Doc. : Dear Old Skibbereen
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Dear Old Skibbereen est une chanson irlandaise de la seconde partie du XIXe siècle. Son titre mentionne le petit port de Skibbereen (An Sciobairín en irlandais), dans le Sud de l’Irlande, touché comme le reste de l’île par la Grande Famine de 1845 à 1850. La chanson a été interprétée à quelques reprises :
- The Wolfe Tones, album Rifles of the IRA, 1969 ;
- The Dubliners, album Plain and Simple, 1973 ;
- Four to the Bar, album Another Son, 1995 ;
- Sinéad O’Connor, album Long Journey Home, The Irisk in America, 1998 ;
- Irish Stew of Sindidun, album So Many Words, 2005.
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Paroles de la chanson
O, father dear I oftimes hear you speak of Erin’s Isle
Her lofty scenes, her valleys green, her mountains rude and wild
They say it is a lovely land wherein a prince might dwell
So why did you abandon it, the reason to me tellMy son, I loved my native land with energy and pride
Till a blight came over all my crops and my sheep and cattle died
The rents and taxes were to pay and I could not them redeem
And that’s the cruel reason why I left old Skibbereen’Tis well I do remember that bleak November (/December) day
When the bailiff and the landlord came to drive us all away
They set the roof on fire with their cursed English spleen
And that’s another reason why I left old SkibbereenYour mother, too, God rest her soul, lay on the snowy ground
She fainted in her anguishing seeing the desolation round
She never rose, but passed away from life to immortal dreams
And that’s another reason why I left old SkibbereenThen sadly I recall the days of gloomy forty-eight [1].
I rose in vengeance with the boys to battle again’ fate.
We were hunted through the mountains as traitors to the queen,
And that, my boy, is the reason why I left old Skibbereen.Oh you were only two years old and feeble was your frame
I could not leave you with my friends for you bore your father’s name
So I wrapped you in my cóta mór [2] at the dead of night unseen
And I heaved a sigh and I said goodbye to dear old SkibbereenWell father dear, the day will come when on vengeance we will call
And Irishmen both stout and tall will rally unto the call
I’ll be the man to lead the van beneath the flag of green
And loud and high we’ll raise the cry, "Revenge for Skibbereen !"
[1] Référence à la rebellion irlandaise de juillet 1848, mené par le groupe Young Ireland.
[2] Cóta mór : grand manteau.