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Maggie's Big Book of Celtic Tunes
arranged by Maggie Sansone

Two Classic Irish Melodies for Hammered Dulcimer

from The Hammered Dulcimer Treasury of Tunes

Carrickfergus

This traditional Irish song has an exquisite melody. An old man is remembering his youth in Carrickfergus, a town on the north shore of Belfast Lough in Country Antrim. “Carrickfergus” has been recorded by many traditional and contemporary artists.

I wish I was in Carrickfergus,
only for nights in Ballygran.
I would swim over the deepest ocean,
the deepest ocean for my love to find.
But the sea is wide and I can't swim over
and neither have I wings to fly.
If I could find me a handsome boatman
to ferry me over to my love and die.
My childhood days bring back sad reflections
of happy times I spent so long ago.
My boyhood friends and my own relations
have all passed on now like melting snow.
But I'll spend my days in endless roaming
soft sit the grass my bed is free.
Ah to be back in Carrickfergus
on that long road down to the sea.
And in Kilkenny it is reported
there are marble stones as black as ink.
With gold and silver I would support her,
but I'll sing no more now till I get a drink.
I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober,
a handsome rover from town to town.
Ah, but I'm sick now, my days are numbered
so come all ye young men and lay me down.

The Blarney Pilgrim

This is one of the most popular traditional Irish jigs. The third part is especially fun because of the way the rhythms change.

For hundreds of years visitors from all over the world have visited Blarney Castle in County Cork to take part in the custom of kissing the Blarney Stone, which is supposed to make one eloquent.

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