I was reading about

The Great Irish Potato Famine on Facebook and how boats full of grain, butter, and livestock continued to be exported to Britain despite it all, sometimes under military guard, and in at least one case, a plea by a British relief official to divert 60,000 tonnes of grain to feed the starving was specifically denied.

There is a book I bought used from Better World Books called The Graves are Walking: The Great Famine and the Saga of the Irish People by John Kelly. Given that quite a bit of my ancestry is Irish, I'm interested in the history.

Anyway, I was reading on Facebook, and it reminded me of a song, a modern folksong that I dearly love but which brings me to tears every single time I hear it. It was written by American songwriter Peter Jones based on letters found in his family's attic, written by his great-great-great-grandfather and sent to his son. It is called 'Kilkelly, Ireland', about the family left behind after that son's emigration from County Mayo to America.

Here's a video that did a nice job with the song and images. I believe this is the version sung by Robbie O'Connell, Mick Moloney, and Jimmy Keane.

Here's some Irish music for you

'Kilkelly, Ireland', one of the saddest songs I've ever heard


'Finnegan's Wake', which is one of the funniest


'Young Ned of the Hill', one of the angriest: (a bit on the history here)

One of my favourite songs...

terribly depressing yet moving. Quite a few of my own ancestors came from Ireland. I think this song captures the experiences of some of those immigrants and the ones left behind. The song was based on actual letters written from Ireland to the songwriter's great-grandfather.

'Kilkelly', sung by Robbie O'Connell with the Clancy Brothers

Another terribly depressing song I'll include here is 'Stretched on Your Grave'. I prefer the Dead Can Dance version rather than the Sinead O'Connor one. Here it is. What can I say--I'm both depressive and romantic. This particular recording has an annoying tendency for the volume to go down between verses early in the song, but it's the best I could find.

I've always thought it would be nice to play this at my memorial service. That or Kansas' 'Dust in the Wind'. What can I say, I'm not a 'Rock of Ages' kind of girl. And as long as I'm on morbid topics, let me just state publicly that 1) I want to be cremated and 2) do not want to be embalmed (I think it's just macabre) and 3) will haunt anyone who has me embalmed and buried. Enough said.

Tomorrow's post will be brighter, okay?