Lost Songs & Tunes

Some of the songs in the Binneas Collection have been pieced together over the years from verses and lines from peoples memory. Songs that people thought were lost to their memory have been jogged back into life on hearing a line or two. Please take the time to have a read through the infomation below. Any help in bringing the lost verses or lines back home would be greatly appreciated and all credit given. If there are any verses missing or differing lines or verses from any other songs in the collection please contact the Binneas Archive on the link in the buttons at the top of the page.

The man from Teeraha

This song is about an event that happened on St Patrick’s night.

The Hokels

(Song about a house dance near the current site of Sceilg Ola)

“They rejected the locals, the crowd from the Hokels, the last and the least and the poor Inchabuí’s.”

The Bunadreen Ambush

I collected a copy of the Bunadreen ambush from Phil & Paud Collins, Loher. It was sung at the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the centenary of the ambush. There is supposed to be another version of the song but it has not surfaced to date.

The Queen of Dooneen.

Little is known about this song apart from the title.

Title unknown

‘Dan O’Connell was born at Carhan, the ruins are still to be seen.

As it touches the brink of the water, half a mile outside Cahersiveen.’

The Crowbar Gang.

I heard the title of this song mentioned in the early days of collecting but have failed to track it down as yet. It is a song most likely connected with evictions.

Songs about poaching

Poaching for Salmon & sea trout on the rivers of the locality and the poachers skill in evading the law have been mentioned in a number of songs, for example, ‘The top of Inny side’. The word on the street or should I say the whisper in the mountains is that other songs exist.

The Hairy Man

In Fair Green in Cahersiveen there is a caravan, and in my spare time I write a line about a hairy man.

(Collected from Mike Shea)

Inny

These lines come from Mary Horgon’s Collection and appears to come from two sources, ‘Bradley’ & Paddy O’Sullivan ‘Moulcore’.

The Girls from the Glen

Some verses of this song were collected a number of years ago by Pat O’Leary, Ballynabloun,  The Glen. Pat is a gentleman who is a well of knowledge on the genealogy and history of the area. I‘ve collected a few additional verses but the song remains incomplete.

 The Turf Machine Song

The song was composed by John O’Donnell and is about a turf machine and the characters involved. A number of versus of this song have been collected but is not yet complete.

Election Canvassing Song

This song is based on canvassing for election to the Dáil and is located around Dromod and mentions many of the town-lands and characters of the locality. Most of the verses have been collected.

‘The night Pat Kiely died, the banshee cried on the slopes of Castlequin’

This is a line from another song from the memory of Matt Joe O’Neill. Again no more is known about this song except for the line above. It would appear that the line may have been adapted from the song ‘The valley of Knockanure’.

Skellig lists

There are a number of ‘Skellig List’ songs in the collection. The content of some of them are sensitive and will not be displayed but are of immense historical importance to the collection.

Skellig list fragment Caherciveen circa 1940’s

Across the street lives a tradesman neat,

And he pounds and pounds all day.

He brings fresh life to the young housewife,

For he makes new soles they say.

Skellig list fragment Dromid late 1940’s

The following versus from this Dromod based Skellig’s List were collected from Patrick (Patcheen) O’Connor R.I.P, Knockroe, Dromod in 2006. He could not recall any other verses. It would be nice to piece the whole song together.

The crowds were chanting, the captain looked ‘round, and who was appearing ? Paddy ‘Nahown’,

Saying the Cnoc rua women they all left him down, That’s why I have no Darling

“Pat” said the captain, “I know it of old, Was P.D and Mici left you in the cold”.

so the captain ordered “now hurry and throw off your big coat, or you’re going to get a good dip in the water”.

Ball Songs

There are a number of songs and verses composed about ‘Ball Nights’ and ‘House Dances’. These humorous compositions were very popular and cleverly constructed. The verses would appear cryptic to those outside of the locality and the meaning of them obscure. Verses would be adapted from previous compositions or borrowed from ‘Skellig Lists’. However some of these verses survive and are still in the folk memory in the area.

The Night of Seanín’s Ball

“They came from Cahersiveen and Watervile, from Boole and Clochan, but one and all they got the flu, the night of Seanín’s ball.”

The Ball of Tadhg of Loher

This is a song in the rural tradition of composing songs about important local events such as weddings and parties. Only a few verses of this song are in the collection to date.