John McCormack The Minstrel Boy

[eastwestcoastkid]

Beautiful, sad song..

[msartlit]

We learned this song when I was in elementary school in the U.S. in the early 1960's. It brought me to tears then and does today. Thanks for posting!

[TheFwible]

Utter Bullshit. It's entirely welsh.

[Apemanwithcalculator]

@TheFwible as a welshman I remember hearing this somewhere before......who told you? source?

[Kitminor]

This is a grand Irish song. I hd it played at my mother,s funeral, during the Calie after the occasion. kminor@accesscomm.ca

[andrewlubin19067]

To our Marines in RC SW and Soldiers in the Anghardab...Semper Fi and HOOAH!!

[TheDustysix]

@andrewlubin19067 my thoughts and sentiments exactly! FMF airdale 77-81. semper fi! you young marines and all your cohorts in the army, navy, air force and coast guard are the finest troops we have ever had. not just from your skill and bravery, but most importantly for love and devotion to each other. small unit cohesion is your guys forte.

[trite34]

Wonderful...

[YorkGod1]

need guitar tab for this tune

[Ryarios]

@neymoura - Strange I don't see it that way.  I hear a song about honor and duty. I hear a song that says by fighting for your beliefs, you are free and your honor will remain unsullied even upon death. It's a very lovely song and also very powerful.

The third verse added later seemed to try to make it anti-war, but I don't think the original song was necessarily.

[tentercroft1]

We learnt this song at Primary School

[benkinski910]

The Minstrel Boy is the official Corps song/march of the Australian Army Band Corps. It is sung at all official Corps gatherings, and often in public performance. We also perform it at the laying to rest of our own.

[agatematt]

The story goes that one morning in a hotel dining room a young John McCormick came up to the table where the great Enrico Caruso was having breakfast and asked, "How is the world's greatest tenor doing this morning?'" Without even looking up, Caruso replied, "I wouldn't know for I am not John McCormick." Enrico Caruso was right!

[RPenta]

@agatematt Well, not quite but second place behind Maestro Caruso was not bad.

[antibatrat]

I learned this song from Chief O'Brien. We used to sing it on the cardasian front. 

[Kottonism]

@antibatrat ^_^ indeed

[PEPEDEBARRO]

Moving

[HenryClayTalleyrand]

If you want to understand the context of this song look up the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

[IndieAlpaca]

my grandad used to sing this song

[BroodofLoki]

McCormack - what a voice,,,

[20cFilmWannabe]

americans have no right to this song stop fcking using it

[IllogicalJim]

@20cFilmWannabe Why is that? It's a beautiful piece of music (probably one of the best, in my opinion), and is a song of glory and death. Both are universal themes that recur over and over again throughout human history.

It belongs no more to the Irish than to the French or the Japanese, or even the Americans.

[20cFilmWannabe]

@IllogicalJim ok you swayed me

[THEEND123321]

@20cFilmWannabe stared in civil war its older then you know with the irish american just forgotten by most

[Holycani]

what does the first stanza mean? About land of song being betrayed?

[Vaporizer2k]

@Holycani In my opinion, Land of Song is Ireland, the boy's home. He expresses how even when everyone else is dead or plotting against his homeland, he will still defend it by himself with his father's sword and praise it with music. It is truly inspiring, as a minstrel boy symbolizes the exact opposite of a warrior, yet he never gives up in his country's darkest hour.

[THEEND123321]

@Vaporizer2k it most in the world today but it was best in civil war of usa for the irish

[Vaporizer2k]

@THEEND123321 dude... wut?

[THEEND123321]

@Vaporizer2k yar not much sleep can see the problem just saying it got big during the civil war and world war that's all sorry for the miss spelled word's! seeyar!

[Holycani]

@Vaporizer2k thank you very much, i really like your interpretation and makes this song even more soulfull

[meltzerboy]

Paul Robeson made a very good recording of this song, but McCormack is the master of this material. Beautiful and thrilling performance! Thanks for sharing.

[proszel]

He sounds like Peter Sellers (Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther series) singing that little French diddy when he's in one of his sloppy disguises.

[777torch777]

Thank you for uploading this great song! Always good to boost motivation by listening to good old heroic tunes.

[sheilamaclean]

This song is one of those fine melodies that forever clings in the memory; no doubt Thomas Moore wrote these words from eye witness experience of the time as a young man in troubled Ireland and how John McCormack did his song justice.

Thanks for posting.

[Ropjet]

@sheilamaclean actually it is said he wrote the song for the friends he lost in the revolt of 1798.

[sheilamaclean]

@Ropjet He was born in 1884 so wouldn't have known any personal friends at that time though he would have been familiar with plenty of turmoil in Ireland in subsequent years.

[Ropjet]

@sheilamaclean my bad i meant thomas moore, the author of the song

[sheilamaclean]

@Ropjet of course, sorry, I didnt read my previous comment but yes you're right.

[pres921]

this was a damn fine version..end of story

[richardconter]

dublin by bob phillips is my favorite song

[VMA225]

John McCormack, the greatest singer who ever lived. Too bad, he is mostly forgotten and that his recordings were recorded in the old days before the recording science was perfected.

[orientfrog]

Quite agree - John was brilliant

[mrronan2007]

honour this man and educate kids .this man is the best singer that ever lived .pure not forced straight from the heart listen to them top notes and tell me if there is anyone in the world can sing like that ?-

[percivallll]

@mrronan2007 I would, though I love McCormack rate both Fischer-Dieskau and Jussi Björling above him. But I guess it's also a matter of taste...

[stvnwy246]

Thank You, patriot4913 for putting that great piece of history on that song! It really hits the heart , I know this song via the Star Trek NG Episode 'The Wounded' when Miles Obrien sang it with his former Capt.! I didnt know that Paul Robeson sang it also!

Peace to you , Sir

[IoSonoUomo]

God that was an awful version.

[revolt1915]

To be fair, this particular version was recorded during WWI on a phonograph, back in the days when sound engineering was a young science.

It sounds the way it does because people had to play or sing at more than double volume in order to make an impression in the record.

[Judokkaa]

It is really hard to find a decent version isn't it...

[Noddy1690]

Nice bit about the history of the song.

[Shumankingsnake]

hey i saw somewhere before that a third verse was added during the revolutionary war something about the minstrel boy coming back do you know where i can find the final verse?

[BondiHarry]

Shuman, here is the last verse: The Minstrel Boy will return we pray

When we hear the news we all will cheer it,

The minstrel boy will return one day,

Torn perhaps in body, not in spirit.

Then may he play on his harp in peace,

In a world such as Heaven intended,

For all the bitterness of man must cease,

And ev'ry battle must be ended

[Elendil176]

Just so you know, the third verse was added during the Civil War, not the Revolutionary War.

[Shumankingsnake]

your talking about star trek the next generation episode the wounded

[mystiquesword]

thats where i first heard this song...fell in love with it. & obrien's not that bad a singer. he did it well enough!

[revolt1915]

Classic episode.

[tubeindividual]

John McCormack was and still is a great singer!!

that's ridiculous. Indeed he was a great singer, but to say "and still is" (plus two exclamatioin marks)...he is DEAD.

[MaceGill]

He's dead???? I didn't even know he had been sick! (see what happens when you don't read the papers?)

[retiredsecurity]

No to the Libon Treaty

[00JTM]

John McCormack was and still is a great singer!!

[fortbruce]

By far, this is one of my favorite 78's that I own!

[victrolaman]

Correct me if I am wrong. Wasn't this his first American Victor Recording? circa 1910 or 11?

[joeygsmom]

So this is the famous John Mc Cormack...

Ive always wondered how he sounded, this is a wonderful version, great Irish singer.

[RogueRover]

Heavenly....Rest his Soul!

[gmoore686]

This song so beautifully sung by Mc Cormack reminds me of my father Tom Moore who died back in 1965

Gerry Moore Armagh

[ifuliki]

I love this song as I love all traditional Irish and Welsh melodies. Although the words were written by an Irishman (in English) they could easily stir the hearts of a Welshman for whom the harp is a traditional instrument.

Hwyl Fawr

[alechorseman]

Simply and perfectly well.

[pjdonagh]

I learned this song at school in Belfast in the 1950,s when I was 9 or 10.. Surprisingly It was in a protestant/loyalist area of the city though no political or sectarian slant was ever taught or implied....we were simply told that it was a great song by a great poet and sung to a great tune!!

I loved it then and have continued to love it since.

[bhoyardee]

I learned it at a Catholic school in Bangor, probably around 1961. Like your school, there were no political or sectarian implications, it was simply a beautiful song. I too still love it.

[wehateceltic]

@pjdonagh why would it be considered anything other than a great song?

[Sportymike]

@pjdonagh Sure some of Ireland's greatest patriots were Protestant, Wolfe Tone etc.

[WashLincTRoosReag]

What a song

[chg657]

Wasn't this played in some of the New York 9/11/01 funerals ?

[vizionzofspace12]

yeah it's played at every new york cop or fireman's funeral. It's an irish song....irish city....make sense yet?

[papermason]

Simply beautiful! Thank you for posting a video dedicated to a great voice from the past.

[Cmajor66]

My god, what an instrument he had. Sadly, as with Caruso, all we have are these old mono recordings. To have heard John in the flesh! The reports of how he sounded live (sublime) make me wish I'd lived in an earlier time.

[WalterReimer]

Magnificent. I sing this song at times, but nowhere like this (my voice is closer to bass baritone).

[lorgain2]

Thanks Patriot, keep them coming.