Farewell to Old Ireland (an immigrant’s lament)

Learned a new tune, the harmonization, form, arrangement, and a drastic rewrite of the melody in the middle section of which are all mine, but it’s nevertheless a traditional Irish song about an immigrant who leaves his home for liberty in America. I tried to end the final word, “liberty,” with a musical question mark, or at least mixed emotion, or uncertainty.

This tune is sometimes titled The Green Fields of Amerikay (with that spelling). I chose to use the first phrase of the lyrics and add the explanatory subtitle.

Author: Hilton Kean Jones

Composer and performer, retired college music professor, lyricist.

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