Music & Me

Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm Sadhbh Alexander, I was born and raised (and still live) in Cooper's Gap, North Carolina, which you've almost certainly never heard of. I was homeschooled and grew up in the Baptist church so music was always around, but not in many contexts outside of a religious one. I have a Pennsylvania Dutch mom who grew up in the midst of a large Amish community and my dad was a deacon and the son of a southern Baptist preacher. My relationship with music changed when my parents introduced me to a woman named Deborah Brinson when I was about 9 years old. Ms. Deborah had been tutoring my older sister and she didn't normally take on students my age but after hearing from my sister about what she had been learning, I became relentless in asking Ms. Deborah to take me on as well. Deborah Brinson was (and I assume still is, but she is very elusive) an Irish folk singer, songwriter, and harpist. My sister was not only coming home from her lessons with increasing musical ability, she was learning to sing in and understand Irish as well as other languages, and bringing home songs and stories that were turning me green.

I studied under Ms. Deborah as long as I could, but she left for Ireland when I was still quite young and we haven't kept touch. Now, I keep this music in my life as part of my work. As a singer I have never had much power behind my voice, I struggle to compete for volume when accompanied by a loud instrument such as a piano, and I've long accepted that large concert halls are probably something I could never fill without the help of a microphone. However, my voice works quite well to sing to a single person in a quiet room, and I found there is indeed a setting for this. I have been a licensed massage & bodywork therapist for 3 years now. One day I was is a session listening to my favorite music and I had the thought that this would be much more fun if I could sing while I worked, and then I also realized there was nothing stopping me. 

My favorite mini-genre of songs to sing or listen to while I work on my clients are waulking songs. Waulking songs are more of a Scottish tradition than an Irish one, but they are a type of work song that really helps me get through my day. The practice of waulking involved several women sitting in a circle, beating woven tweed or wool into useable cloth in a rhythmic cycle. They would sing while they did this in order to make the work go by easier and to keep themselves on beat. The lyrics are often optimistic and grateful, including words of praise and thanks to God for the health of the sheep that produce the wool and the hands of the women that work it, as well as the health the clothing will afford the people of their communities.

1. My favorite waulking song at the moment is Hò Rò Gun Togainn air H​ù​gan Fhathast Thù, and I like the rendition by the group Staran. The lyrics of this song and other waulking songs help me to keep a positive attitude about the work that I do.

Lyrics:

Scottish Gaelic                                          English

Ho rò gun togainn air hùgan fhathast      The tweed will be the better for being in the presence of the girls
Ho rò i ò, mun tèid mi laighe                           Who, with their hands, will make the waulking endure
Ho rò gun togainn air hùgan fhathast
                                                            When they turn it on the waulking board
Togamaid fonn air luadh a’ chlòthlainn            The sound was heard of each of them speaking
Gabhaidh sinn ceòl is òrain mhatha
                                                            Beautiful, melodious, sweet songs
B' fheàird an clò bhith chòir nan gruagach      Are sung by the maidens
Dhèanadh an luadhadh buan len làmhan
                                                            While waulking they sing
Nuair a thionndas iad air clèith e                     Cheerfully, diligently to improve the cloth
Chluinnte fuaim gach tè dhiubh labhairt
                                                             Good health to those sheep
Òrain ghrinne, bhinne, mhìlse                          on which grew the elegant cloth
Aig na rìbhinnean gan gabhail
                                                             A blessings upon the hand which spun it
Luinneag ac’ air luadh an aodaich                   Hers was the work of a good housewife
Sunndach, saothrachail ri mathas
                                                             Truly the folk who will wear it
Guma slàn a bhios na caoraich                        Will derive pleasure from their clothes
Air an d’ fhàs an t-aodach flathail

Beannachd air an làimh a shnìomh e
’S i rinn gnìomh na deagh bhean-taighe                 

’S ann a tha ‘n toil-inntinn aodaich                         
Aig na daoin’ a bhios ga chaitheamh                Translation found at 

                                                                           brianoheadhra-fionnagnicchoinnich.bandcamp.com

2. The second song I chose to share is one it took me way to long to hear, and when I did a lot of things clicked for me. A lot of the history (which was, I'll be honest, virtually all U.S. history) I took in grade school simply didn't add up with my own observations of the modern world, and it took me until I got to college to finally understand why. I heard this song and it's message to Americans, particularly Americans of Irish heritage, is clear: justice over nationalism. This concept is what was missing from my education in history, and this song is one of the best examples of why the topic of music history is so important to me.

I chose to use Seth Staton Watkins' cover of this song because I feel he is an artist who deserves more recognition, he is a young singer with and old and powerful voice.

Lyrics:

My name is John Riley

I'll have your ear only a while

I left my dear home in Ireland

It was death, starvation or exile

And when I got to America

It was my duty to go

Enter the Army and slog across Texas

To join in the war against Mexico

It was there in the pueblos and hillsides

That I saw the mistake I had made

Part of a conquering army

With the morals of a bayonet blade

So in the midst of these poor, dying Catholics

Screaming children, the burning stench of it all

Myself and two hundred Irishmen

Decided to rise to the call

From Dublin City to San Diego

We witnessed freedom denied

So we formed the Saint Patrick Battalion

And we fought on the Mexican side

We marched 'neath the green flag of Saint Patrick

Emblazoned with "Erin Go Bragh"

Bright with the harp and the shamrock

And "Libertad para la República"

Just fifty years after Wolftone

Five thousand miles away

The Yanks called us a Legion of Strangers

And they can talk as they may

We fought them in Matamoros

Where their volunteers were raping the nuns

In Monterey and Cerro Gordo

We fought on as Ireland's sons

We were the red-headed fighters for freedom

Amidst these brown-skinned women and men

Side by side we fought against tyranny

And I daresay we'd do it again

We fought them in five major battles

Churubusco was the last

Overwhelmed by the cannons from Boston

We fell after each mortar blast

Most of us died on that hillside

In the service of the Mexican state

So far from our occupied homeland

We were heroes and victims of fate

Lyrics from genius.com/David-rovics

3. The song I chose that does not really resonate with me is one that went viral in the southeast U.S. about a year ago and was a hot topic of conversation in my hometown. Many people I knew had very positive feelings about the song, mostly because the artist is very relatable to them. Though he is relatable and I believe he is a very talented musician, I felt something in the lyrics that was divisive and diversionary. This is Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony.