Clanna Morna - The Foggy Dew

Filmed at the Baumann Centre on the unceded territories of the Songhees, Esquimalt and WSÁNEĆ nations (Victoria, BC in Canada).


Cody Baresich - Banjolin, Jangles, Vocals
Mark Leigh - Whistle
Finn Letourneau – Fiddle, Vocals

Matt Pendlebury - Guitar


Produced, Directed and Edited by Clanna Morna
Director of Photography/Gaffer/Camera Operator- Calum Sikander-Smith
2nd Camera - Kathrin Heckel
Camera Assistant/Photographer - Megan Adair
Audio Mixing/Mastering - Circle A Studios
Song arranged by Clanna Morna

The Foggy Dew is a ballad with words written by Charles O’Neill who was a Parish Priest from County Antrim in Northern Ireland. The melody of this song comes from a manuscript that credited ‘Carl Hardebeck’ as the arranger. The Foggy Dew shares the same melody as another traditional song – the Moorlough Shore.

In the year 1916 around Easter time, there was an uprising in Ireland that changed the course of history. Irish patriots had been rebelling against the British rule for centuries to try to gain independence, with no luck. But this time – a group of a few hundred Irish patriots led by James Connolly and Patrick Pearse saw a window of opportunity while the British were preoccupied with World War 1, and managed to seize major buildings in Dublin and Galway. They even occupied the General Post Office in Dublin. After the uprising the British forces responded by publicly executing many of the Irish rebels, resulting in a magnification of the already growing dislike for the British rule. Many Irish citizens saw the executions as a gross over-reaction, and the push for Ireland to be free continued.

This song has been performed and recorded by countless traditional folk bands such as the Wolfe Tones and the Chieftans, and numerous versions have been arranged even by groups who focus on other genres, such as European metal and rock bands.


LYRICS
'Twas down the glen one Easter morn
To a city fair rode I
There Armed lines of marching men
In squadrons passed me by
No fife did hum nor battle drum
Did sound it's dread tattoo
But the Angelus bell o'er the Liffey swell
Rang out through the foggy dew
Right proudly high over Dublin Town
They hung out the flag of war
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Sulva or Sud El Bar
And from the plains of Royal Meath
Strong men came hurrying through
While Britannia's sons, with their long range guns
Sailed in through the foggy dew
'Twas Britannia bade our Wild Geese go
That small nations might be free
and their lonely graves are by Sulva's waves
On the shore of the grey North Sea
Oh, they died by Pearse's side
Or fought with Cathal Brugha
Their names we would keep where the fenians sleep
'Neath the shroud of the foggy dew
Oh the bravest fell, and the requiem bell
Rang mournfully and clear
For those who had died that Easter tide
In the spring time of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze,
At those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light
Might shine through the foggy dew
Back through the glen I rode again
my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with those valiant men
Whom I never shall see more
And to and fro in my dreams I'll go
And I'll kneel and pray for you,
Oh slavery fled, Oh glorious dead,
When you fell in the foggy dew.