Howdy Hive Open Mic Family
This is my entry for this weeks open mic event.
The theme had me a little lost for what to play.
I eventually decided on another old Irish folk song titled The Creggan White Hare.
The reason for choosing this song is that I find the word play in alot of these old folk songs to be awe inspiring.
Alot of these songs are more than 100 years old.They would have been written in a time where it would have been unlikely that the author would have made any financial gain from songwriting.
I imagine the inspiration behind writing a song like this is more to tell stories ,capture memories of a specific time,place,person or historic event.
The power of these songs to create vivid images in the mind that play out like a movie is also something that I find quite awe inspiring.
"This song is a classic Irish folk song first recorded in 1944, The Creggan White Hare tells the tale of a famed white hare and the many attempts to catch it from within the Townland of Creggan located in Tyrone County, Northern Ireland."
"The Creggan White Hare"
In the lowlands of Creggan there lives a white hare
As swift as the swallow that flies through the air
You may tramp the world over but none to compare
To the pride of old Creggan, that bonnie white hare
One clear autumn morning, as you will suppose
Oh, the red golden sun o’er the green mountain rose
Barney Conway came down and he did declare
"This day I’ll put an end to the bonnie white hare!"
So he searched through the lowlands and down through the glens
All among the wild ditches where the white hare had ends
Till at last coming down o’er the heather so fair
From behind the wild thistle out jumps the white hare
“Bang! Bang!” went his guns and his dogs he slipped too
As swift as the wind o'er the green mountain flew
But his dogs soon came back and it made Barney sigh
For he knew that the white hare had bid him goodbye
And we’re some jolly sportsmen down here from Pomeroy
From Cookstown, Dungannon, and likewise the Moy
"With our pedigree greyhounds we’ve travelled from far
And we’ve come down to Creggan in our fine motor car."
Well into the lowlands these huntsmen did go
In search of the white hare they'd look high and low
Till at last Barney Conway from a bog bank so rare
Shouted out to the huntsmen: “There lies the white hare!”
So they called up their greyhounds from off the green lea
And Barney and the huntsmen all jumped high with glee
It was there on the bog bank all gathered around
Seven dogs and nine men did that poor hare surround
Oh no wonder the white hare did tremble with fear
As she stood on her hind legs she would raise her big ears
As she stood on her hind legs with one gallant spring
She jumped over the greyhounds and broke through the ring
Well that chase it went on, it was a beautiful view
As swift as the wind o’er the green mountain flew
But those pedigree greyhounds they didn’t run far
They came back and went home in their fine motor car
Then there came another man and you all know him well
His name was Mick Kelly with the Bonnie Black Bell
"Oh in search of the white hare today I’ll have fun
I'll bet fifty to one my Black Bell of her turn."
Five turns the hare got then from Bonnie Black Bell
And the sixth one was given around John Haughey’s well
It was there we lost sight of the hare and the dog
And then ten minutes later came o’er the black bog
Well that chase it went on it was great for to see
The white hare and the black dog both roamed light and free
Till she travelled to Esker where she knew the lands well
And to Bonnie Black Nella there soon bid farewell
Oh and now to conclude and to finish this rhyme
I hope you’ll forgive me for singing all this while
If there’s any amongst you in Carrick more fair
Please drink up a health to that bonnie white hare