The band West of Galway performs the song "Belfast Mill" (based upon "Aragon Mill" by Si Kahn) at the 2012 Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival, in Fort Myers, Florida.
Featuring Chuck Noonan on guitar and singing lead vocals, with Bernie Green on 12-string guitar and supporting vocals, Stephen Stadler on fiddle and supporting vocals, Alan Norman Plath on concertina, and Linda Macchia-Howe on tin whistle and supporting vocals.
West of Galway is a Celtic music band from Southwest Florida. More information about their band and their available CDs can be found at: www.west-of-galway.com.
The song "Belfast Mill" has a number of variants and is popular with many folk, bluegrass, and celtic bands both in the US and Europe, but it is actually based on an original song named "Aragon Mill" written in 1974 by American song-writer and bluegrass musician Si Kahn. The song is a lament for the passing of the village mill culture. The sentiments of the ballad are pretty much universal to any industrial town in which the factories are in decline and closing down. Both major variants of the song (i.e. "Aragon Mill" and "Belfast Mill") are a popular staple at folk fairs, pubs, and music festivals throughout the UK and the US, and a number of covers of both have been down by various bands and musicians in both the Irish and bluegrass style.
The Aragon Mill itself that inspired the original song was a textile mill built in 1898 by Wolcott and Campbell of New York Mills in the town of Aragon, Georgia, USA. A relatively modern photo of the mill (before it burned down) is shown in the final credits of this video, showing the perspective from across the mill pond. The mill received many additions and a second floor over the years, A one-story section was built in 1900 that housed six pairs of spinning mules. In 1904, the second floor over the mule spinning was built and 56 duck C&K looms were added, while the mule spinners were removed and twisters installed. In 1939, a shop addition was built. In 1940, the spinning room was added and the 60" Draper addition was built for drapery looms. The plant continued operation until shutting down in 1970, the original closure that is the basis of the ballad "Aragon Mill" by Si Kahn. However, the Mill actually had a long and productive second life, when it was bought out and reopened in 1972, continuing operations until 1989, when it again closed, changed owners, and opened again in 1990. It continued to change owners and open and close (standing empty from 1994-1998). It opened for the last time in 1998 and continued operations until the entire mill complex was decimated by a fire on August 6, 2002.
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Lyrics to Belfast Mill as sung by West of Galway:
At the east end of town at the foot of the hill
there's a chimney so tall it says Belfast Mill.
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack
for the mill has shut down and is never coming back.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin weave and spin.
The mill has shut down 'twas the only life I know
tell me where will I go, where will I go?.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin weave and spin.
I'm too old to work and I'm too young to die
tell me where will I go now my family and I.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin weave and spin.
There's no children playing on the dark lonely streets
since the mill has shut down it's so quiet I can't sleep.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin weave and spin.
At the east end of town at the foot of the hill
there's a chimney so tall it says Belfast Mill.
But there's no smoke at all coming out of the stack
for the mill has shut down and is never coming back.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin weave and spin.
And the only sound I hear
is the sound of the wind
as she blows through the town
weave and spin - weave and spin.
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BOTB2 Entry - West Of Galwayby IRISHBOTB21,997 views
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