Oh goodness. My kids would be very, very happy if I were able to learn the two songs from Song of the Sea, a movie which I recommend to everyone. (Streaming free on Amazon Prime, FWIW). I'll see if I can figure anything out!
Here are the songs, for your enjoyment, or in case anyone has a lead. I think the first is not a traditional song, but it's about traditional Celtic legends of selkies. The second seems to be traditional.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUZ_smvqVQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXhfbAG49No
The sailors had been beating a dead horse for the month!
Is that what they call it at sea??? I know sailors get lonely, but isn't that a bit excessive???
I dinna ken; but sailors have a lot of strange traditions. "Sipping the Monkey" or "Drinking Nelson's Blood" reflect the theft of rum from the Rum barrel. And perhaps we should leave "Colder than Brass Balls" alone.
This is a song based on the old and popular "vanishing hitchhiker" urban legend. I have a special fondness for this urban legend because it was the first one I can remember personally encountering when I was a child. That is, I didn't actually encounter a vanishing hitchhiker, just the story that I came across in a book of young adult ghost stories. At the time I didn't realize that it was an urban legend. I just took it as a sweet little ghost story.
I have not been able to determine conclusively who wrote this song. It has been covered by, among others, Red Sovine, Mac Wiseman, and The Country Gentlemen. Most versions are singing only and do not include the entire story as it is usually related in the legend (that is, they leave out the part about the coat). Billy Edd Wheeler did a version which included spoken word bits and filled out the entire story. My best guess is that Wheeler wrote this song because 1) his is the more complete version of the legend, and 2) he was a one-man country song writing powerhouse who wrote numerous songs that were hits for other people although many country fans are unaware of him.
I am not a fan of spoken word bits, so in order to avoid having to do them, and to fill out the entire story as it should be told, I wrote two new stanzas to fill out the story (stanzas 3 and 7).
Tommy, if you don't already know this song, I suspect you will want to add it to your repertoire. This would make a great campfire song.
Just in case anyone is not familiar with the term "urban legend":
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/urban+legend
The Harvest Super Moon just started into eclipse here in PA. There are high cirrus clouds so we got the added bonus of a rainbow around the moon! What Joy!
"Bringing Mary Home" was written by Chaw Mank and Ben Kingston. The storyline was based a Twilight Zone episode. When you mentioned urban legends earlier I wondered if you were thinking about this one or Phantom 309. The Vanishing Hitchhiker is in my repertoire but I do it as a first person ghost story.
The Harvest Super Moon just started into eclipse here in PA. There are high cirrus clouds so we got the added bonus of a rainbow around the moon! What Joy!
wow! lovely!Got this one from a tripod.