Sunday, January 07, 2018

Chris Stapleton - 'Well they came from northern Ireland, searching for the free man's ground"

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Stapleton is one of the biggest names in ‘proper’ country music. I have mentioned him here before. Just before Christmas he released two new albums, entitled From A Room Volume 1 and Volume 2, one of which has a track called 'Scarecrow in the Garden'. When somebody of this magnitude and credibility ‘gets’ our story, it’s a huge deal. I don't think he's ever played here. Somebody needs to sort that out.

Well they came from northern Ireland,
Searching for the free man's ground
And he came to bet his fortune
On a West Virginia plough
He built a house of timber
And raised a red haired son
Then they worked the land together
And prayed that rain would come...

Maybe even a joint gig with Ricky Warwick...

My name is James McBride and I'm almost 19
I sailed away from Derry to follow some dream
I came to Philadelphia with a Bible in my hand
And God will be my witness in the Promised Land.
We were born fightin' - and we'll die fightin'
Till we belong... till we belong...

2 comments:

Patrick conroy said...

Mcbride isn't a ulster-scots name It's native Irish from Irish-Gaelic Mac Giolla Bhríde meaning bride relating to st Brigid of Kildare.

Mark Thompson said...

Hello Patrick, thanks for your comment. Too much emphasis is placed on the origins of names. We are all more than our strictures of our ancestry. The cultural values, and the broad historical context of the story, and the use of the term 'Born Fightin' show that this fictional character McBride was culturally an Ulster-Scot or Scots-Irish.