愛爾蘭的每個郡都有自己的民歌。在都柏林聽到幾首好聽的愛爾蘭民歌。有的是情歌 love song；有的是Ballad（中文譯成敘事民歌），歌詞美的像詩歌，向人們敘述着往事。
1. Gold & Silver Days
作詞：Sean O'riada
作曲： Phil Coulter
演唱：Patty Reilly
英文歌詞
As I sit here by the fireside I'm turning back the years. I can hear my mother singing in the morning As she scrubbed our shining faces And then packed us off to school. All too soon those days were over without warning.
So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days, Days filled with innocence and light. Not a penny to our name, We were happy just the same In our gold and silver days.
In the parlour on a Friday night, My father took the floor. I can hear us join together in the chorus, Singing "Just a Song at Twilight" And "The Moon behind the Hill". Now those voices are all silenced, gone before us.
So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days, Days filled with innocence and light. Not a penny to our name, We were happy just the same In our gold and silver days.
We gathered at the Daisy Field On Sunday afternoon, And we danced to Johnny Quigley and the Royal. Through the years we all were scattered, But our friends were good and true, Always there when they were needed, always loyal.
So sing me the songs of our gold and silver days, Days filled with innocence and light. Not a penny to our name, We were happy just the same In our gold and silver days.
I've met some folks who say that I'm a dreamer And I've no doubt there's truth in what they say But sure a body's bound to be a dreamer When all the things he loves are far away And precious things are dreams unto an exile They take him o'er the land across the sea Especially when it happens he's an exile From that dear lovely Isle of Inisfree And when the moonlight peeps across the rooftops Of this great city, wondrous though it be, I scarcely feel its wonder or its laughte I'm once again back home in Inisfree
I wander o'er green hills through dreamy valleys And find a peace no other land could know I hear the birds make music fit for angels And watch the rivers laughing as they flow But dreams don't last Though dreams are not forgotten And soon I'm back to stern reality But though they pave the footways here with gold dust I still would choose the Isle of Inisfree
3. The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill
作詞作曲： J. P. Skelly
演唱：Foster&Allen
這是一首很老的愛爾蘭民歌。這首歌是Thomas Peter Keenan （1866-1927）為幾年亡妻而作。可是有人說本歌的原作是JP Skelly。 李子查到最早的歌譜是1881年由紐約Spear & Dehnhoff出版社發行。那時Thomas Keenan才年僅15歲，怎可能有亡妻呢。不管是誰，JP Skelly是個Irish。
An Irish boy was leaving Leaving his native home, Crossing the broad Atlantic, Once more he wished to roam, And as he was leaving his mother, While standing on the Quay, He threw his arms around her waist And this to her did say:
And as the years grow onward, I'll settle down in life, And I'll choose a nice young colleen, And take her for my wife. And as the kids grow older, They'll play around my knee And I'll teach them the very same lesson That my mother taught to me:
A mother's love is a blessing, No matter where you roam. Keep her while she's living, You'll miss her when she's gone. Love her as in childhood, When feeble, old and grey, For you'll never miss a mother's love 'til she's buried beneath the clay.
5. Darling Say you Love me When I am Old
演唱：Foster&Allen
Two lovers that are walking hand, in hand.
I am wearing a shiny, wedding band.
I said my love, "You've won my heart, and soul.
So promise that, you'll love me when I'm old."
And Darling say "You'll love me when I'm old."
When dark clouds gather round and nights are cold.
And say "You'll never trade our love for gold."
Oh Darling say you'll love me, when I'm old.
I kissed your lips and touched your gold-den hair.
you looked upon your face, its young and fair.
I held you gently to my loving, arms.
Saying "Only God above could make us part."
And Darling say "You'll love me when I'm old."
When dark clouds gather round, and nights are cold
And say "You'll never trade our love, for gold.
Oh Darling say you'll love me, when I'm old
Break
We lived so many years as man and, wife.
With seven kids to grace Our happy, lives.
Sometimes the clouds grew dark, and nights were cold.
Somehow Our love grew strong, as we grew old.
Oh Darling say you'll love me.... when I'm old.
When dark clouds gather round, and nights are cold
And say "You'll never trade our love, for gold.
Oh Darling say you'll love me, when I'm old
Yes Darling say you'll love me, when I'm old
6. Dublin in My Tears
作詞作曲：The Dublin City Ramblers
演唱：Patsy Watchorn
英文歌詞
I have travelled many lands and I still don’t understand How sad you have become on my return Your poor heart is filled with care, sad and old they left you there Your once bright eyes with sorrow, softly burn I can even sense the change in the sound of children’s games And the dreams of youths' ambitions have all turned to doubt and fear It’s an age of wealth I’m told, but I’ve never felt so old As I recall old Dublin in my tears
All the faces that I meet as I roam each one way street Reflect the empty statements of the times And the old cathedral bell can’t be heard above the swell For the years erase the message in her chimes All my childhood friends are gone, like the street where we were born And the time that it has taken, doesn’t seem so many years They have faded in the gloom, with ‘Sap' Kelly of the Coombe Just a ghost of dear old Dublin in my tears
There were times when jobs were few, there were hungry days we knew Some days so bad their memory I’ve cursed And the prayer I said to God, there onboard the 'Princess Maud' That our children would restore a pride we lost But the past we all forsake, as they're dancing at her wake While the heart of Dublin’s dying, but nobody really cares And the fools, as they pass by, laugh to see an old man cry I can’t forget old Dublin in my tears
Gather round brave men and true, though our numbers they be few We’ll drink one toast before I cross the foam For soon in London’s dark domain, I’ll recall how I became No more a stranger there than here at home Now the Liffey flows along and I listen for her song And the voice of young James Larkin seems to echo in my ears But its just the rafters ring, to it’s requiem I’ll sing Farewell to dear old Dublin in my tears Farewell to dear old Dublin in my tears
上世紀90年代初，李子工作的試驗室來了一個叫G·肯尼迪的博士生。他來自愛爾蘭的Cork郡，美國前總統約翰·肯尼迪的故鄉。G是個很靦腆的年青人。他說他畢業的學校出過一個很有名數學家，叫George Bool。布爾代數，和編程用的Boolean data type是用他命名的。他大學畢業後週遊世界，還在中國雲南住了一段時間，結交了很多當地的中國師生。
