Here's another cover!
http://youtu.be/U7Nsn_lWOLI
I've listened to both the original song and Vienna Teng's cover, and I must confess that I like Vienna's version better. (Really, I just like her voice more than Damien Rice's.)
P.S. -- More amazing channel stats: I have over 10,000 views total, including 1000+ views of "Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)" and 2000+ views of "Take Me Home, Country Roads." I am astonished, and more pleased than I probably should be.
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Friday, August 30, 2013
R.I.P Seamus Heaney
A literary luminary died today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13930435
I've owned a copy of Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf for as long as I can remember, and I've read it cover-to-cover at least three times. It's beautiful, and not just because the parallel text (with annotations!) indicates just how faithfully Heaney translated from the original Anglo-Saxon. Rather, given the cadence and word choice of his modern English, it becomes immediately evident that the translator is himself a poet.
Few poets have been as universally revered in their lifetimes as Heaney was. It has been said, even before today, that he was Yeats's successor as Ireland's foremost poet -- and one would be hard-pressed to find a competitor for the accolade. His original poetry was not only sublime, but also widely accessible -- he was a true poet of the people. His laurels are too many to count (including the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Struga Golden Wreath, and the Irish PEN), but in my mind, one of his most significant accomplishments was that he brought poetry to those who might not otherwise consume poetry, who might consider the art too academic, too arcane. He brought beauty and wonder to generations of readers who saw something of themselves set on paper in his words.
He was, by all accounts, a compassionate and upstanding man who was profoundly aware of his position as a voice of the people in a land often rent by civil and religious strife. He tried to balance a sense of cultural heritage and pride of place with a concern for individuals that was evident in everything he wrote. One of my favorite of his poems, "Digging," describes his work as a natural continuation of the life's work of his forefathers, telling the story of several generations in just a few verses. (You can hear Heaney's own rendition of it here.)
A star has fallen.
Edit: I just discovered that Seamus Heaney's last words, delivered via text message, were "Noli timere" (Latin for "Be not afraid"). How fitting -- he was a poet to the last.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13930435
I've owned a copy of Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf for as long as I can remember, and I've read it cover-to-cover at least three times. It's beautiful, and not just because the parallel text (with annotations!) indicates just how faithfully Heaney translated from the original Anglo-Saxon. Rather, given the cadence and word choice of his modern English, it becomes immediately evident that the translator is himself a poet.
Few poets have been as universally revered in their lifetimes as Heaney was. It has been said, even before today, that he was Yeats's successor as Ireland's foremost poet -- and one would be hard-pressed to find a competitor for the accolade. His original poetry was not only sublime, but also widely accessible -- he was a true poet of the people. His laurels are too many to count (including the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Struga Golden Wreath, and the Irish PEN), but in my mind, one of his most significant accomplishments was that he brought poetry to those who might not otherwise consume poetry, who might consider the art too academic, too arcane. He brought beauty and wonder to generations of readers who saw something of themselves set on paper in his words.
He was, by all accounts, a compassionate and upstanding man who was profoundly aware of his position as a voice of the people in a land often rent by civil and religious strife. He tried to balance a sense of cultural heritage and pride of place with a concern for individuals that was evident in everything he wrote. One of my favorite of his poems, "Digging," describes his work as a natural continuation of the life's work of his forefathers, telling the story of several generations in just a few verses. (You can hear Heaney's own rendition of it here.)
A star has fallen.
Edit: I just discovered that Seamus Heaney's last words, delivered via text message, were "Noli timere" (Latin for "Be not afraid"). How fitting -- he was a poet to the last.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Cover-a-Week #11: "Kilkelly, Ireland" by Steven and Peter Jones
Since I seem to be posting holiday-themed covers, here's one for St. Patrick's Day:
http://youtu.be/GLesdkguTWk
It's a wonderful sliver of history wrapped in a beautiful melody. Enjoy -- I did!
http://youtu.be/GLesdkguTWk
It's a wonderful sliver of history wrapped in a beautiful melody. Enjoy -- I did!
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