Danny Boy

Danny Boy
Author: Malachy McCourt
Publisher: Running Press Adult
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2014-01-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0762455004

Bestselling Irish-American author Malachy McCourt takes a fascinating historical look at the traditional folk song, Danny Boy, discovering its origin, lyricist, and the moving heritage that has grown around it. Everyone can hum this haunting Irish ballad that inevitably brings a tear to the eye. The most requested Irish song, it has been recorded by a variety of performers ranging from Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, and Kate Smith to the Pogues. The complete story of this moving tune has been shrouded in mystery until now. Where did "Danny Boy" originate, who actually wrote the lyrics, and is it even Irish? Acclaimed novelist, actor, memoirist, screenwriter, playwright, and raconteur, Malachy McCourt, turns his Irish eye to the song's complex history and myths in an eloquent ode to this classic. He traces the evolution of the music, which is one of more than 100 songs composed to the very same tune, including the familiar "Londonderry Air," and explores the enduring mystique of "Danny Boy" in an unforgettable tribute that brilliantly weaves history with folklore.

Best-Loved Irish Ballads

Best-Loved Irish Ballads
Author: Emma Byrne
Publisher: O'Brien Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2020-09-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781788492201

A collection of Ireland's greatest and best-loved ballads, including the lyrics, music and chords, along with an introductory piece on each song. Illustrated with photographs and woodcuts. A beautiful guide to the cream of the Irish ballad tradition. Songs of love, yearning, revolution, celebration, emigration, mourning, fun, famine, drinking and more. A collection of powerful yet beautiful ballads of Ireland, placed in and reflecting historical events and traditions. All have stood the test of time and present to the world the uniqueness of Irish history and her musical and revolutionary traditions. Including: Are You Right There Michael? Danny Boy Kevin Barry I'll Tell Me Ma The Irish Rover Molly Malone The Rare Old Mountain Dew The Rocky Road to Dublin The Rose of Tralee Whiskey in the Jar Best-Loved Irish Ballads celebrates the songs and tradition of Irish music.

Stories to Tell

Stories to Tell
Author: Richard Marx
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1982169478

*National Bestseller* Legendary musician Richard Marx offers an enlightening, entertaining look at his life and career. Richard Marx is one of the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the history of popular music. His self-titled 1987 album went triple platinum and made him the first male solo artist (and second solo artist overall after Whitney Houston) to have four singles from their debut crack the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, 1989’s Repeat Offender, was an even bigger smash, going quadruple platinum and landing two singles at number one. He has written fourteen number one songs in total, shared a Song of the Year Grammy with Luther Vandross, and collaborated with a variety of artists including NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, and Keith Urban. Lately, he’s also become a Twitter celebrity thanks to his outspokenness on social issues and his ability to out-troll his trolls. In Stories to Tell, Marx uses this same engaging, straight-talking style to look back on his life and career. He writes of how Kenny Rogers changed a single line of a song he’d written for him then asked for a 50% cut—which inspired Marx to write one of his biggest hits. He tells the uncanny story of how he wound up curled up on the couch of Olivia Newton-John, his childhood crush, watching Xanadu. He shares the tribulations of working with the all-female hair metal band Vixen and appearing in their video. Yet amid these entertaining celebrity encounters, Marx offers a more sobering assessment of the music business as he’s experienced it over four decades—the challenges of navigating greedy executives and grueling tour schedules, and the rewards of connecting with thousands of fans at sold-out shows that make all the drama worthwhile. He also provides an illuminating look at his songwriting process and talks honestly about how his personal life has inspired his work, including finding love with wife Daisy Fuentes and the mystery illness that recently struck him—and that doctors haven’t been able to solve. Stories to Tell is a remarkably candid, wildly entertaining memoir about the art and business of music.

Unprepared To Die

Unprepared To Die
Author: Paul Slade
Publisher: Soundcheck Books
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2015-11-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 099294807X

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.

Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: New York : [s.n.]
Total Pages: 40
Release: 1887
Genre: English poetry
ISBN: