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Foggy Dew (Irish songs)

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Not to be confused withFoggy Dew (English song).

"Foggy Dew"is the name of several Irish ballads, and of an Irish lament. The most popular song of that name (written by Charles O'Neill) chronicles theEaster Risingof 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British Empire, as so many young men were doing inWorld War I.

Earlier songs called "Foggy Dew"[edit]

Apart from theEnglish song titled "Foggy Dew,""The Foggy Dew" as the name of an Irish traditional song first appears inEdward Bunting'sThe Ancient Music of Ireland(1840),[1]where the tune is different from that mostly sung today. Bunting's source for the tune was a "J. Mc Knight, Belfast, 1839", but the same melody already appears inO'Farrell's Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes(London, 1804), where it is called "Corraga Bawn".[2]

Charles O'Neill's "Foggy Dew"[edit]

Foggy Dew
Instrumental version performed by Dancing Willow, featuring the viola da gamba and the low whistle
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Another song called "Foggy Dew" was written by Charles O’Neill (1887–1963) from Portglenone, County Antrim, a priest of theDiocese of Down and Connorwho was then a curate atSt. Peter's Cathedral, Belfast,and later in life wasparish priestofKilcooand laterNewcastle, County Down.[3][4]O'Neill was ordained inSt. Patrick's College, Maynoothin 1912.[5]

The music is from a manuscript that was in possession of Kathleen Dallat, sister ofMichael DallatofBallycastle.That manuscript givesCarl Hardebeckas the arranger.[6]It is the same air as the traditional love songThe Moorlough Shore.

"The Foggy Dew" is a product of the political situation in Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising andWorld War I.

Approximately 210,000 Irishmen joined up and served in the British forces during the war.[7]This created mixed feelings for many Irish people, particularly for those with nationalist sympathies. While they broadly supported the British war effort, they also felt that one of the moral justifications for the war, "the freedom of small nations" likeBelgiumandSerbia,should also be applied to Ireland, which at that time was under British rule.[8]The1915 Battle of Gallipoli,in which many young and mainly middle-class Irishmen who had joined up in response toJohn Redmond's call were killed, turned many people against the war.

In 1916, Irish patriots led byJames ConnollyandPatrick Pearse,taking advantage of Britain being preoccupied byWorld War I,seized some of the major buildings in Dublin including theGeneral Post Office,while others came out inAshbourneandGalwayin theEaster Rising.

The brutal response to the Rising, and the execution of its leaders that followed, marked a turning point for many Irish people. The public revulsion at the executions added to the growing sense of alienation from the British government.[8]

Canon O'Neill reflected this alienation when he wroteThe Foggy Dewcommemorating the few hundred brave men who had risen out against what was then the most powerful empire in the world. In 1919, he attended the first sitting of the new Irish Parliament,Dáil.[9]The names of the elected members were called out, but many were absent. Their names were answered by the replyfaoi ghlas ag na Gaill– "locked up by the English".[9][10]

These events had a profound effect on O'Neill and some time after this he wroteThe Foggy Dewtelling the story of the Easter Rising and reflecting the thoughts of many Irish people at the time who now believed that the Irishmen who fought for Britain during the war should have stayed home and fought for Irish independence instead.

O'Neill sums up this feeling in the line,"Twas far better to die ‘neath an Irish sky / Than atSuvlaorSud el Bar".[9]

Soldiers of ’22[edit]

During theIrish Civil War,a version of The Foggy Dew (a song about the 1916Easter Rising) was written with the same melody, but with lyrics about the new rebellion in 1922, almost as a sequel to the older song.[11]

Recorded versions[edit]

The song (also sometimes known asDown the Glen) has been performed and recorded by many Irish traditional groups, includingThe Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem,The Dubliners,The Chieftains,Shane MacGowanandThe Wolfe Tonesamong others. The verse that begins "Oh the night fell black and the rifles' crack" is almost always omitted in recordings of the song.

References[edit]

  1. ^Bunting, Edward:The Ancient Music of Ireland(Dublin: Hodges & Smith, 1840), tune no. 150, p. 109; facsimile reprint, Dublin: Waltons, 1969.
  2. ^Fleischmann, Aloys (ed.):Sources of Irish Traditional Music c.1600–1855,2 volumes (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998),ISBN0-8240-6948-X,vol. 2, p. 717 and 1106, tunes no. 3913 and 6068.
  3. ^O'Boyle, Cathal (1973).Songs of the County Down.Skerries, Co. Dublin: Gilbert Dalton.ISBN0-86233-012-2.
  4. ^Down & Connor Diocesan Archives in Belfast, record for Father Charles O'Neill
  5. ^"Unknown"– viaBritish Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^Harte, Frank (1978).Songs of Dublin.Skerries, Co. Dublin: Gilbert Dalton.ISBN0-946005-51-6.
  7. ^Keith Jeffery. Ireland and the Great War. (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
  8. ^ab"History – British History in depth: Ireland and World War One".BBC.Retrieved11 August2012.
  9. ^abc"History – 1916 Easter Rising – Rebel Songs (Part 4)".BBC.
  10. ^""na Gaill"".The National Terminology Database for Irish.Ireland: Foras na Gaeilge.Retrieved20 April2024.
  11. ^Soldiers of '22 - Irish Rebel Song (Lyrics),retrieved9 February2024

External links[edit]

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