Songs about Wicklow
One of the most endearing elements of Irish traditional music isn’t found in its tone or style, but in the persistence with which it carrys on through every conceivable blockade or tragedy. From famine to emigration and the passage of time itself, the folk music of Ireland has survived and evolved into a worldwide phenomenon that ensures that there are knees tapping and hands busily working fiddles in every corner of the world.
Wherever the Irish went, they brought music with them, and that music was an opportunity to remember home, and sometimes lament it. This is why the lyrics of so many Irish songs are full of place names and romantic allusions to the wild countryside.
With this in mind, of course a place as loved as Co. Wicklow would be recorded in these songs that travelled the world. Of course our mountains, rivers, forests, traditions, our stories and our people would be immortalised in music.
Are we being a bit big-headed? Maybe, but we’ve got the songs to prove it!
This is not intended to be a best of or a definitive list of songs about Wicklow, but rather a conversation-starter for those who love them and those who want to get to know them.
Perhaps the most famous song about our home is Among the Wicklow Hills, owing greatly to the amount of artists who have recorded it or made it a staple of their live performances. Performed by artists like Christy Moore, Daniel O’Donnell, and Larry Cunningham, the song has seen many variations and stylistic changes over the years, but it remains as powerful, sad, and romantic as it was first intended to be.
Best remembered as sung by the Irish tenor John McCormack, The Meetings of the Waters is, again, a song that has been played by many artists and is an often requested favourite at music sessions all over Ireland. The song usually ends with the beautiful description of Avoca:
“Sweet Vale of Avoca, how calm could I rest
In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best.”
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
On a more recent note, and more specifically relating to Wicklow Town, our very own Pat Brennan, a historian in how he reflects Wicklow life through poem and song, released No King Has More in 2015 to glowing reviews from media outlets such as The Irish Independent. A music video was released along with the song, and it captures the scenery of Wicklow Town in a way that imprints on your mind and inspires memories from every space.
Sean Olohan, who runs the town’s music shop – Track One – joins Martin Varghese to immortalize his love of our town in the song Welcome to Wicklow Town, a song that could easily be used as an advertisement for the town – and one that would have people pining to come and have a look at what we have to offer.
But now we end where we began, the Wicklow Mountains, and one of Ireland’s most beautiful folk songs.
The Wicklow Mountains High, perhaps best known as sung by Frank Quinn, is a song where the storyteller boasts of his homeland and its breath-taking surroundings, which is something we’re all guilty of. It begins:
“Come all you wild young Irishmen and listen unto me
It’s of romance of nature and scraps of history
I am a wild young Irishman the same I’ll ne’er deny
And my dwelling is surrounded by the Wicklow Mountains high.
I have often viewed these mountains when evening sun would shine
And often in the morning before the rise of dawn
I wouldn’t ask a grander sight for my true-love and I
And to watch the sunbeams dancing o’er the Wicklow Mountains high.”
And if that doesn’t fill you with county pride, then we’re not sure what will.
So, we’ve talked about some of the more popular songs about Wicklow, but there’s still many, many more we haven’t touched on. Let us know some of your favourites in the comments, and perhaps we could include them in part two!
And remember to enjoy the music.