Macushla is a phonetic English spelling of the Erse (Irish Gaelic) mo chuisle, literally “my pulse,” or translated more romantically, “my heartbeat, my sweetheart, darling.” The mo-, ma- in macushla, mo chuisle means “my”; cushla, chuisle “pulse, heartbeat, vein,” comes from an earlier Erse cuisle, of uncertain etymology, but most likely a borrowing of Latin pulsus “striking, beating, pulse.”
What a wonderful lyric tenor voice.And that dimenuendo at the end on the word 'awaken' was just stunning. His his breath control and enunciation are unbelievable. One of the all time great tenors. We won't hear anything even approaching this quality these days. I don't know if they even teach the Italian 'Bel Canto' style anymore. Che peccato ! Grazie mille for sharing this with us
Whoever posted this classic "Thanks very much" reminds me of my Mum long time ago. And thanks John McCormack for this timeless classic albeit to some people old fashioned.
My dear father would sing this song along with 'The Harp that once thro' Tara's Halls' and 'I'll take you home again, Kathleen' and the tears would roll down my cheeks. That was seventy-four years ago and Dad, the tears still roll and my love for you is as strong as ever.
Back then guys and gals were used to singing without amplification in large venues and outdoors. You can bet the engineers placed John Mc a few feet from the microphone. Great performance.
I had never heard this song, and had never heard of John McCormack, until we had a large family reunion when my mother was around 90 years old. She played the song on a harmonica, and it brought down the house. I asked her the name of the song. I then Googled, and learned about both the song, and the famous Irish tenor, John McComick, who was a contemporary of Enrico Caruso. This is a wonderful recording.
*I still have a vinyl record of John McCormack singing Irish songs. But I have two questions: A. Why is McCormack's photo upside-down in this video? B. Doesn't this melody come from Johann Sebastian Bach?*
