I have previously sent out the words to Danny Boy and Endearing Young Charms. The last two tunes we plan to put together. 'Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral' and 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling'.
The current plan is to play the Verse and Chorus of 'Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral', the play the chorus to 'When Irish Eyes Are Smiling' and then play the Chorus of 'Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral' again. Of course, depending on the mood of the crowd, variations on this may be possible.
Here are the words to the two tunes:
TOO-RA-LOO-RA-LOO-RAL
Words:
James Royce Shannon
Melody:
Traditional
Over in
Killarney,
Many
years ago,
Me
mither sang a song to me
In
tones so sweet and low.
Just
a simple little ditty,
In
her good auld Irish way,
And
I'd give the world if she could
sing
That
song to me this day. Oh …
,
Chorus:
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Hush,
now don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral,
That's
an Irish lullaby.
Oft,
in dreams I wander
To
that cot again,
I
feel her arms a huggin' me
As
when she held me then.
And
I hear her voice a humin'
To
me as in days or yore,
When
she used to rock me fast asleep
Outside
the cabin door. Oh … ,
Chorus
*******************************
WHEN IRISH
EYES ARE
SMILING
Words:
Chauncey Olcott and George Graff,
Jr.
Melody:
Ernest R. Ball
There's a
tear in your eye,
And
I'm wondering why,
For
it never should be there at all.
With
such pow'r in your smile,
Sure
a stone you'd beguile,
So
there's never a teardrop should
fall.
When
your sweet lilting laughter's
Like
some fairy song,
And
your eyes twinkle bright as can
be;
You
should laugh all the while
And
all other times smile,
And
now, smile a smile for me.
Chorus:
When
Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure,
'tis like the morn in Spring.
In
the lilt of Irish laughter
You
can hear the angels sing.
When
Irish hearts are happy,
All
the world seems bright and
gay.
And
when Irish eyes are smiling,
Sure,
they steal your heart away.
For your
smile is a part
Of
the love in your heart,
And
it makes even sunshine more
bright.
Like
the linnet's sweet song,
Crooning
all the day long,
Comes
your laughter and light.
For
the springtime of life
Is
the sweetest of all
There
is ne'er a real care or regret;
And
while springtime is ours
Throughout
all of youth's hours,
Let
us smile each chance we get.
Chorus
For those who only prefer to read the bullet points, read only the highlighted lines.
A week ago Monday (02/06/06), I was off sick so there was no beginner's session, but I did come in and unlock the Academy so there was a regular practice. According to Ed and Odie, those present were:
Pipers: Jeff Burton, Kevin Donnelly, Chalmers Marquis, Ed Snyder & Gary Winemiller
Drummers: Brian Brendel, Ethan Cochran & Jay Rubin.
Work was done on the Pub Tunes with trying some different combinations as well as working on the Quiet Man Set.
This past Monday (02/13/06), I was recovered enough to come to practice. We started out with a beginner's session with Patti Blankenship, John Murray and Scott Philben. Other present were:
Pipers: Jeff Burton, Kevin Byrne, Steve Cochran & Kevin Donnelly
Drummers: Rob Agnew
For the regular practice we did chanter work on the Quiet Man Set and the Pub Tunes.
There are only two more practice left before the St. Patrick's Day Parade marathon starts. Next week I want to get on the big pipes right away, so Piper Dudes bring your pipes and Drummer Dudes bring your drums.
A couple of news items:
We will not be doing the DC Friends of Ireland gig this year. It seems that the Guest Honoree has his own favorite Pipe Band, which he prefers to use.
We have a tentative invitation to join the Fairfax County F.D. Emerald Society (yes Virginia they have started it up again) at Murphy's in Alexandria after the Washington, DC St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday March 12th.
We have been hired to pipe at a wedding as a band on Saturday, July 8th in Chantilly. Talking to those present last night, it was the consensus that this was a doable and desirable gig . The kicker is that this is a North Indian Wedding … that is Indian as in India! The gentleman was at a family wedding last year in India and they had pipers there and that is what gave him the idea. He found us through our web site.
Here is the list of gigs we have on the books right now. Please do a copy and past or whatever you prefer and reply back to me and let me know which ones you are planning to attend. If we don't get enough responses then we may have to cancel.
03/04/06 - Alexandria St. Patrick's Day Parade:
03/12/06 - Washington DC St. Patrick's Day Parade:
03/12/06 - Possible gig with the Fairfax FD Emerald Society after the DC parade
03/18/06 - Manassas St. Patrick's Day Parade and pub-crawl
04/15/06 - Sikh Parade
05/27/06 - Rolling Thunder
07/04/06 - Fairfax City 4th of July Parade
07/08/06 - Wedding in Chantilly
09/23/06 - Cape May, NJ Irish Festival (over night trip)
10/08/06 - National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, Emmitsburg, MD
12/02/06 - Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk
Check your calendars and mark your calendars and let me know what you can make. I would prefer a "Yes" answer, but a "Maybe Yes" is good, a "Maybe No" is not as good and I'd rather not see a "No" but at least I will know who is and who isn't going to be there.
I'll see you all next Monday at practice and remember the practice after that is the MANDATORY BEFORE PERFORMACE PRACTICE!
Sláinte,
Steve