The band has recorded many albums of instrumental Irish folk music, as well as multiple collaborations with popular musicians of many genres, including Country music, Galician traditional music, Cape Breton and Newfoundland music, and rock and roll. They have performed with Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Sting, Roger Daltrey, Elvis Costello, Tom Jones, Sinéad O'Connor, James Galway, Jackson Browne, Nancy Griffith and numerous Country-western artists. In 1975, the group won praise for their playing of "Women of Ireland" for Stanley Kubrick's movie Barry Lyndon.
They have won six Grammy Awards and have been nominated eighteen times. In 2002 they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the UK's BBC Radio 2. The front covers of the first four albums were designed by Edward Delaney.
Paddy Moloney is the band's leader, and composes or arranges most of the band's music. While the band's members changed numerous times in the band's early history, the membership solidified in 1979 when Matt Molloy replaced Michael Tubridy.
From then until 2002, members included:
Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes, tin whistle, button accordion, bodhrán)
Matt Molloy (flute, tin whistle)
Kevin Conneff (bodhrán, vocals)
Seán Keane (fiddle, tin whistle)
Martin Fay (fiddle, bones) (born 1938; died 14 November 2012)
Derek Bell (Irish harp, keyboard instruments, oboe) (born 21 October 1935; died 17 October 2002)
In 2002, Fay retired from active membership. In the same year, Bell died due to complications following a minor operation. Fay died on 14 November 2012.
Persecución de Villa
The Chieftains Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dejo Carranza pasar americanos
Dos mil soldados trescientos aeroplanos
Buscando a villa por todo el país
Comenzaron a echar expediciones
Los aeroplanos comenzaron a volar
Por distintas y varias direcciones
Los soldados que vinieron desde Tejas
A Pancho Villa no podían encontrar
Ya fatigados de ocho horas de camino
Los pobres se querían regresar
Los de a caballo no se podían sentados
Y los de a pie no podían caminar
Entonces Villa les pasa en su aeroplano
Y desde arriba les grita "Goodbye"
Empezaron a lanzar sus aeroplanos
Entonces Villa, un buen plan les preparo:
Se vistió de soldado americano
Y a sus tropas también las transformó
Nuestro México, febrero veintitrés
Dejo Carranza pasar americanos
Dos mil soldados trescientos aeroplanos
Buscando a villa por todo el país
The lyrics to "Persecución de Villa" by The Chieftains tell the story of the pursuit of Pancho Villa by American forces in Mexico. The song takes place on February 23rd, with Carranza allowing the Americans to cross into Mexico in search of Villa. Two thousand soldiers and three hundred airplanes are sent to hunt Villa all over the country. The expeditions begin, and the airplanes take off in various directions, trying to locate Villa and kill him.
The soldiers from Texas who came to find Pancho Villa were unable to locate him. After an exhausting eight-hour journey, they wanted to return home. The soldiers on horseback couldn't sit, and those on foot couldn't walk. In a twist of fate, Villa flies over them in his airplane and shouts "Goodbye" from above.
Villa then formulates a clever plan. He dresses as an American soldier and disguises his troops as well. This enables him to evade the American pursuit, as they are unable to recognize him and his forces.
Overall, the lyrics portray the cat-and-mouse game between Villa and the American forces, highlighting Villa's wit and cunning in eluding capture.
Line by Line Meaning
Nuestro México, febrero veintitrés
Our Mexico, February twenty-third
Dejo Carranza pasar americanos
Carranza let the Americans pass
Dos mil soldados trescientos aeroplanos
Two thousand soldiers, three hundred airplanes
Buscando a villa por todo el país
Searching for Villa all over the country
Comenzaron a echar expediciones
They started to launch expeditions
Los aeroplanos comenzaron a volar
The airplanes started to fly
Por distintas y varias direcciones
In different and various directions
Buscando a Villa queriéndolo matar
Looking for Villa, wanting to kill him
Los soldados que vinieron desde Tejas
The soldiers who came from Texas
A Pancho Villa no podían encontrar
Could not find Pancho Villa
Ya fatigados de ocho horas de camino
Already tired from an eight-hour journey
Los pobres se querían regresar
The poor ones wanted to go back
Los de a caballo no se podían sentados
Those on horseback couldn't sit
Y los de a pie no podían caminar
And those on foot couldn't walk
Entonces Villa les pasa en su aeroplano
Then Villa passes them in his airplane
Y desde arriba les grita "Goodbye"
And from above he shouts "Goodbye" to them
Empezaron a lanzar sus aeroplanos
They started to launch their airplanes
Entonces Villa, un buen plan les preparo:
So Villa prepared them a good plan
Se vistió de soldado americano
He dressed up as an American soldier
Y a sus tropas también las transformó
And he also transformed his troops
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
tom canterbury
on North Amerikay
the great accapella version by kevin on tribute to their harpist