Link to Sean Brennan Film Ballyfermot from the Beginning www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxLc-Os_8M&feature=share

© All Rights Reserved

Link to Sean Brennan Film Ballyfermot from the Beginning www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxLc-Os_8M&feature=share

© All Rights Reserved

Link to Sean Brennan Film Ballyfermot from the Beginning www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxLc-Os_8M&feature=share

Finbar with his father Ted (r.i.p) and his brothers Paul (r.i.p), george and Eddie

Frank Callary Song dedicated to Ted Furey soundcloud.com/frankcallerysongs/ted-fureys-flying-bodhran

ed Furey’s ‘Fly’ing Bodhrán

Well Ted Furey had a greyhound and it wasn't a bit shy
At winning cups at races, that's why he called it Fly.
At Harold's Cross or Shelbourne, or down in sweet Clonmel —
It was meant for greater glory, every punter there could tell.

He took her to the coursing and she loved to turn the hare,
To anything she put a paw, she did it with such flair.
But Fly, she met her maker and it broke Ted Furey's heart
He loved the skin of that great dog, and from it wouldn't part!

So upon a mound near Lissadell he took the skin off Fly,
And raised a cairn upon her bones and gave a little sigh.
Then back to Ballyfermot on the train from Sligo town,
Alone in that long carriage and no guard going up nor down.

Now Nora loved the dog, but didn't want it in the house,
Drawing rats or other vermin and every bloody mouse;
So to the shed poor Fly and Ted were sent with that strong smell;
But a master plan was forming — be the whistling, you could tell.

For three long days and three long nights he worked upon Fly's skin
You could hear the hammer tapping, like a fairy cobbler's din,
When he stepped into the sunlight, he'd a bodhrán in his hand
He rapped it with the knuckles, "Ah! Be Jaysus, now, that's Grand!

“You were solid at the coursing, and the toast of every track,
I'll have to find the quickest hand to beat upon your back!
Here Paul, I’ll lave it to ye, hold her tight and play her well,
Hould her back until you hit the straights, then let her go like hell!”

In Boyle, in County Sligo, they were playing at the fleadh
Paul was on the bodhrán, on the fiddle was the Da.
To play the sets for dancers, they were sitting on a wall
There was Dinny Delaney, Coleman, and that harper, Rory Dall.

There was a nephew of Ó Carolan, a piper of the best
And John Cash brought the Rowsomes, Maggie Barry was impressed;
No better band was ever heard, their first time at the Fleadh
and Tommy Moore he gave a song but didn't have the Nnagh!

Then in the field fornenst the wall, a hare put up her head,
The bodhrán leapt across the wall and left them all for dead,
Poor Paul went off in hot pursuit, but didn’t have the puff
He cried out to the speeding pair, “Ah! Jaysus, lads, enough!”

Well the hare she took a breather, against an ole Ash tree
And the bodhrán stood beside her, and dropped her arse to pee;
“Jaysus lads, yis have me beat, I haven’t run is years!”
And then that sound, it crossed the ground, the Bodhrán cocked its ears:

When it heard Ted Furey's fiddle, sure it stopped right in its tracks,
And it wasn't but a minute till it made its own way back.
Then Paul came panting after and sat down on the wall,
In a second they were playing as if they never left at all.

They then played Rakish Paddy and The Bucks of Oranmore,
With the poor ole bodhrán panting and Paul's ole knuckles sore;
Then the dancers on the platform turned to Fly and gave the nod —
To hear a bodhrán barking well they thought it very odd.

Then Fly took up the rhythm and she led Paul all the way,
Be Jaysus, that ole bodhrán, it sure as hell could play!
She had the dancers sweatin'! Ah! She danced them off their feet,
And she never missed a minim and she never missed a beat.

The rain came on quite heavy and the crowds they went away;
And each musician took the road, some other town to play
Ah! When was that? So long ago, I remember, with regret,
Ted Furey’s bodhrán pulsing there, I think I hear it yet!

Now in a shed in Ballyer, that poor old bodhrán stayed.
It wasn't played for many years, the skin was slack and frayed,
Till someone took it from the wall and gave it a quick slap,
And be Jaysus, in a second, ole Fly leapt in his lap.

O-- it played with such finesse — a thing of quality;
But after all, as you well know, it had a pedigree!
Upon the rim, though scratched and dim, the little legend read:
Me Mammy, she was Nora, and me Daddy, he was Ted!

Me Mammy, she was Nora, and me Daddy, he was Ted!

— © Frank Callery, September, 2018.

© All Rights Reserved

Link to Sean Brennan Film Ballyfermot from the Beginning www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxLc-Os_8M&feature=share
A song that related to Ted Furey’s “Fly”ing Bodhrá and a celebration of all the great music that came from Ballyfermot and it’s people. The Claddagh Road

There was music on the Claddagh Road,
It touched the core of every heart
No one knew from whence it came
But they knew it was a part,
As it nestled in the hands, the minds,
And offered its great thrill
That music from the Claddagh Road,
I hear it playing still.

Chorus
So sing the song you heard there,
Remember how it set
The beauty of each poignant air
That lingers, lingers yet.
All the music of the Claddagh Road
That touched us as it passed;
And blessed us with its native mode
From the first note to the last.

It soared across the rolling wave
With pipe and strings it made its way;
Hung its song upon the stave,
Travelled, like good wine they say.
To leave its mark, that lingers yet —
Like echoes of its ancient name —
A music that cannot forget
The Claddagh Road from which it came.

Chorus
So sing the song you heard there,
Remember how it set
The beauty of each poignant air
That lingers, lingers yet.
All the music of the Claddagh Road
That touched us as it passed;
It blessed us with its native mode
From the first note to the last.

— Frank Callery. November 29th., 2016.
soundcloud.com/frankcallerysongs/the-claddagh-road
Manage

SOUNDCLOUD.COM
The Claddagh Road
Save

© All Rights Reserved

Link to Sean Brennan Film Ballyfermot from the Beginning www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArxLc-Os_8M&feature=share

A song that related to Ted Furey’s “Fly”ing Bodhrá and a celebration of all the great music that came from Ballyfermot and it’s people. The Claddagh Road

There was music on the Claddagh Road,
It touched the core of every heart
No one knew from whence it came
But they knew it was a part,
As it nestled in the hands, the minds,
And offered its great thrill
That music from the Claddagh Road,
I hear it playing still.

Chorus
So sing the song you heard there,
Remember how it set
The beauty of each poignant air
That lingers, lingers yet.
All the music of the Claddagh Road
That touched us as it passed;
And blessed us with its native mode
From the first note to the last.

It soared across the rolling wave
With pipe and strings it made its way;
Hung its song upon the stave,
Travelled, like good wine they say.
To leave its mark, that lingers yet —
Like echoes of its ancient name —
A music that cannot forget
The Claddagh Road from which it came.

Chorus
So sing the song you heard there,
Remember how it set
The beauty of each poignant air
That lingers, lingers yet.
All the music of the Claddagh Road
That touched us as it passed;
It blessed us with its native mode
From the first note to the last.

— Frank Callery. November 29th., 2016.
soundcloud.com/frankcallerysongs/the-claddagh-road
Manage

SOUNDCLOUD.COM
The Claddagh Road
Save

© All Rights Reserved