Sing of Erin

One of the resources that I wrote about earlier for sharing history with kids is the Library of Congress kids' website entitled America's Story from America's Library. The site has pages on many segments of American history, including a nice little entry on Irish-Americans and St. Patrick's Day. Visit the webpage for a link to a very, very short audio version of a simple little ditty celebrating Irish family heritage: My Father and Mother Were Irish.

There are certainly songs of Ireland that are very well-known. Danny Boy is probably the most famous of them. I was searching, however, for old Irish folksongs that might not be as easily recognized by most music listeners.

In looking for some of those obscure Irish-American folk songs, I found the words to the song Erin is Calling, whose sheet music cover is displayed on the America's Story website. So many songs written by the Irish, those that left and those that remained, have such a sadness to them. Erin is Calling is no different. Here are the words:

Erin is Calling

by William Jerome & Milton Ager, 1916

Can't you hear poor Erin sadly calling you?
Erin, alone, calls to her own
And her grief I'm sharin,' you must share it too:
Erin is calling you.

Fair Killarney's waters ebb and flow along
Fed by her tears all these long years
Erin's sons and daughters must right every wrong.
Erin, sweet land of song.

Shannon flowing;
Erin's tears have kept the shamrock growing.
You can hear a tear in every breeze that is blowing,
Erin is calling you.

Don't those words just make you want to go back to Ireland and comfort those poor sad rivers and breezes?

Source:
Barbelle, Albert, illustrator. "Erin Is Calling." Milton Ager, music. William Jerome, words. New York, William Jerome, 1916. Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920 (from Duke University), American Memory collections, Library of Congress.