When I Go Back to Ireland

When I Go Back to Ireland
A collection of songs of
Irish Emigrants
of the Mid-1800.
Volume 1

James Patrick Callahan
2013

Songs in the public domain from the US Library of Congress

15 Tracks Celebrating Irish Emigrants
(Plus a bonus track)
These are songs for and about these people (but not necessarily written by them).
To view the arrangement, go to loc.gov and search on the title of the song.

Dear Land of My Fathers - 1851
By Wellington Guernsey / Words by C.D. Stuart Esq.
Dear land of my fathers - thy harp how it thrills; How green are the shamrock that bloom on thy hills. Not the Welsh National Anthem, but rather a song of Erin's Sons.

Home of My Heart Waltz - 1852
Charles Grobe
An instrumental waltz.

The Emerald Isle - 1840
William R. Dempster
A song of longing for home....Thy free hearted sons, and they bright smiling daughters are calling me home o're the wild swelling sea.

Erin is My Home Ballad - 1834
James G. Maeder
This is one of the ballads that started me on this journey of musical discovery. This song was mentioned in the journal of Lucy Hamilton Stevens Kerr, my great-great grand mother. She wrote of having sung it on March 11th, 1850 for Mr. David Turnbull (the renowned abolitionist), his wife and Lucy’s beloved husband, Hon John Bozman Kerr.

Erin, the Free and the Proud - 1851
Charlie C. Converse
Arranged and sung as I imagine it would have been. A group of Irish in a public house, singing of their pride in their home land and talkin' a little treason.

Erin Weeps Forsaken - 1853
J.G. Maeder / Arranger: Wm. O Bateman.
A sad ballad - Hibernia’s tears for ever flow, her harp is silence slumbers…

From Lovely Erin Sad I Come - 1848
Charles H. Gerken
In where is nature’s sweetest smile? Where but, among the free.

Rory O' Moore -1842
Geo F. Bristow
An instrumental celebrating one of organizers of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

St. Patrick's Day, with variations - 1856
Charles Grobe / Arranger: Charles Grobe.
An instrumental with several variations of a common theme.

Voice of Erin, ballad - 1852
J. A. Fowler
A song of friendship between Ireland and America. “Each heavy keel that o’re the seas From either shore departs Wafts on the freshly blowing breeze a close throb of hearts.”

The Warship of Peace, an Irish melody -1847
Samuel Lover
A common tune, with a tribute of Irish Gratitude to American Munificence. In 1847, the USS Jamestown and USS Macedonian, two US Navy War Ships, were used to carry foodstuffs, donated by Americans, to the starving in Ireland. (prolog read as printed on the sheet music)

Woods of Green Erin, waltz rondo - 1853
G. Linley / Arranger: William Dressler.
An instrumental waltz. with an Irish feel and tempo.

The Harp that Once Thro Taras Halls - 1851
Wm. Dressler / Words by Thomas Moore
A famous poem put to music by WM Dressler. The tune is a familiar air, as it is the same as the War Ships of Peace.

Asthore Machree- a song for my own love - 1849
Henry C. Watson
A love song from the era.

Old Erin, the Home of My Heart - 1878
Thomas P. Westendorf
An aging emigrant pines for his homeland..

Bonus Track - The Mistrial Boy - 2013
Thomas Moore / arranged by James Callahan
This is my own arrangement, presented as military marching cadence, as I imagine sung by the Irish Brigade, the Fighting 69th New York Infantry during the Civil War (I’m also retired US Army and am used to marching).