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about
'The Orchard' is an excerpt from 'Apples in Winter', a collection of songs and tunes loosely centred on apples in the Irish Tradition, devised and produced by Tommy Hayes. The full hour long film aired on TG4 in February 2023 and it was directed by Ferg MacTaidhg. This performance was filmed back in 2008 at Glór in Ennis, Co. Clare and featured a stellar lineup including legends Karan Casey, Tommy Hayes, Mary Frances Keenan, with Michelle Mulcahy and Mick O'Brien, two of the recent TG4 Gradam Ceol Awards (The annual Gradam Ceoil Awards, also known as ‘the Oscars of traditional music’, pay homage to musicians who have advanced, strengthened, and preserved traditional music in Ireland.).
I'm very proud of the performance and feel privileged to have been in such esteemed company - Michelle, Mick and Tommy for this song, and for the full concert version, with Karan Casey and Mary Frances Keenan.
The song is a stellar example of the songwriting craft by Kevin Evans - a beautiful melody, poetic lyrics depicting the cycle of life and its various rites of passage - and all of them with The Orchard as the centrepiece.
When I shared this performance with songwriter Kevin Evans he stated 'Well you certainly know how to make a fella puff out his chest and smile....It is so beautiful on every level, presentation, treatment and musicality.' Thanks Kevin. Peer approval! It's a joy to sing it!
The full concert 'Apples in Winter' is available on TG4's Player and features tunes and songs from this collection of musician plus songbirds Karan Casey, Mary Frances Keenan and dancer Cindy Cummins. www.tg4.ie/en/?s=Apples+in+WInter
lyrics
The Orchard
When I was nine, in harvest time, I crossed the orchard wall
The moon was bright, the apples ripe upon the garden did fall
We filled our sacks, we made our way back, more adventures for to find.
I crossed the orchard wall again when I was just thirteen
It was, I think, to be my first drink of cider and poitín
I remember well, it tasted like hell; I hoped the pain would end soon,
In an orchard green neath the Comeraghs in that sweet Dungarvan green.
When I was nineteen years of age I crossed the wall with pride
My Annie fair with the nut brown hair was walking by my side
Our clothes came off, we tumbled and we kissed, all innocence was gone
In an orchard neath the Comeragh in the sweet Dungarvan dawn.
When I was twenty-one years old I married my Annie there
The apple blossoms in the trees were better in her hair
And when the day was over there was a drunk for every tree
In an orchard neath the Comeragh by those sweet Dungarvan seas.
Now I'm forty-five, I am much alive and children I have four,
Three young girls and a strapping son and I have hopes for more.
I'll teach them of what lies ahead, I have plenty to tell still
In an orchard neath the Comeragh in that sweet Dungarvan breeze.
Now I'm ninety-one, my days are near done, my Annie is long since gone.
Our days they were good as well they should, but it's time that I passed on,
And when I die, I want to lie in the air, land and foam
In an orchard neath the Comeragh by my sweet Dungarvan home.
Carl is a 50 year veteran of the music industry. In the mid 70’s, under the moniker of 'Jamie Stone' Carl recorded three
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In the late 70’s he moved to New York, where he pursued a career in various elements of the entertainment business, including writing and recording the album 'Dancing The Dublin Reel'. After a break of 30 years he now releases 'Three of a Kind'...more
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