Week 4

‘Songs of the Land’ was the theme for this week of the Museum of Song postal project.  We asked residents in the participating hospitals to tell us about their favourite songs about Mountains, Hills, Fields or Rivers.

We included words to the song ‘The Hills of Donegal’ and the poem ‘I will go with my father a-ploughing’ by Irish poet, Joseph Campbell (extract below):

“I will sing to the patient horses
With the lark in the shine of the air,
And my Father will sing the Plough-Song
That blesses the cleaving share.”

This week’s postcard was the beautiful painting ‘Song of the Lark’ by the French artist Jules Breton.

We enjoyed receiving lots of post last week from participants about their ‘Flower Songs’. ‘When the Fields are White with Daisies’ was sent in by Kathleen in Skibbereen, Margaret  in Dunmanway shared with us the lovely lyrics ‘The Rain in April brings Sweet May Flowers’ and Denis in Bantry told us about one of his favourites, ‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’. Ann in Schull told us about a song her father; a lieutenant in the First World War, used to sing and whistle called ‘Roses of Picardy’

Roses are shining in Picardy,
In the hush of the silver dew.
Roses are flow’ring in Picardy,
But there’s never a rose like you.