Heck of a year, ain’a?
[Definition of Ain’a: Milwaukee version of the French phrase “ne c’est pas,” meaning, “isn’t it?”
Often includes “hey” at the end for added emphasis]
I don’t have too much to say except I’m looking forward to the beginning of 2021, because it really has to get better, right?
I have a few more lessons to give today and Saturday, and then I’m off from teaching till January 4. I have some church gigs this weekend and on Christmas Eve, but otherwise I’m going to take some time for myself and my family and to organize myself for the upcoming year. And so I’ve decided – just this minute, in fact – that I’m going to take off from posting to the blog until New Year’s Eve.
And I plan to listen to a lot of music, including one of my very favorite contemporary singers, Emma Langford, who I heard in Milwaukee at Milwaukee Irish Fest 2019 and who I hoped to host in a house concert when she did her US tour in 2020. Needless to say, that didn’t happen.
I thought I’d close out this year with her song, “The Winding Way Down to Kells Bay.” It’s more traditional than most of her repertoire, but right now, I think it’s a lovely way to close out the year.
Oh the road stretches out before your feet on the winding way down to Kells Bay
And the Golden sunset’s like no other they say on the winding way down to Kells Bay
Where sorrow’s met with smiling eyes and a great black cloak brushed with stars for a sky
And the old trees lean in there to whisper a tale on the winding way down to Kells Bay
There’s a song in the heart of the people you’ll meet on the winding way down to Kells Bay,
Yes a joke to be shared and a drink to be drank on the winding way down to Kells Bay
And the green Kerry Hills overlooking the sea, and the fuschias are blooming so brightly and sweet
And the ocean could carry our worries away on the winding way down to Kells Bay
On the winding way down, oh the winding way down,
On the winding way down to Kells Bay
Yes the ocean could carry our worries away on the winding way down to Kells Bay
There’s a saint on the hillside i dteach deas beag buí, on the winding way down to Kells Bay
Lean isteach leat a stóirín agus lig do scíth on the winding way down to Kells Bay,
And when the bell rings then we’ll all head away on the winding road down to Kells Bay,
Where the ocean could carry our worries away on the winding way down to Kells Bay,
And the Golden sunset’s like no other, they say, on the winding way down to Kells Bay,
And we’ll stop for the chat, and the auld cupán tae, on the winding way down to Kells Bay.
Yes the ocean could carry our worries away, on the winding way down…