Well, she is reading the words of this song. While Maura is a great singer with her own unique distinctive voice, I would not dare say she is the best female singer Ireland ever produced. Ireland has an abundance of great female singers, both past and present, in every genre of music, and I would not be able, nor would I want to pick out one for the designation "the best female singer Ireland have ever produced".
@@jamesdolan4042 we’ll agree to differ. I think she is the best and heard her singing quite a number of times. I also heard most of the others from the 70s to the present.
I love this song! I'd give anything to see/hear Stephen Collins preform his song. Such a heart-warming song that has been spreading love & kindness for 150+ years now! My 17yr old daughter, along with MANY, MANY other young people, recently had the opportunity to hear this song. The actor, Jojo Fleites, who plays Carlos Cervantez, in a spinoff for Supernatural titled The Winchester's, sang this song. The young fans that never heard this song before have been going crazy since that episode aired! I'm 43yrs old & he even had my emotions on high alert! It's amazing how so many different people, instruments, etc, can make one feel like when listening to this song. For me, right now I'm going through the same thing I've been dealing with the last 8yrs now. Facing another anniversary without having my late husband. Last month, 2/23, marked 8yrs since his passing. Next Thursday would have been our 21st Wedding anniversary! This Saturday marks 1yr that I lost my Daddy. Also, on March 23rd, 2022, I buried my Daddy. Being Daddy's Little Girl, this last year has been a VERY HARD year for me! I'll admit, it's been a LOT of me leaning on my 19&17YO when I least expect it. I just hope that there's no more hard times to come! I'm going back to work soon & I'll be able to make extra income to help with our daughters college educations! Start putting back to pay for their weddings, etc. I KNOW, no matter how hard you work, there's ALWAYS something that is going to get in the way of making life easier. BUT, I'm determined now more than ever, to get passed ALL of the hard times in our lives!!
Great video...remember seeing Maura years ago at Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, Michigan. De Dannan had performed there a few years previously, and were well respected and a definite crowd pleaser. So grateful I got to see her. Sorry I missed seeing her with this amazing group.
@@harrietkrauss3294, I imagine him in a pub, In Pittsburgh, PA paying for a round and leading out with a verse of Hard Times. For those were hard times for him. In spite of his gifts and all he gave. RIP Stephen C. Foster
This is totally phenomenal. I've seen all of these folks live, but not together. Mary Black...the power! I remember a great, packed evening upstairs at Glynns Hotel in Gort with Maura giving it loads, maybe 20 years ago. And Eleanor at the Johnny Keenan fest in Longford a few years ago. This is the most contemporary of old songs, and never better sung.
How have I never heard of Maura O'Connell? She is wonderful: a full bodied, deeper voice with the power to belt it and yet make you weep. As a deeper voiced singer myself I was always looking for such a role model as a child. It's a bit late, but here she is.
Sorry, it just takes my mind back to those people My heart bleed for any nation that has suffers or is is now suffers Thanks for the correction. I love history
We thinks things are bad now with the covid virus, just give a though to our people who suffered so much in the famine. I sure hope there is an afterlife as those people are the real saints. May they rest peacefull
A soulful rendition by four great voices who have the depth of understanding and feeling to convey what Foster understood and felt when he wrote the song as the famine victims poured into America. Thank God America was an available refuge for the victims of Brit empire arrogance after the brave founding fathers threw them out in 1776. America was ordained by God to help the Irish “poor”, in truth “victims” of evil, created by the arrogant aristocrats of England.
You are incorrect. The song was written several years prior to the American Civil War. In fact it references a period of recession where many people were going through economic strife. The title is in honour of Charles Dickens' novel of the same name.
Oaye.... bejasas they nail it.Mary;s voice best suited te this song ...tis the O'Connell doll for ''Maggie ' though must hunt down sumin by the Shanley Lady.
March 27th,2020 Tbilisi.....watching her American homeland rush head long into very,very troubled times with no one at the helm.It is tragically heartbreaking and could have been avoided .
@enyrb Of the four former De Dannan front men, Maura is the only one who lives in the US, (the rest residing in Ireland, where this was recorded). I'm sure that she flew in, just in time for the "sound check", before the performance. She was most likely a little confused as to how many bars the musicians were going to carry through the bridge.
Keep the kids are you looking at a very much like a great way for you to the right thing to remember that you have any questions or concerns about hard to say no more
Everyone should know Stephen Collins Foster wrote this song. 25th Edition. Fosters Melodies 28 published by Firth, Pond & Company, New York 1854. The human ear should be able to discern Stephen Foster's sound, style and soul in the music itself.
This is great but IMHO it's topped by Kate & Anna McGarrigle and friends (Rufus Wainwright - son of Kate -, Emmylou Harris, Mary Black, Karen Matheson, Rod Paterson) perform Stephen Foster's Hard times come again no more during the Transatlantic sessions. It is on youtube...
