folklore commission in Ballinahinch, Joe&#8217;s part of Connemara&#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-651","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\/651","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=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1572,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions\/1572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeheaney.org\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}