Opua: Carrighfergus revisited
Opua: Carrighfergus revisited
Some of you may recall that I am a ‘Carrighfergus’ connoisseur.
I now have six versions in my collection, and yesterday I heard two more.
Via the Internet and Slingbox I can watch American television.
I don’t most days; but I do watch parts of a few football games, sometimes the Major League Baseball playoffs, and the new HBO series, BOARDWALK EMPIRE.
Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during Prohibition, with the central character a corrupt Irish politician instead of an Mafioso, I don’t know if it will rival the success of THE SOPRANOS; but the first three episodes have held my interest.
It was on BOARDWALK EMPIRE that I heard the two most recent versions of Carrighfergus.
Variations on a theme is a great musical tradition, ranging back at least to Bach. I find the study of variations, not only in music but in words, changing light on hills and water, and others, both interesting and instructive.
Carrighfergus is an excellent example.
The best version of Carrighfergus, that sung by Cedric Smith on Loreena McKennitt’s album, ELEMENTAL, is among my very favorite songs. The worst versions are intolerable treacle.
There are variations even on the spelling of the title, Carrighfergus or Carrickfergus, which make no difference; and variations in the lyrics which do. ‘To ferry me over to my love and die’ in Cedric Smith’s lament becomes the maudlin, ‘To ferry me over, my true love to find.’ And the essential, “I’m drunk today, but then I’m seldom sober,” is eliminated entirely by some.
The makers of BOARDWALK EMPIRE knowingly contrasted versions of the song: a stereotypical Irish tender sentimentally singing to a room full of drunk Irish big-wigs at a Saint Patricks Day dinner; and a good, slower, more thoughtful and soulful version sung over the closing credits.
Style may not be everything. But in art, it is almost everything.
Monday, October 18, 2010