The text is a popular Irish folk song, adapted from a song written by Glyn Hughes called The Ballad of Seth Davey. Hughes was a musician based in Liverpool in the 1960s. It appears to include a chorus which is older, possibly dating back to the eponymous Seth Davy. At some stage the song has crossed the Irish Sea where the original reference to Bevington Bush has been replaced with Beggars Bush, taken from the place in Dublin. Possibly the place name has travelled in the other direction and was inserted to add Irish colour to the song to make it more attractive to the large Irish population in Liverpool. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: David King, Dublin, Flogging Molly, The 'Ol Beggars Bush, songs | No Comments »
David King is the singer and songwriter with the Irish/Californian folk-punk band Flogging Molly. He was brought up until the age of 17 years in the Beggars Bush area of Dublin. The song on their album Swagger (2000) tells of this depressed area, which he described in an interview as “a gray and ugly space”. The usage is from the place name, although the tone of the song, in particular the second verse, is consistent with the traditional literary usage. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: David King, Dublin, Flogging Molly, The 'Ol Beggars Bush, songs | No Comments »
Joyce’s references in Ulysses and in Finnegan’s Wake to Beggars Bush are not literary usages. These are examples of the phrase re-entering literature from a place name. Joyce is referring to the place name in Dublin. From April to August 1904 he lodged with the McKernon’s in Beggars Bush, Donnybrook. This is also the source of several more twentieth century usages in folk and punk songs. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 10th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: David King, Dublin, Flogging Molly, James Joyce, Literary, The 'Ol Beggars Bush, Whiskey on a Sunday | No Comments »
