Robbie McMahon's Definitive Spancil Hill
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Singer whose 'Spancil Hill' was hailed as finest version
www.irishtimes...
ROBBIE McMAHON:Robbie McMahon, who has died aged 86, was a songwriter and singer whose rendition of Spancil Hill is widely regarded as the definitive version. He reckoned he sang it more than 10,000 times since he learned it as a teenager.
The ballad is named after a crossroads between Ennis and Tulla in east Clare, the site of a centuries-old horse fair held every June. In 1870 a young man from the locality, Michael Considine, bade farewell to his sweetheart Mary McNamara and left for the US. He hoped to earn sufficient money to enable her to join him.
However, he died in California in 1873. Before his death he wrote a poem dedicated to Mary which he posted to his six-year-old nephew, John, back home.
My Mum was Robbie's sister....we spent summer holidays at their family house in Spancil Hill on the farm when I was a kid travelling from London....he was a great man and so kind and funny....I loved him and still do...looks like my mum ....Nancy...Anna...xxxxx
@clivemartin665 My goodness ! Pretty much my favorite song to sing and play 🎹 … Along with “The Foggy Dew.” … w/ “my” Philadelphia-based Irish band, Skibereen … After so many years apart (RIP, wonderful Pat Campbell, of Donegal, on accordion ☮️ 😢 🦅 ) , we are going to play a Saint Patrick’s day ☘️ 🎵 gig again now… In Media, Pennsylvania… In Sligo pub… And I will be singing this song - so I’m - & will be - thinking of you and your Mum’s wonderful brother, Robbie. Such a heartbreaking, beautiful song… Robbie sings so beautifully, doesn’t he? And it’s all a true story, apparently ! 😮 … Michael Considine, 1873, wrote it and died at age 23 in California… Missing his home sweetheart and his family so terribly. back in Eire, The Emerald Isle 🇮🇪 ☘️ 🌊 ☀️ 😭 . Anyway… Cheers to you and may Nature bless you & your family, all your life, Clive- Virginia Hammer & Midlantic Theatre Company, Newark, NJ. ☘️ ❤❤❤ 🦋 💜😍🤝🙏🏽 🦅 🌲 🌍 🌎 🌏 🎶 “Erin Go Bragh!”
The true story of this song is hauntingly heart breaking yet beautiful beyond expression.
I couldn't agree more. :')
7? ko@@asbry4671
I can only applaud ... With a tear and lament at the singing and understanding of the historical content of the song.
Well said!
My background's Greek, but this story exists everywhere, however precisely it is sited. Thank you Michael Considine for your beautiful poem and thank you Robbie McMahon for singing it so truly
@@arthurmarkos5522 Greece also had an artificial famine that caused deaths and emigration of much of the population? I was unaware of this, was it under the Ottomans?
@@ollie_hellhunter3356the ottoman Turks committed genocide against the Greeks. That’s likely what the @arthurmarkos is referring to - the suffering is the same, not necessarily the cause.
The first time I ever heard this ballad was from the singing of Robbie Mc Mahon on Irish Radio in the mid to late 50's. It was recorded by the late Ciarán Mac Mathúna for a programme called A Job of Journeywork. This is a wonderful recording with all the original verses of the song. R.I.P. Robbie. Ní fheicimíd a leithéad arís.
Ah the days ....remember the programme well.
I heard him sing this in ‘78 at the Fleadh in Listowel, Co. Kerry. Just one man with his beautiful voice and his big presence, riveted the room and captivated the audience better than any five or six member folk band ever could.
Spancilhill (Wikipedia)
Last night as I lay dreaming, of the pleasant days gone by,
My mind being bent on rambling and to Erin's Isle I did fly.
I stepped on board a vision and sailed out with a will,
Till I gladly came to anchor at the Cross of Spancilhill.
Enchanted by the novelty, delighted with the scenes,
Where in my early childhood, I often times have been.
I thought I heard a murmur, I think I hear it still,
'Tis that little stream of water at the Cross of Spancilhill.
And to amuse my fancy, I lay upon the ground,
Where all my school companions, in crowds assembled 'round.
Some have grown to manhood, while more their graves did fill,
Oh I thought we were all young again, at the Cross of Spancilhill.
It being on a Sabbath morning, I thought I heard a bell,
O'er hills and vallies sounded, in notes that seemed to tell,
That Father Dan was coming, his duty to fulfill,
At the parish church of Clooney, just one mile from Spancilhill.
And when our duty did commence, we all knelt down in prayer,
In hopes for to be ready, to climb the Golden Stair.
And when back home returning, we danced with right good will,
To Martin Moylan's music, at the Cross of Spancilhill.
It being on the twenty third of June, the day before the fair,
Sure Erin's sons and daughters, they all assembled there.
The young, the old, the stout and the bold, they came to sport and kill,
What a curious combination, at the Fair of Spancilhill.
I went into my old home, as every stone can tell,
The old boreen was just the same, and the apple tree over the well,
I miss my sister Ellen, my brothers Pat and Bill,
Sure I only met my strange faces at my home in Spancilhill.
I called to see my neighbors, to hear what they might say,
The old were getting feeble, and the young ones turning grey.
I met with tailor Quigley, he's as brave as ever still,
Sure he always made my breeches when I lived in Spancilhill.
I paid a flying visit, to my first and only love,
She's as pure as any lilly, and as gentle as a dove.
She threw her arms around me, saying Mike I love you still,
She is Mack the Ranger's daughter, the Pride of Spancilhill.
I thought I stooped to kiss her, as I did in days of yore,
Says she Mike you're only joking, as you often were before,
The cock crew on the roost again, he crew both loud and shrill,
And I awoke in California, far far from Spancilhill.
But when my vision faded, the tears came in my eyes,
In hope to see that dear old spot, some day before I die.
May the Joyous King of Angels, His Choicest Blessings spill,
On that Glorious spot of Nature, the Cross of Spancilhill.
Fabulous the one & only Robbie McMahon lovely singer the best version
I think God broke the mold after he made Robbie - one of a kind!
I left my home in Ireland this time two months ago. Seeing how the pandemic is being handled and the general actions of the government has made me realise I probably won't move back for years to come. I'd never heard this version before. I'm currently listening to this song from a library in Italy and I'm emotional. God bless Eire.
God bless you too. I left home for Australia 6 years ago. We've long been a wandering people but your heart can go back through music I find.
Are you still in Italy?
I left my home in Ireland this time two months ago, is A Great opening to a song or poem☘️☘️☘️32
Eire needs you brother. She's being choked by immigrants, they're giving them flats while our folk die in the streets.
@@bearcingetorix6326
Oh the irony
This song. The proper version. There is a story behind it. There is a tear in me eye
Wow, heard this sung countless times by many many singers, but this is raw and so atmospheric, truly wonderful.
Goosebumps all over my arms and legs and a rush of pride straight up my spine..awesome.
A genuine rendition devoid of pretension ....the real deal.
I believe the area gets its name from a traditional method of slowing down horses by tying one front leg to a hind leg called "spanicling"
Absolutely right.
First time iv`e heard this version which I believe is the original and I love it , it` is a beautiful , haunting and heartbreaking love story
No one could sing it like Robbie
Great song/poem..especially this version 👏
The lyrics are more rich than the paired down version
Original and best
Wonderful rendition
Visited the 'cross at Spancil Hill' last month...nice and serene
So moving
Excellent
Brilliant!
Come to Shannon Airport! On to Ennis! Anyone will tell you where Spancilhill is! Just a couple of miles away!!
If you know, you know. Xxx
Perfect!
Beautiful! ☘️🇮🇪👊🏻
Amazing
Tight... very tight. As a first gen American I understand.
finially the whole song is sung right
I wish I could give it 1000 likes...
People have changed these lyrics this is the real version in my book of old ireland
Thank you!
Kevin Rooney told me the melody is from an old Irish Air.
I have only discovered the poem this morning and I am pretty starstruck by it. I would like to experience Spancil Hill just as the author did, 150 years ago. Does anyone know whether or not Spancil Hill is easily accessible for tourists? Is there a lot to do there?
Yes it is just down the road from me and its easily accessible there's no one stopping you from going there. I'd only go during the fair however there's nothing to do the rest of the year
Spancilhill is a small village only 4.5 miles east of Ennis, the County Town of Clare. Not much happens there apart from the Horse Fair, which takes place on 23rd June these days (unless that falls on a Sunday, in which case the Fair is held on the 24th). But it has been cancelled, this year and last, due to Covid restrictions - I'd be there right-now for it otherwise!
You can take a look around online. Pretty much everywhere is on Google Streetmap these days.
Spancilhill is pretty much a crossroads with a pub, but to the writer of that song it was home. Robbie McMahon used to call to our pub in Ennis too and he was an exceptional at ‘lilting’ too.
Great upload ...what year?
sussy balls
Thank you foor this.