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Lately, I’ve picked up a couple of Irish tunes to perform
When Denise and I went to see the play “Once” the other day, as the band warmed up on stage just before the play started, they did “Hills of Connemara”, a tune I’ve liked since I heard Gaelic Storm perform it (it’s also the tune that Gaelic Storm performed in the Irish dance sequence in the film “Titanic”). Hearing it done again made me finally get out my guitar, grab the lyrics from the internet, and learn it.
In doing so, I also learned that the song was written by the Irish songwriter Sean McCarthy (1923 - 1990). That got me looking into other McCarthy songs. “Step It Out, Mary” was one of his tunes -- and that one I remembered the Irish group The High Kings doing. But… I also noticed that The High Kings had changed the usual chord structure for the tune… and I thought I might know why. McCarthy supposedly wrote this tune in the 1950s after hearing some Irish children singing the chorus as a skipping rhyme, adding the story lyrics to the rhyme/chorus, but American audiences (especially) will note that the tune and the chords are also nearly identical to the theme song of “Gilligan’s Island.” I don’t know that’s why The High Kings altered the chords a bit, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
But… In my researching “Step It Out, Mary”, I also came across a variant tune: “Step It Out, Nancy”. “Step It Out, Nancy” is essentially the same song: same tune, same basic lyrics (through the first few verses, anyway). According to Jerry Clark, one of the people credited for writing the lyrics, this version was written in the late 1970s… and my, it illustrates cultural differences.
Here’s the story in “Step It Out, Mary”: A rich Irish lord has taken an interest in Mary, a poor Irish farmer’s daughter, and her father is insisting that she marry the lord. But Mary is in love with a soldier and has promised to marry him, and she refuses. The father insists that Mary is going to be wed to the lord on Sunday, but that morning, Mary and her soldier lover drown themselves rather than have that happen -- which is a somewhat typical Irish folk tale of romantic doomed love.
Here’s what the lyricist for “Step It Out, Nancy” said about “Step It Out, Mary”: “I loved the melody, the first half of the song, and the chorus even more, but I thought the conclusion was dopey, almost as if the composer… hadn’t been able to figure out a compelling way to resolve the conflict.” So he gave the tale a uniquely American West perspective. Nancy is being pursued by a wealthy cattleman, and her father is insisting she marry him (sound familiar?). She is equally adamant that she won’t because she’s in love with a poor cowboy. So the cattleman shoots and kills the poor cowboy to remove that particular impediment. On the wedding day, Nancy takes her father’s pistol and kills the cattleman. The jury at her trial finds her “not guilty.”
Hmm… So that’s the more compelling “American” way to resolve the conflict, eh?
When Denise and I went to see the play “Once” the other day, as the band warmed up on stage just before the play started, they did “Hills of Connemara”, a tune I’ve liked since I heard Gaelic Storm perform it (it’s also the tune that Gaelic Storm performed in the Irish dance sequence in the film “Titanic”). Hearing it done again made me finally get out my guitar, grab the lyrics from the internet, and learn it.
In doing so, I also learned that the song was written by the Irish songwriter Sean McCarthy (1923 - 1990). That got me looking into other McCarthy songs. “Step It Out, Mary” was one of his tunes -- and that one I remembered the Irish group The High Kings doing. But… I also noticed that The High Kings had changed the usual chord structure for the tune… and I thought I might know why. McCarthy supposedly wrote this tune in the 1950s after hearing some Irish children singing the chorus as a skipping rhyme, adding the story lyrics to the rhyme/chorus, but American audiences (especially) will note that the tune and the chords are also nearly identical to the theme song of “Gilligan’s Island.” I don’t know that’s why The High Kings altered the chords a bit, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
But… In my researching “Step It Out, Mary”, I also came across a variant tune: “Step It Out, Nancy”. “Step It Out, Nancy” is essentially the same song: same tune, same basic lyrics (through the first few verses, anyway). According to Jerry Clark, one of the people credited for writing the lyrics, this version was written in the late 1970s… and my, it illustrates cultural differences.
Here’s the story in “Step It Out, Mary”: A rich Irish lord has taken an interest in Mary, a poor Irish farmer’s daughter, and her father is insisting that she marry the lord. But Mary is in love with a soldier and has promised to marry him, and she refuses. The father insists that Mary is going to be wed to the lord on Sunday, but that morning, Mary and her soldier lover drown themselves rather than have that happen -- which is a somewhat typical Irish folk tale of romantic doomed love.
Here’s what the lyricist for “Step It Out, Nancy” said about “Step It Out, Mary”: “I loved the melody, the first half of the song, and the chorus even more, but I thought the conclusion was dopey, almost as if the composer… hadn’t been able to figure out a compelling way to resolve the conflict.” So he gave the tale a uniquely American West perspective. Nancy is being pursued by a wealthy cattleman, and her father is insisting she marry him (sound familiar?). She is equally adamant that she won’t because she’s in love with a poor cowboy. So the cattleman shoots and kills the poor cowboy to remove that particular impediment. On the wedding day, Nancy takes her father’s pistol and kills the cattleman. The jury at her trial finds her “not guilty.”
Hmm… So that’s the more compelling “American” way to resolve the conflict, eh?