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| Green gravel, green gravel Your grass is so green; You're the fairest young damsel I ever have seen. I washed her, I dressed her I clothed her in silk, And I wrote down her name With a glass pen and ink. 'And when I am dead to the churchyard they'll bear me, Six jolly fellows to carry me on, And in each of their hands a bunch of green laurel, So they may not smell me as they're walking along. |
| Part of the Annotated Horslips Pages Compiled by Lee Templeton, San Francisco |
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| "At his Horslips and his emerald green hair..." |
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| First Posted: February 6, 2005 Last Revised: February 17, 2005 |
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| Recorded on: · Tracks from the Vaults Source tune: Green Gravel - children's skipping song and The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime Annotated lyrics: "He'd stop to help the dancing master" Arthur Young was the first observer in eighteenth-century Ireland to mention the travelling dancing masters. It is likely that they emerged on the Irish scene shortly before Young arrived. They appear to have originated in Munster and were extremely popular in Kerry, where they worked in tandem with hedge schoolmasters. Although flamboyant and pretentious at times, the dancing master considered himself to be a ‘gentleman’ and sought to instill this grandiose spirit in his pupils. Besides teaching dancing to all social classes, he also taught fencing and deportment to the children of the gentry. His arrival in a village or rural clachán was usually met with great delight. He stayed in a community for a six week ‘quarter’. Generally, he would lodge in a farmer’s house and have the use of a barn or kitchen to teach his steps. In return for the use of the facilities, he would not charge the children of the host farmer. Alternatively, pupils brought the dancing master home with them for the night, and vied with each other for the honour. At the end of the eighteenth century, the fee for a quarter was sixpence. A half century later, the fee had risen to ten shillings a quarter in Kerry—five shillings for the dancing master and five shillings for the musician who travelled with him. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music "And some goodbye snow" Dorie: I believe the phrase "goodbye snow" is referenced in an old pub sing-along classic heard in the Northeast from about Thanksgiving weekend through early March. Can't remember much of the verses, but the chorus goes: And it's goodbye Rain and goodbye Snow and goodbye cold January My ticket’s paid and the baggage’s checked, I'm leaving New York City And now the plane is taking off, My rum drink’s on the way I'm bound for Key West Florida boys, one thousand miles away (Naturally, I might have misheard those lyrics...) S. Pam Templeton, Official Horslips Guestbook, Monday, 30 August 2004 I had always assumed that Goodbye Snow was a reference to Pat's fiddling (and indeed the warming power of music in general) having the ability to Drive the Cold Winter Away, as it were. Of course I could have misheard the voices in my head on that point. Donnacha, Official Horslips Guestbook, Monday, 30 August 2004 "To the best of my recollection, a fiddler of O'Connor's acquaintance used to rosin his bow, tap it on the strings, and then blow away the resulting white dust with the words "Goodbye snow". All right, that's enough at the back. It's not arcane at all. Locky Jim, Official Horslips Guestbook, Monday, 30 August 2004 "At his Horslips and his emerald green hair" So its official. Self referential as well as self reverential. Album notes, Horslips: The Best Of..., Edsel, 2001 "Mad Pat's on the Road" "Pat! You're mad, do you know that!" she laughed. Patrick McCabe, Emerald Germs of Ireland, New York: HarperCollins Inc, 2001. Christy Moore's first album was Paddy on the Road, 1969, and featured a Dominic Behan song of that same name. It has not been re-released on CD. |