Actual letters sent to a son in America by a father left behind in Kilkelly, Co. Mayo. Written in the 19th century - Moloney O'Connell & Keane - Kilkelly
Just stumbled on this video on this Blessed Sunday Morning 07-04-2024. With tears and heartbreaking 💔 I type my word's. Our Ancestors surely suffered, through their suffering we are all here. God Bless them all, may they all R.I.P. Thank you too for beautiful post. 🙏🇮🇪🙏
i am deeply moved by this piece, no matter who sings it. i cannot help but blubber and weep; the sadness of the father and his longing for his son. i heard this for the first time back shortly after it had been written. the piece i heard was accapella. wow! i turned a young friend of mine on to it last year and he learned it in 24 hours and sang it for his mother on her birthday. what joy to hear it again!!!
This is the best performance of this song in my opinion. I've gotten teary eyed to this tune so many times - and I'm not the emotional type! Powerful stuff.
I first heard this song in the late 80's while living in California, far from home. Being terribly homesick this song prompted me to return to my roots in Indiana and to reconcile differences with my ailing father whom I buried a soon after returning. Needless to say, this song means much to me. Thank you Moloney O'Connell & Keane.
Heard this years ago on late-night radio, forgot to remember the title or who sang it so it was as good as lost to me. And now I have it again, accompanied by such a brilliant piece of video art! May whatever gods you believe in bless your beautiful soul. Thank you Thank you Thank you!
This is the saddest damn song that I have ever heard. As an only son fresh moved from home it strikes a resonant chord. Love and cherish your parents my friends!
hello to the people who listened to this song. i have the hole song off in 1 day because my clss are doing a play bout the famine in Ireland for scor na bpaisti on sunday. i love history about it because its so full of history.and i love reading the books about it too. to those irish people ot there be proud of where ur from. i know im only 10 but who cares i love my country.
It makes me grateful for the ability to travel today. My family is all 2,300 miles away thanks to moving for a job. With gas well over 3.00 a gallon it makes it hard for me to get home to visit my mother and grandchildren. My father died 3 months after I moved west. Sad!
Years ago I heard this song on public radio while driving...I didn't catch the name of it, but I had to pull off the road because I couldn't see...too many tears gushing from my eyes. The sense of it has stayed with me...the beautiful sadness...and but I wanted to hear it again. Then, or should I say..."just now"... I googled "sad song letters immigrant"...and here I am.
I thought I would mention how I came across this song - I attended a concert by a local choir last weekend in Mayo, Quebec, at our local church - Our Lady of Knock Shrine. They also had a man & woman doing traditional Irish songs. They did Kilkelly - I thought it was so moving, I had to find it or hear it again. I wasn't sure if they wrote it or it was an existing song. When I got home, I also googled it but had the name Kilarney 1890 as my search (hard to hear in the church). And that is how I found Kilkelly......
every time i hear this song i cry....it makes me feel sad and depressed..... i always think about if it would be the same for me if i go away from my family.......i just dont hope so..... i really like your presentation of the song.....great job
i love this song soo much! my ancestors came from Ireland(County Cork)and my family loves pretty much everything irish. thank you for making this video!
i agree. this song is just so powerful. not only for the irish in it, but because all immigrants coming to the new world faced similar sorrows. how the times were different back then...
My Grandfather John McKeown & His brother Joseph left Ballymena Northern Ireland at begining of 20th Century for Scotland. This song brings back sad memory`s.
I grew up 10 miles down the road from Kilkelly in Charlestown... and believe me the place is still as miserable and depressing as the song... I won't expect any retaliatory remarks as I don't expect they have the Interweb in Kikelly yet... Sad song though!
@coolcork As an American Born Irishman who has deep roots verified to 1563 I can say with no uncertainty that the Irish are the heart and soul of America. We had to fight to leave the motherland and we had to fight to survive in the new land. There isn't a Brit alive, or dead, that can hold a light to the heart of an Irishman. When the Brits stole all the food and let the Irish starve to death, only half of the population, the Irish responded with "give us your worst". Erin go bragh!
Actually... the song was written by Steven and Peter Jones based on letters found in Peter Jones attic. Not GK Chesterton... no matter what Johnny McEvoy might have said. Robbie learned this song from the singing of Peter Jones at the time that Moloney, O'Connell and Keane were recording their second LP. So powerful a song that they made it the title track. I was once given a tour of the Queenstown Story in Cobh, Co. Cork... the designer had used this recording as his muse.
This is the sadest song ever written. Its not just about being irish or english or british (whatever) or any of that. Its about the dissolution of the family in the modern economic system. families are torn apart even in america because of the system of things; imho of course. Anyway, I cant imagine anybody with an inkling of human feeling not being moved by this song. the 4 dislikes must be cold hearted republican capitalist pigs.
na you can play it on your guitar it definitely starts on E, i just don't know what variant i saw this in a pub in ireland about a week ago and he did it with a chord shape i've never seen, but using E as the root
@ModernOmen Hi modern, I guess pain to some sounds like "whinning" to others. Being forced to leave home because of economic concerns is never easy especially when the reason may be the insensitivity of an English government that could have cared less at the time. The old saying, the English never remember, the Irish never forget applies here.
@theMightoftheEnglish The English. Millions of Irish were starving. The English crown was talking away most of their food for export. I blame the English for that.
I made this comment about Nazis because you talked about emigrations AFTER WW2. I am aware that Germans, like other Europeans, emigrated to the New World long before the Second World War. I am typing, not stereotyping.
