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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

 On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 7:07 PM,  <Clansgian AT wmconnect.com> wrote:

> I asked the veep about the song.  In fact many Celtic songs in general where
> if it's about war and destruction, it's upbeat an cheery, but if it's about
> love and courtship, it's depressing and moody (dark and spell).  He said it 
> was
> in the Celtic nature, they assumed they were going to lose at love and it
> would turn out to be a tragedy in the end, but they liked war and were 
> happy when
> they were fighting no matter the outcome.

Years and years ago I started calling Celtic music, "music to kill
babies by" and I wasn't referring to abortion. The Celts _were_
warlike, and those who came to North America often were too. The
Troubles didn't last so long because the Iriish were just protesting.

I've got Jim Webb's book, _Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped
America_, and if I ever get the chance to actually read it (it's close
to the top of my TBR pile), I'll report back. My father, from a long
line of Scots-Irishmen, always counseled me and my sisters to avoid
the recent Irish immigrants (anyone who arrived after his ancestors),
but we all ended up marrying one except for my sister who was smart
enough to avoid matrimony. I thought I was marrying a French-Canadian,
but his mother was a Shea, and discussions with the family turned up
the apparent fact that the original Shea had his name on a death
warrant issued by the IRA (or whatever it was called at the beginning
of the 20th century), which is why he fled to Canada.

Investigating ancestors can turn up some nasty stuff. I bet the
Australians are not as avid as Americans at investigating the family
tree -- do you really want to know that your great-grandmother was
transported in lieu of being hanged?

Marie