52 Songs Project #40: From Clare to Here
Last week I traveled to Ireland with my family. We stayed in Dublin, but we had the chance to visit Belfast, County Antrim, and County Wicklow as well. Between the Euro 2016 soccer tournament and the Brexit vote, it was an exciting time to be there. Like so many Yanks, I have Irish in my background that dates back to the Great Famine and Diaspora, and I feel vaguely at home there, even at times when I feel the divide of Old World vs. New World in my interactions and observations.
I was hoping to record song #40 while in Ireland, but with all the activity of the trip, I never pulled it together. Instead, I recorded one of my favorite Irish songs back here in Portland, and put together a slide show of my trip as the visual. "From Clare to Here," written by Englishman Ralph McTell, tells about the experience of rural Irish folks emigrating to urban England. It really captures that fish-out-of-water story of the homesick immigrant in subtle ways.