Talk:Rocky Road to Dublin

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Cam Ye O'Er From France[edit]

I removed the link saying it has the same tune as Cam Ye O'Er from France. The reference quoted says nothing about it, and the songs sound absolutely nothing alike. I think it was just a troll. 99.120.200.86 (talk) 22:19, 21 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sadly, it was not a "troll", so the reference should not have been removed. The earlier tune is in fact "The key to the cellar", published by Playford at the end of the 17th century (though I believe there was an even older English/Scots border tune that gave birth to this simply called "A hornpipe", though I haven't been able to locate it).

"The key to the cellar" and "Cam ye o'er by France" are in the old hornpipe rhythm of 3/2. If you play them in 9/8 (or even 6/8), you basically get the tune used in "The rocky road to Dublin". They are essentially the same tune. There are no earlier records of the 9/8 version of the tune and it is blindingly obvious that it is a version of "Key to the door"/"Cam ye o'er by France".

If you can't hear it, then you need to find a musician who can explain and demonstrate it to you.

The only issue now is to find proper references rather than what might to perceived as "original research". Ecadre (talk) 02:04, 13 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The Documentary[edit]

"The Rocky Road to Dublin" is also a (very controversial!) documentary film created by Peter Lennon in 1968. I'm not sure how to enter the film into Wikipedia, but it should be documented here! An extensive description can be found here: http://www.iol.ie/~galfilm/filmwest/25rocky.htm

The main fascination about this film is that it was never really shown in Ireland, because the "authorities" feared it. Is seems to be still classified as banned in Ireland, as IMDB seems to suggest: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192534/

I would suggest making an article here Rocky Road to Dublin (film) or The Rocky Road to Dublin (film), depending on the films real title.

Spelemann 14:52, 28 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Nick Cooper 00:55, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lyrics[edit]

I know that lyrics are often open to individual interpretations, however in the first line I have never seen nor heard the "Merry month of June". The versions I have heard have been the "Merry month of May". Is there an 'official' version to cite? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.169.189.226 (talk) 14:36, 23 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the 78rpm recording I uploaded to the Internet Archive and updated the article here about, the line is indeed "Merry month of June."

Scarletdown (talk) 20:56, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

June fits the rhyme, May does not. It's the only thing that makes sense, and it's what I remember. I'm changing it. Rwxrwxrwx (talk) 19:10, 13 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

May fits the alliteration, June does not. June is kind of iffy at best for rhyming, and it isn't uncommon for songs to alliteration in that way so it seems to me that may makes just as much sense as June. The oldest versions of the song I've listened to (recordings that is) have mostly been May, and all the recordings of Luke Kelly that I've heard have been that way. Personally I'm inclined to believe that May might even be the original word and that June could be a more modern change. 71.43.131.74 (talk) 19:02, 28 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The "June" version is sourced from 1901. Period. Skippy le Grand Gourou (talk) 06:45, 2 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Request for editing: After hearing it again in the Sherlock Holmes movie I checked for the lyrics and the chorus as given on the main site looks to be corrupted:

(Chorus): One two three four five, Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road And all the way to Dublin, whack follol de rah!''

This is not being sung (at least not by the The Dubliners and those versions I've heard) and expands to "follow the (I.)R.A.", commonly added to football songs sung by the green half of Glasgow. No need to be included in such a representative page. What is being sung is actually:

Chorus: One, two three, four five Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road and all the way to Dublin, whack-fol-la-de-da!

... with no meaning at all, AFAIK. Link: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Rocky-Road-To-Dublin-lyrics-Dropkick-Murphys/2F4C9F8DE52F5FCE48256C22000DECEE —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ynnis (talk • contribs) 14:16, 8 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Request[edit]

There's quite a bit of slang in this song, notably the latter part of the chorus. Could you folks make a paragraph explaining the meanings? Since the song was used at the end of the recent version of Sherlock Holmes this article will be referenced by people throughout the world. I would also be personally grateful. My friends and I loved the song. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.194.107.210 (talk) 08:53, 6 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Which parts in particular would you like explained? "Whack fol la de dah" is probably just an example of non-sensical filler words, common in Celtic music. I'm not Irish though, but come from a place with strong Irish heritage (Newfoundland), and it may have roots in (or be a distorted version of) an actual phrase. This is an old folk song, and like all folk music, it was passed on aurally from person to person for centuries, so it's common to see the "Chinese Whisper" effect in the lyrics, as evidenced in the many variations in lyrics among the many recordings. You'll often hear this type of gibberish in folk songs, especially sea shanties, be it Irish, Scottish, English, etc. If anybody knows the actual term for this type of phrase, I'd be curious to know!

Is that the slang you're referring to? --Rheostatik (talk) 05:19, 19 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Harry Clifton (1824-1872)?[edit]

I am unsure of what this date beside harry's name is supposed to signify; if it is in reference to his birth and death, the page his name links to gives a conflicting date. (Harry Clifton (born 1952)) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.27.218.197 (talk) 03:53, 9 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You're right, this is not the same person. I removed the link, but someone may want to create a disambiguation page. Skippy le Grand Gourou (talk) 10:11, 8 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who is D.K. Gavan?[edit]

D.K. Gavan "The Galway Poet" is mentioned on many websites, but no one seems to have a source to his full name, historical background. Did he even realy exist? The two references provided are non-searchable (The Era magazine, 22 February 1863 and Attribution on sheet music). Can anyone veryify these, and maybe create a separate page on The Galway Poet? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.58.253.57 (talk) 15:03, 14 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Cleanup and more[edit]

I've gone ahead and cleaned up this article a bit. In particularly, I've removed the lyrics per WP:NOTLYRICS. Note that the guideline says, "For songs in the public domain the article should not consist solely of the lyrics (Wikisource should be used for such articles instead), but should instead provide information about authorship, date of publication, social impact, and so on. Quotes from an out-of-copyright song should be kept to a reasonable length relative to the rest of the article, and used to facilitate discussion, or to illustrate the style; the full text can be put on Wikisource and linked to from the article." We have that exactly here. The lyrics are on Wikisource, and a link is given at the bottom. Having all of the lyrics in the main body is excessive, so it's been removed.

I've also done some link cleanup, and removed non-notable versions of the song. Honestly I don't like the Recordings section at all, but I can live with it for now. — HelloAnnyong ^{(say whaaat?!)} 18:30, 21 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

IMPOSSIBLE[edit]

it should be noted that its not possible to walk from Tuam to Mullingar in just one day. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 177.69.241.2 (talk) 15:28, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

'While another user has made this claim, a Google Maps search indicates that this walk can be made in just under 23 hours, so very difficult, but it's simpler than a walk into Mordor, particularly for a fit individual. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.183.19.85 (talk) 19:22, 29 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

An bairille[edit]

There is an Irish drinking song called "An Bairille" which shares it's melody with Rocky Road to Dublin. JayBirdtyper (talk) 18:13, 3 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]