A Great, but Really Sad Song, With Some Good Mandolin Playing

[John Flynn]

I ran across this tune web-surfing. I know different things affect people differently, so you may not agree, but I think this is the saddest song I've ever heard. The background story below is from Wikipedia. The mando-content is that the video features the great Mick Maloney. Some of you may already be familiar with it, but I just wanted to share it with some people who might appreciate it. I may be soft-headed, but I still can't listen to it without choking up.

'"Kilkelly, Ireland" is a song by Steven and Peter Jones. It tells the story of an Irish emigrant to America through a series of letters from his father back in Kilkelly. It has five verses covering the period between 1860 and 1892.

The Jones brothers based the song on letters from their great-great-grandfather, Brian Hunt, to his son John, their great-grandfather. As Brian was illiterate, the letters were actually written by dictation to the local schoolmaster, Patrick McNamara, who had been a friend of John's.

It has been covered by many artists, including Robbie O'Connell, Atwater-Donnelly, The Dubliners, Mick Moloney, Seán Keane, Ciara Considine, Jim Brannigan, and David Gans (with Eric Rawlins).'

[JeffD]

Sad and universal.

[Joe Mendel]

How spoiled we are today! We can travel so quickly and easily, and have Skype, cell phones & e-mail, we can stay in almost constant and immediate contact worldwide. What a different world we live in.
Very touching and sad!!

[mandolinlee]

John Flynn -
Thank you for sharing "Kilkelly Ireland".
Just before reading your post and listening to the song, I had been in e mail contact with a distant relative attempting to learn the familial connection. Plus, the other side of the family will celebrate a 100 year anniversary of the reunion in September, so a lot of folks are climbing the family tree for information.
It all seems to come together sometimes.
Thanks, again.
Lee

[whistler]

A great song indeed. There's a beautiful recording of it from Matt Molloy's pub on this album: https://realworldrecords.com/release...-matt-molloys/

[Eddie Sheehy]

I first it from Robbie O'Connell and Liam Clancy... it'd bring tears to a stone... very sad, and especially so for us immigrants...

[John Flynn]

I guess what really resonated for me is this could have been my family's story. My fifth or sixth generation ancestor was also named John Flynn. He came to the US during the first few years of The Famine, first going to Chicago and then working on the Illinois Railroad. Then as tracks were being laid through Morgan County, Illinois, he won 200 acres of land in a card game and became a farmer. There is a memoir written about my family by a Sister Kathleen Flynn called "Letters from Mother" that recounts what life was like on that farm in the early 1900's and it was better than what the family had escaped in Ireland, but not by much. As Joe said, we are so much luckier today.

A quote I like is from the eulogy given to JFK by Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "I don't think there's any point in being Irish if you don't know that the world is going to break your heart eventually." But hey, it's not just the Irish...

[scifi]

Thanks for sharing. For me it's one of the really great folk ballads and the interpretation is amazing.

[citeog]

I first it from Robbie O'Connell and Liam Clancy... it'd bring tears to a stone... very sad, and especially so for us immigrants...

How true, Eddie. It took a long time before I could get all the way through this song.

Paul

[Ben Cooper]

So sad.....

[feis]

excellent. thanks for posting

[Tavy]

Man it's years and years since I've heard that one. Really great ballad, but you're right about choking up: just listening to the dates of each letter get's me every time, so much time going by, and back in those days they might as well have been on different planets, not just across the Irish sea.

Thanks for posting.

[Eddie Sheehy]

More like across the Atlantic, Tavy, and then a fair bit overland in the US to boot... might as well have been Planets apart...

[Canoedad]

Thanks so much for posting this John. I haven't heard it 10 years or more. Not sure how I lost track of it.