Formed while the members were working in America, the initial impetus was to record an album of Irish rebel songs (released as "The Rising of the Moon") as one of the first releases in 1956 of new folk label, Tradition Records. Paddy Clancy's harmonica provided the only musical accompaniment for this debut album.
Little thought was given at that point to continuing as a singing group. The four were all were busy establishing careers (in the theatre) for themselves, in addition to their work at Tradition Records. With the album being a local success, requests were often demanded for the brothers and Makem to sing some of their songs at parties and informal pub settings. Slowly, the singing gigs began to outweigh the acting gigs and by 1959, serious thought was given to a new album. Liam had developed some guitar skills, Tommy's hand, which hasd been injured, had healed enough that he was again able to play tin whistle and Uilleann pipes, and the times spent singing together had improved their style. No longer were they the rough, mostly unaccompanied group of actors singing for an album to jump-start a record label; they were becoming a professional singing group.
The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music singing group. Most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their woolly Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularizing Irish traditional music in the United States. The brothers were Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, Bobby Clancy and Liam Clancy. Paddy, Tom, Bob, and Liam are best known for their work with Tommy Makem, recording dozens of albums together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. They were a primary influence on a young Bob Dylan and on many other emerging artists.
The release of their second album, this one of Irish drinking songs called "Come Fill Your Glass with Us", solidified their new careers as singers. The album was a success, and they made many appearances on the pub circuit in New York, Chicago, and Boston. It was at their first official gig after "Come Fill Your Glass With Us" that the group finally found a name for themselves. The nightclub owner asked for a name to put on the marquee, but they had not decided on one yet. Unable to agree on a name (which included suggestions like "The Beggermen", "The Tinkers", and even "The Chieftains") the owner decided for them, simply billing them as "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem". The name stuck. They decided to try singing full-time for six months. If their singing was successful, they would continue with it; if not, then they would return to acting. The Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem proved successful as a singing group and in early 1961, they attracted the attention of scouts from The Ed Sullivan Show.
The Clancy Brothers' mother read news of the terrible ice and snow storms in New York City so she sent Aran sweaters for her sons and Tommy Makem to keep them warm. Paddy and Liam Clancy stated they wore the sweaters for the first time in the Blue Angel club. When Marty Erlichman, their manager, saw the sweaters, he was beside himself! "That's it!" he exclaimed. I've been looking for a special costume for the group. It was also the night that Barbra Streisand sang in the Blue Angel for the first time. The sweaters became the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem's trademark. When back in their hometown, the band purchased their Aran jumpers from Babington, on the main street. Babington had a local woman by the name of Betty McGillivray née Duggan knit the jumpers and supply the shop on regular occasions.
On 12 March 1961, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed for 16 minutes in front of a televised audience of 80 million people on The Ed Sullivan Show. As Pearl Bailey did not show that night, the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem were given her time. The televised performance instantly attracted the attention of John Hammond of Columbia Records. The group was offered a five-year contract with an advance of $100,000, a huge sum in 1961. For their first album with Columbia, they enlisted Pete Seeger as backup banjo player for the live album A Spontaneous Performance Recording It included songs that would soon become classics, such as "Brennan on the Moor," "Jug of Punch," "Reilly's Daughter," "Finnegan's Wake," "Haul Away Joe," "Roddy McCorley," "Portlairge" and "Moonshiner." The album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1961.
By the end of 1961, they had released two more albums, one final one with Tradition Records, and another with Columbia, Hearty and Hellish: A Live Nightclub Performance, and they were playing Carnegie Hall. Additionally, they were making appearances on major radio and television talk-shows in America.
1962 proved to be an even better year. Ciarán MacMathuna, a popular radio personality in Ireland, was visiting America when he heard of the group. He collected the few albums they had out at the time, brought them back home to Ireland and played them on his radio show. The broadcasts skyrocketed the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem to fame in Ireland, where they were still unknown. In Ireland, songs like "Roddy McCorley," "Kevin Barry" and "Brennan on the Moor" were slow, depressing songs full of melancholy, but the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had transformed those songs (the disgruntled purists in Ireland said "commercialized") and made them lively. For generations the songs had been a reminder of the troubles in Ireland and therefore they weren't anything anybody sang proudly. The Clancy Brothers changed all that, and the transformed songs reinvigorated Ireland's pride in her music. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were brought over for a sold-out tour of Ireland in late 1962. Popularity in England and other parts of Europe soon followed, as well as Australia and Canada. By 1963, appearing on major talk-shows in America, Canada, England, Australia and Ireland, as well as their own TV specials, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were "the most famous four Irishmen in the world" as said by Ireland's Late Late Show host, Gay Byrne, in a retrospective interview in 1984. In 1964, one third of all the albums sold in Ireland were Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem records.
The 1960s continued to be a successful decade with the release of approximately two albums per year, all of which sold millions of copies. They continued to peak with television appearances in front of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
Their popularity is the result of several factors. There was already an American folk revival beginning in the United States, and men such as Ewan MacColl popularizing old songs on the other side of the Atlantic. But it was the Clancys' boisterous performances that set them apart, taking placid classics and giving them a boost of energy and spirit (not that they took this approach with all their songs; they would still sing the true mournful ballads with due reverence).
But by the late 1960s, rock music had taken full swing, and the ballad and folk boom was waning. To keep the band at the top, Teo Macero began producing their records for Columbia. Macero introduced new instrumentation to their music, including Louis Killen coming in to play concertina on backup, particularly on their 1968 album of sea songs, Sing of the Sea. But their last three albums for Columbia Record in 1969 and 1970 are considered by many to be overproduced, with a multitude of string instruments and synthesizers added to the simpler traditional Clancy mix of guitar, banjo, tin whistle and harmonica.
In 1969, the group recorded a song for a two-minute-long TV ad for Gulf Oil: "Bringin' Home the Oil". They adapted a traditional Scottish tune they had recorded, "The Gallant Forty Twa," with new words about large-capacity supertankers. The song and commercial featured the then-largest supertanker in the world, the Universe Ireland, which operated with sister ships Universe Kuwait, Universe Japan and Universe Portugal, all mentioned in the song and which operated from the seaport at Bantry Bay.
1969 marked the amicable departure of Tommy Makem from the group. Giving them a year's notice, Makem left in April 1969 to pursue a solo career armed with such recent compositions as "Four Green Fields", debuted on 1968's Clancy Brothers album, Home Boys Home.
The "other brother", Bobby Clancy, filled Tommy Makem's vacancy and the band became The Clancy Brothers.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
The Clancy Brothers And Tommy Makem Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My sad heart strove the two between, the old love and the new love
The old for her, the new that made me think on Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glen and shook the golden barley
'Twas hard the woeful words to frame to break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame of foreign chains around us
And so I said, "The mountain glen I'll seek at morning early
While sad I kissed away her tears, my fond arms round her flinging
The foeman's shot burst on our ears from out the wildwood ringing
A bullet pierced my true love's side in life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died while soft winds shook the barley
But blood for blood without remorse I've taken at Oulart Hollow
And laid my true love's clay cold corpse where I full soon may follow
As round her grave I wander drear, noon, night and morning early
With breaking heart when e'er I hear the wind that shakes the barley
The Clancy Brother's traditional Irish song, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, tells a story of love, conflict, and sacrifice. The song begins with a moment of tranquility, where the singer sits with his true love in the valley, struggling with the old love and the new love that pulls him towards Ireland. The poetic metaphor of the wind shaking the golden barley brings forth a sense of change and constant movement, signifying a deep need for the change that the singer is seeking.
As the song progresses, we witness the harsh reality of living under foreign chains, where the singer is forced to break the ties that bind him and his true love, to join the bold united men who seek to free Ireland. The juxtaposition of the soft winds and the hard words that he must say, contrasts the peaceful life he desires with the harshness of reality.
The third and final verse of the song is a tragic moment where the singer looses his true love to the foeman's bullet, and decides to take revenge at Oulart Hollow. The singer's pain and suffering are demonstrated through the everyday ritual he performs, by visiting his true love's grave every noon, night, and morning when he hears the wind that shakes the barley. The song's central theme revolves around the struggle for independence, love, and sacrifice.
Line by Line Meaning
I sat within the valley green, I sat me with my true love
I was sitting with my lover in the green valley.
My sad heart strove the two between, the old love and the new love
I was torn between my old and new love, and my heart was heavy.
The old for her, the new that made me think on Ireland dearly
I loved my old love, but my new love made me miss my homeland.
While soft the wind blew down the glen and shook the golden barley
The wind was blowing gently, shaking the barley in the glen.
'Twas hard the woeful words to frame to break the ties that bound us
It was difficult to find the right words to end our relationship and break the ties between us.
But harder still to bear the shame of foreign chains around us
It was even harder to bear the shame of being under foreign rule and control.
And so I said, "The mountain glen I'll seek at morning early
I decided that I would go to the mountain glen early in the morning.
And join the bold united men, while soft winds shake the barley"
I would join the brave men who were fighting for freedom, while the wind shook the barley around us.
While sad I kissed away her tears, my fond arms round her flinging
I kissed away my lover's tears and held her close in my arms, feeling sad.
The foeman's shot burst on our ears from out the wildwood ringing
We heard the sound of shots from the enemy coming from the nearby woods.
A bullet pierced my true love's side in life's young spring so early
A bullet hit my lover and killed her while she was still young.
And on my breast in blood she died while soft winds shook the barley
She died in my arms, covered in blood, while the gentle wind continued to shake the barley.
But blood for blood without remorse I've taken at Oulart Hollow
I sought revenge without mercy for my lover's death at Oulart Hollow.
And laid my true love's clay cold corpse where I full soon may follow
I buried my lover's cold, lifeless body, knowing that I would soon join her in death.
As round her grave I wander drear, noon, night and morning early
I walk around her grave, feeling sad, during all hours of the day and night.
With breaking heart when e'er I hear the wind that shakes the barley
Whenever I hear the wind that shook the barley on the day of her death, my heart breaks.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: MICHAEL TURBRIDY, Michael Tubridy
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@adammoore2380
I sat within the valley green
I sat me with my true love.
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love.
The old for her the new
That made me think on Ireland dearly.
While the soft wind blew down the glen
and shook the golden barley.
'Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us.
But harder still to bear the shame
of foreign chains around us.
And so I said the mountain glen
I'll seek at morning early.
And join the bold united men
While soft winds shake the barley.
While sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arms round her flinging.
When a foe man's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild woods ringing.
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early.
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley.
But blood for blood without remorse
I've taken at oulart hollow.
I've lain my true love's clay cold corpse
Where I full soon may follow.
Around her grave I've wandered drear
Noon, night, and morning early.
With breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley.
Lyrics by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836-1883)
@johnfortune3432
This is the full version:
I sat within a valley green,
I sat me with my true love,
My sad heart strove the two between,
The old love and the new love, -
The old for her, the new that made
Me think of Ireland dearly,
While soft the wind blew down the glade
And shook the golden barley.
Twas hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
Twas harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, "The mountain glen
I'll seek next morning early
And join the brave United Men!"
While soft winds shook the barley.
While sad I kissed away her tears,
My fond arms 'round her flinging,
The foeman's shot burst on our ears,
From out the wildwood ringing, -
A bullet pierced my true love's side,
In life's young spring so early,
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley!
I bore her to the wildwood screen,
And many a summer blossom
I placed with branches thick and green
Above her gore-stain'd bosom:-
I wept and kissed her pale, pale cheek,
Then rushed o'er vale and far lea,
My vengeance on the foe to wreak,
While soft winds shook the barley!
But blood for blood without remorse,
I've ta'en at Oulart Hollow
And placed my true love's clay-cold corpse
Where I full soon will follow;
And round her grave I wander drear,
Noon, night and morning early,
With breaking heart whene'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley!
@fritula6200
Oh! Ireland awake from your slumber:
and look around
heads hung down, no greeting anymore,
he passes me by, and doesnt see me there,
we played as children shared our time and
sang old Irish songs that ma taught us:
I cannot look his way anymore, he is gone,
And my heart is lost and died, we passed each
other in our Irish village, the village of our birth
my brother and l:
@clairenollet2389
More barley-related Irish culture, the rebel poem "Requiem for the Croppies" by Seamus Heaney:
The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley...
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp...
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.
A people hardly marching... on the hike...
We found new tactics happening each day:
We'd cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.
Until... on Vinegar Hill... the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August... the barley grew up out of our grave.
@eileenmcsweeney
Tommy makems voice on this song is second to none superb he had surreal vocal range
@Lee_Enfield95
This version I find capture the turn nature of the poem. SAD. But so beautifully preformed. Every word cuts to my heart
@roguebatman6161
My friend played this on guitar and sang on my fathers grave. My family was there we were close. He took off and started boarding trains. It was a beautiful time and I wonder what has happened to him. Thank you brother
@kahmv1
This is the most perfect thing I have ever listened to.
@johnoconnor4623
Sweet and beautiful singing. Thank you Tommy and God rest.
@johnhumphrey2131
Tears. We are no strangers to oppression. 32 counties ...someday
@creasemason6347
Erin Go Bragh!!!
@Lee_Enfield95
Our time will come
@craigdsimpson
So moving, must be the best version ever :)
@musicloverarmeda
Robin Borneman does the best version imo