And while on the subject of St. Patrick and Ireland...


I've blogged the folk song Henry Joy, about my ancestor, United Irish patriot and martyr Henry Joy McCracken, before. A wealthy Presbyterian from Belfast, he was one of the first members of the United Irishmen, and at the last moment was pressed into service as the commander of the rebel forces in Ulster during Wolfe Tone's rebellion in 1798. He was captured and hanged by the English. I am descended from his illegitimate daughter.

Anyway, here's another folk song about him:



And here's a far less martial Irish folk tune, a haunting melody I first heard while watching John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man. It's become one of my favorites.



And finally, here's another Irish folk song about the Rising of 1798, this time from the south of Ireland. This was, in fact, John F. Kennedy's favorite Irish song: The Boys of Wexford.


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