There is a reference to Beggars Bush in a version of the popular melody “Yellow Stockings” printed in a dubious Irish anthology. It isn’t possible to be certain about the author of the verse, which is almost certainly a literary creation rather than a collected “folk song”, although one reviewer rather cruelly suggested it was “neither Irish nor literature”. All that can be said is that the author and printers assumed that readers would understand the phrase, which is consistent with the standard literary usage. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 25th, 2011 | Filed under: Writers | Tags: Donnybrook, Ireland, Walter Jones, Yellow Stockings, songs | No Comments »
This site is recorded, so far as I can ascertain, only in a modern song referring to a local landmark. Although this site is close to the very early Beggars Bush at Philipstown, County Offally, it does not appear to have any connection with it. It may demonstrate the survival of the phrase is the region. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 24th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Ballybrittas, County Offally, Ireland, Philipstown, bush, songs | No Comments »
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 »
