about
Ed Reavy was born in Barnagrove in County Cavan in 1899, and passed away in January of 1988, just a few months before this concert recording. He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1910 with his family and settled there, working as a master plumber for most of his life. He left a legacy of beautiful music, which he composed mostly between 1930 and 1970. Many of his compositions have already passed into the Irish musical tradition, making him a household name in Irish music circles.
The late Derry born fiddle player and fellow Philadelphian Eugene O’Donnell (1931-2019) and I played at his funeral mass, and Seamus Egan played a lonesome tune of Ed’s at the graveside in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania -- an unforgettable and poignant moment on the coldest day of the year.
Camden, New Jersey pastor and social activist Father Michael Doyle wrote the poem How Could Reavy Die! which precedes the musical tribute to Ed featuring six of his tunes: Lovely Bannion, Both Meat and Drink,The Fiddler’s Wife,The Ceilier, Maudabawn Chapel, and concluding with Donny and Eileen Golden dancing to his best known tune:The Hunter’s House.
lyrics
HOW COULD REAVY DIE!
By Father Michael Doyle
The plumber of the hornpipes is dead.
The old diviner with the hazel bow,
That found the Shannon's source
And spread its magic waters over the world.
“Oh No,” she said "he's not dead,
How could Reavy die!"
And who are you to say!
"I am the Wind: The Wind
That drove the clouds in herds
Above the Cavan hills and Drexel too
And whispered to the oats in Barnagrove.
I am the breeze that touched O'Carolan's lips
With moisture on my breath
'Til notes danced within his mind
Like flames behind a blind.
I am the breath in Reavy's body
I would visit in the evening
I would dwell within his soul
He tamed me with his reverence
But I always had to go ...
But I bore him sounds of sweetness
Some were sad and some were glad
And he composed half a thousand tunes
About the happy time we had."
Hush! I whispered. Did you see his fiddle
On the altar - silent as a stone
And his body on the grave in Drexel Hill?
It was stuck on the hole in a final salute
Like an old finger frozen on a flute.
Did you see the people in a circle
Standing sadly all around,
When the pipes refused to play in the cold?
“Yes,” she said "I was there"
I am the Breath of the earth.
Every voice is a wisp of my prayer
Breathing blessings of incense on the bites of the air
Because life has the edge on the ice.
Listen my friend, to the lad with the whistle
With his finger tips timid and cold...
Hear the life that he brings to the old man's tune
And the leaks that he brings to the eyes.
And hear Reavy arise from the holes in the tin
And announce on his grave "I'm alive!"
credits
from
The Green Fields of America - Live in Concert 1988,
released January 19, 2022
Mick Moloney: tenor banjo, mandolin, guitar, spoken word Robbie O’Connell: guitar
Jimmy Keane: piano accordion
Eileen Ivers: fiddle
Seamus Egan: uilleann pipes, flute, whistles, bodhran, tres Donny & Eileen Golden: step-dancing
How Could Reavy Die! by Father Michael Doyle (Copyright Control)
Lovely Bannion, Both Meat and Drink,The Fiddler’s Wife,The Ceilier, Maudabawn Chapel,The Hunter’s House by Ed Reavy (Copyright Control)
license
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