Whenever I want to sing one big Irish production number, A Little Bit of Heaven often gets the nod. It goes to the limit in describing Ireland as a fantasy world that only an Irish immigrant could conjure up. Despite the devastation they left behind, the Irish never lost their spirit, or their love for Mother Ireland.

Fields of Athenry is by a current Irish songwriter, Pete St. John. The public never seems to tire of another great song about forced emigration, hardship and general mayhem in Ireland’s past. It is the song most often mentioned as people’s favorite on this album. I thank my brother, Gary, and my cousin, Roger Hessian, for leading me to it.

The most poignant of the 1916 Easter Rebellion songs is The Foggy Dew. Words are by Canon Charles O’Neill, and the tune is from an old love song recorded by John McCormack.

I like to sing with other people, and Tim was a good sport to join me on a couple of Galway Bay tracks. We’ve performed Dear Old Donegal often in concert; it’s our signature duet!

When Mother Machree was sung in my childhood home, usually by my dad, one nearly felt compelled to kneel. I don’t actually remember him saying it was his favorite song, but one doesn’t need to be told some things. The Irish were often referring to Ireland itself when they sang mother songs. It recollects a time during English domination of the country when, along with other endless oppressive measures, was the effort to sever any attachment the Irish had to the land itself. Their property was confiscated and they were made serfs of English landlords. Hence, the anthropomorphism of the country.

How Are Things in Glocca Morra is one of the best known songs from the American musical Finian’s Rainbow. The stage musical opened in New York in 1947; the movie was made in 1968.

It’s believed that the melody of Danny Boy was composed by Rory Dall O’Cahan of Coleraine, chief harpist to the Irish Chieftain Hugh O’Neill in the 16th Century. Today’s most well-known lyrics were written by Fred Weatherly (1848-1929), an Englishman. Tim must feel his ancestral connection, as it’s hard to imagine a more sensitive piano arrangement of this tune than his.

Eileen Oge is a new song new for me, but I like the jauntiness and spunk of the piece, a break from the heartrending ballads. And the story takes place at that most Irish of community events, the fair.

When Irish Eyes are Smiling is the Irish-American anthem, and one of Ernest Ball’s great Irish hits. He was a popular American-born singer who was so devoted to Ireland that his screen biography (1944) was given the title of this song.

Galway Bay, I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen, The Rose of Tralee, Where The River Shannon Flows are songs beloved by Irish Americans, but considered by most native Irish as overly sentimental blasts from the past. They much prefer the rowdy pub tunes or fiery rebellion anthems.

The Kerry Dance was written by an Irishman, James Molloy (1837-1909). Throughout rural Ireland in the 19th C , country people and their musicians met at the crossroads and danced away the waning hours of twilight. Dance was deeply ingrained in Irish custom, therefore forbidden by the English, along with all other practice of Irish customs. When they finally let up on it, the clergy started forbidding dance on grounds of indecency.

Peg O’ My Heart was written for the Ziegfeld Follies in 1913 by a German and Canadian song writing team, but only when revived in 1947, and later, did it reach the heights of success.

Boulavogue is one of many tunes written about the scattered uprisings of Irish peasants against the English landlords in 1798. This one recounts the famous rebellion in Wexford, lead by Father John Murphy, a “croppy” Priest. He and his band were defeated, but went on to be the stuff of national legend.

That Tumble-Down Shack in Athlone has a personal story behind it. One evening in January 1997 I was visiting my parents on the family farm in St. Thomas, Minnesota. As I often did, I sat at an electric organ (the piano, to my unrelenting horror, having been banished to the basement years before) in their living room and sang and played from the music stored in the bench. I came across some tattered sheet music I had never seen before. I started playing Tumble-Down Shack, which was unfamiliar to me.

My dad dropped the newspaper he was reading and said, “Now, where in the hell did you find that?” I shrugged my shoulders and said it was with the rest of the music and continued to play. He sang the song from beginning to end from his chair and told me afterwards that his mother used to ask him occasionally to sing the song for her, a favor she generally rewarded with a few coins. It felt odd, a song he knew so well, that never came up before.

When I moved on to another tune the organ suddenly issued a loud pop and emitted a smoky smell. It was never played again. To close the music session on a positive note, I asked my dad to play a tune on his violin, which I had had repaired as a Christmas present the month before. He took it up and played “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.” He then put the instrument back into its case and said, “that’ll do now.” He died unexpectedly a few weeks later at the age of 87.

Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral is a tune straight out of Tin Pan Alley in New York, written by an American-born composer, James Shannon and sung by Chauncy Olcott in a 1914 revue. It achieved its greatest success when it was sung by Bing Crosby in the Academy Award winner for best movie of 1944, Going My Way

(Some of these notes are copied from the must-have Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland, 4 volume set, published in Ireland by Ossian Publications, and available in the U.S. at good Irish shops.)