Talk:Are Ye Right There Michael

Wrong project
Public domain source texts belong in Wikisource. This article should never have been written to begin with. I'll transwikify it and put up for deletion. --Ardonik.talk 20:28, Sep 12, 2004 (UTC) - In general, in order to avoid using Wikipedia as a text dump it is usual to analyse verse, to annotate it or wikify it or to use it to illustrate a point. Wetman 20:31, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC) I've already transwikified the text to Are Ye Right There Michael (needs copyediting on that side, though.) I'm presently trying to incorporate the anecdote on this page into Percy French, since the latter is only a bio-stub. But if you know more about the subject, I'd welcome your edits! --Ardonik.talk 23:44, Sep 12, 2004 (UTC) Absolutely! Wetman 23:46, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * That's fine. We can have an article here describing the social impact of a song, or the story behind it, but the appropriate place for verbatim lyrics is Wikisource, and has been since Wikisource's inception.  See, for instance, Wikisource:Author:Robert Frost.  The Wikisource is a text dump!
 * Thank you! You've saved me a trip to the library.  :-)  --Ardonik.talk 23:49, Sep 12, 2004 (UTC)

Origin and Court Case
The song's birth came from an incident when Percy French was to sing and play in a hotel in (?)Lahinch. Due to delays caused by the West Clare Railway, upon his arrival, the patrons had returned home, and the management had had to refund the takings. (French was an engineer by profession, but supplemented his income by composing and by giving concert recitals.) Admirers of his work often overlook that French's songs are not particularly flattering in their portrayal of the native Irish: see "Slattery's Mounted Foot," and the verse about "England's King" in "The Mountains of Mourne." Indeed the words of that song, if analyzed, show a distinct belief in the stupidity of the Irish.

As might be expected, the song, "Are ye Right there, Michael?" led to a court case for defamation. Legend has it that the author, Percy French, turned up late in court. When he was upbraided by the judge, he replied, "But, Your Honour, I came on the West Clare Railway." The charges were dismissed.--PeadarMaguidhir 14:21, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The Words Of the Song
The words given here are the most accurate that I have ever seen on the net (The words on The West Clare Railway's site were a mess, at least when I last looked at that site. Two minor points:

And the fire is taytotally out. (A taytotaller in Ireland being one who drank no alcoholic beverages.)

Also, although I have always seen the words "...fine clamp of turf..., I suggest the word "clump" would make more sense.--PeadarMaguidhir 14:30, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Turf when first dug from the bog is damp, so a form of compression or clamp would be used to get rid of the water content, hence "clamp of turf" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.79.162.143 (talk) 12:13, August 30, 2007 (UTC)