Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Pratie Song






The Pratie Song
An Irish-American Ballad


O, My name is Willie Brennan and my story I will tell
I was born in County Kerry and in Ireland I did dwell
But I had to leave my country in the year of '48
And go sailing for America to fill my bloody plate.

O, I'm sailing away for Americay
And I'll have a drink to try and lift my mood
For I'll miss my native peat
But I've nothing left to eat
And I'm going to sail away to find some food.

It was in the year of '48 I took my knife and fork
And boarded on a coffin ship headed for New York
For my people were all starving in every vale and field
And I had to sail two thousand miles to get a feckin' meal.

O, I'm sailing away for Americay
And you know I've searched the green land o'er and o'er
But I couldn't fill my platie
With a single boiled potatie
'Cos in Ireland there's no praties anymore.

A million empty bellies we laid beneath the sod
And we raised our empty glasses and commended them to God
And a million empty bellies from the towns of County Cork
Went sailing for the delis in the city of New York.

O, we're sailing away for Americay
Yes, we're going to find the praties once again.
For there was beef and corn and grain
But to Charles Trevelyan's shame
Not a crust or crumb for honest Irishmen.

So listen all my children and I'll tell you once again
Why the cities of America are filled with Irishmen
From the Cardinal's high cathedral
To the worker in the street
We all came to America
To get something to eat!

O, we're sailing away for Americay
And you know we'll miss old Ireland now and then
But we'll sit and eat our praties
In the dear United Staties
'Til the praties come to Ireland once again.


***************


Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig
agus go mbeannaí Dia duit


Cricket & Porcupine


8 comments:

Suldog said...

Slainte mhor agus a h-uile beannachd duibh!

Cricket said...

Agus tu freisin, mo chara.

Ananda girl said...

Slan agus beannacht! Dia's Muire duit.

Love the song! Thanks for sharing it.

SandyCarlson said...

Very beautiful.

lime said...

i quite liked that though i've no hope of saying so in gaelic. ;)

Land of shimp said...

The Potato Famine always makes me shiver when I think of it. I'm not Irish, although oddly enough my father specialized in Irish history.

So I heard the gruesome tales of the famine, and the Irish coming to America in droves, and why.

Oh our lovely lives of plenty, eh? You do have to admire people who could write such a wryly funny, and starkly realistic ballad though, don't you?

Unknown said...

Thank you for visiting my blog, and I love the story about the Ped Onc. I'm sure you can imagine the opportunities I've had to make people feel knee high to a cricket (don't you love how I worked the cricket thing in?). I always apologize because unless someone has had a kid with cancer, and gotten to love several others along the way who ended up in heaven, they don't have the same outlook....not their fault.

My favorite was when I spearheaded a blood drive for the Children's Hospital and a male co-worker told me he would rather die than give blood, because needles freaked him out.

I controlled my desire to get angry and told him little kids die if they can't get transfusion, then I told him out my grandson and how he had tubes in his chest to administer chemo daily. And not only did he need blood transfusions, but they cored his hip bone once a month to draw some bone marrow for testing.

I love the Irish poem...three of my grandparents where from Ireland. The fourth one was a Canuck from Woonsocket. I was born in Providence :))

Shrinky said...

I love these Irish ballads, I grew up with them.