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[D]On Raglan Road of an Autumn[G] day
I[D] saw her[G] first and[D] knew,
That[G] her dark hair would[D] weave a
snare
That I might[Bm] someday[A] rue.
I[G] saw the danger[D] and I passed
Along the en[Bm]chanted[A] way.
And
I[D] said,"Let grief be a fallen[G] leaf
At the[D] dawning[G] of the[D] day."
On Grafton Street in November, we
Tripped
lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion play.
The Queen of Hearts still making
tarts
And I not making hay;
Oh, I loved too much and by such and such
Is happiness thrown away.
I gave her
gifts of the mind,
I gave her the secret signs,
That's known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound
and stone.
And her words and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark
hair
Like clouds over fields of May.
On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now,
And away
from me so hurriedly
My reason must allow.
That I had loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay,
When the
angel woos the clay, he'll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.
Key Of G Major
[G]On Raglan Road of an Autumn[C] day
I[G] saw her[C] first and[G] knew,
That[C] her dark hair would[G] weave a
snare
That I might[Am] someday[D] rue.
I[C] saw the danger[G] and I passed
Along the en[Em]chanted[D] way.
And
I[G] said,"Let grief be a fallen[C] leaf
At the[G] dawning[C] of the[G] day."
On Grafton Street in November, we
Tripped
lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion play.
The Queen of Hearts still making
tarts
And I not making hay;
Oh, I loved too much and by such and such
Is happiness thrown away.
I gave her
gifts of the mind,
I gave her the secret signs,
That's known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound
and stone.
And her words and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark
hair
Like clouds over fields of May.
On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now,
And away
from me so hurriedly
My reason must allow.
That I had loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay,
When the
angel woos the clay, he'll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.
Dubliners song lyrics and chords
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Patrick Kavanagh.
The Following comes from vincent peter's wonderful website
On Raglan Road
The Dawning Of The Day
The
confusion caused by the two titles of this song can be traced back to the different previous history of the tune on one hand
and the words on the other.
The tune, known as Fainne Gael an Lae, strictly meaning The Bright Ring of Day, probably
originates from the seventeenth century blind Sligo harpist Thomas O'Connellan. In 1847 Edward Walsh scored an eighteenth
century poem to this air and the song Fainne Gael an Lae, by then translated as The Dawning of the Day, was born. The popularity
of this song rocketed when a masterly interpretation by the famous Irish-American tenor John McCormack, of the The Dawning
of the Day was used in the 1937 film Wings of the Morning.
O'Connellan's air inspired not only Edward Walsh, but also Thomas
Moore, when he sought music for The Minstrel Boy, as well as the author of The Ballad of William Bloat, Raymond Calvert.
In
1909, to make thing even more complicated, Cicely Fox Smith published a poem entitled At the Dawning of the Day. Apart from
some phrases this poem has little to do with our subject, although it is not entirely unthinkable that Patrick Kavanagh at
least knew this poem.
Most likely with knowledge of Walsh's song The Dawning of the Day and Smith's poem At the Dawning
of the Day Patrick Kavanagh wrote a poem entitled Dark Haired Myriam Ran Away. This poem, which was published in 1946, seemingly
referred to an unrequited love of Patrick Kavanagh. The words however don't give a clue about her name and like a true gentlemen
he never consigned the lady's identity.
Kavanagh's poem led a forlorn existence on dark bookshelves until Patrick Kavanagh
and Luke Kelly of The Dubliners, at that time novices in the music scene, treated each other with their talents during a joyful
pub session somewhere in the 1960's.
The exact course of this gathering is vague. Some assume that Kavanagh recited his
poem Dark Haired Myriam Ran Away and that Kelly set it to O'Connellan's air. Others, among them Luke Kelly himself, state
that Kavanagh already had set the poem to the air. Anyway, Patrick was impressed by the musical talents of Luke Kelly and
he gave him permission to use the song. For some reasons The Dubliners didn't use the original title of the poem and because
there was already a song entitled The Dawning of the Day they came up with On Raglan Road.
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| The Dubliners On O'Connell Street Dublin |
Here's what Luke said in an interview in 1980. Luke -
I was sitting in a pub in Dublin, The Baily, and as you know in the old days - It's changed a bit now. It was known as a literary
pub, an artistic pub. I happened to be sitting there in the same company as Patrick Kavanagh and one or two other poets, and
someone asked him to recite a poem, which he did, and someone asked me to sing a song, which I did. Being in the presence
of the great man I was very nervous. Then he leaned over to me and said in that sepulcharl voice of his, he could hardly get
his voice out, he was very old. It was just the year before he died - and he said ''You Should Sing My Song'', and I said
what's that Mr. Kavanagh ? and he said Raglan Road, So he gave me permission. I got permission from the man himself.
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