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Jimmy's Folk Column

March 29, 2008

SONGS OF CORK: ECHO SERIES NO 27SOMETHING: THE BALLAD OF TAMMANY HALL.

My esteemed friend and prolific contributor to the ballad column, Pat Daly, has created a pair of feisty Cork characters: Paddy and Mick-God knows, not at all unlike Cha and Miah;and through their racy dialogue, he can mediate his wonderful skills and talk to us through the medium of the ballad on divers contentious and comical affairs. Remember, Paddy and Mick have visited us before on the column in a delightful piece of verbosity on the merits of the naomhogor Irish curragh, which thanks to the vision and dynamic spirit of Padraig O Duinnin and Meithheal Mara is no longer a rare sight on Irish waters.

The poets of Ireland and mainland Europe too, I’m beginning to find out, have ever used just such a device. In CuilAodh, Co. Cork, and in the Muskerry area generally, the luibinbeirte is part of the cultural anatomy where two lads or two lassies- or one of each ,would battle it out musically and lyrically on some thorny subject taking a verse in turn in reply to the questions set by the other. I notice now, on Radio naGaeltachta; especially around the time of the Oireachtas, that other Gaeltacht areas like Ring, Co. Waterford, Conemara, Gweedore in Donegal and Meath are getting in on the act. It’s a vital dart of vivacity for “the language” as it allows discourse and debate .

A pair of wild, green parrots, kissing and cuddling and making desperate squeaky noise outside my window, woke me this morning. Last night I gave a house concert at the home of Dr. John Lanning and his wonderful wife Kay in delightful Anna Maria island on the Gulf Coast of Florida where a tehnicolour tropical Spring is bursting out all over. Spring, they call it! By our standards, it would be torrid, torpid summer and summer, for me ,in Ireland ,is the most beautiful thing and part of parcel of the Irish summer is the Championship.

It was looking dismal and drear for hurling and Gaelic football fans before the resolution; thankfully noble hands have been shaken; differences have been binned and both teams are eager and ready for action. My son Jamesy would never forgive me it we didn’t line out together for at least three outings ,maybe to Thurles by train or Limerick for the hurling or a trip west to Killarney for a football match with the Kingdom.

So, I’m hoping to return with the cuckoo and savour a few outings to cheer on the Blood and Bandage. The famous fair of Spancil Hill like the Munster Final is yet another icon in the Irish cosmos and as I’ve never attended it; I’m hoping to savour it’s timeless smells and colours this year. I won’t forget the date easily from the song:

It been on the twenty third of June, the day before the Fair,
In the Sextant bar sat Paddy and Mick,
Debating issues of the day:
The Taoiseach's finances and high-rise towers
And that crisis in Cork GAA.
"I suppose," Paddy said, "'tis on the players' heads
The blame should surely fall."
"No way, boy!" said Mick; "the cause of the rumpus
Is our local 'Tammany Hall.' “

"'Shafting Morgan, was the name of the game
When a change was made to the rule;
In the knowledge that Billy wouldn't compromise
Or serve as anybody's fool.
A Rebel to the core he has always been
And would not deign to crawl,
Or bow and scrape or even doff his cap,
In deference to 'Tammany Hall.'"

"It seems", said Paddy, "there's great efficiency
In the managing of Cork County Board;
Look at PaircUiChaoimh and PaircUiRinn,
They're worth more now than oul' Damer's hoard;
Take the success with which Cork has been blessed
In hurling and also football:
Ah, you'd have to credit those who administrate
In the place you call 'Tammany Hall.'"

"Cop on to yourself," said Mick with a sneer,
"And don't you be acting the 'daw;'
Cork would take titles if the board was steered
By poor old Andy Gaw.
Championships are won by lads who are gifted
With a hurley or a football;
Not by people who sit up in the stands,
Or call the shots in 'Tammany Hall.'"

"All my life, as you know, soccer's been my game,
I'd no interest in the Gah, " Paddy said.
"So never have I laid eyes upon the spot
Where you say the conflict was bred.
Is it very ornate, all marble and stone,
With oak panelling on each wall,
And a neon sign and loads of coloured bulbs
Lighting up this 'Tammany Hall?'"

"It's a state of mind rather than a place,"
Said Mick, "if you follow my meaning;
Where 'uiscefaoithalamh' flows constantly
And nothing is quite as it's seeming.
That famous advice our mothers used dispense;
'Mind the buses and keep in by the wall!'
Would serve you well if you had to navigate
The interior of 'Tammany Hall.'"

So, the two old pals supped pints and talked;
Setting their world all to rights,
Mentioned again was the row in Saipan
Along with other squabbles and fights.
On two fundamentals they struck an accord,
As across the topics they went ranging:
In Cork there are people with questions to answer,|
And much more than streetscape is changing!