"St. Brendan's Voyage" is a modern

Irish folk Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

song, written by

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

, and released on his 1985 album '' Ordinary Man''. The song relates the legendary journey of

Saint Brendan Brendan of Clonfert (c. AD 484 - c.577), is one of the early Celtic Christianity, Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator, Brendan the Voyager, Brendan the Anchorite, Br ...

in a comic and fanciful way.

The Narrative

The body of the song consists of four eight-line verses, each followed by a four-line chorus. It opens, however, with a four-line expository verse which establishes the year of the narrative as 501 A.D., and suggests that Brendan's motivation for leaving was that he was "tired of thinning turnips and cutting curly kale." The first full verse seems to establish a heroic tone, claiming that "of all the navigators, St. Brendan was the best." But it quickly turns comic, offering that

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

was discovered, and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

"put... on the map" as a result of Brendan stopping to purchase candles. He is then given credit for "finding"

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Finally, the listener learns that the eponymous voyage is in fact Brendan's ''return'' to Ireland at the age of 70. His traveling companion, an

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

, is also introduced; the bird is subsequently mentioned in each chorus. The second verse deals with his arrival in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, where he "clear through customs," and visits

Dingle Dingle (Irish language, Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coas ...

Ballyferriter Ballyferriter ( ga, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh , meaning 'Ferriter's townland', or ''an B ailtín'') is a Gaeltacht village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is in the west of the Corca Dhuibhne (Dingle) peninsula and according to the 2002 census, abou ...

, the Conor Pass, and finally

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

. The third verse portrays his homecoming celebrations, for which "the entire population came," "the fishermen hauled up their nets, ndthe farmers left their hay." However, the festivities turn sour when Brendan announces that he intends to marry-- "to seek a wife so late in life, and him a total wreck." In the final verse, a chagrined Brendan returns to the sea—and to the albatross, who has been waiting for him on the island of Inishvickillane and greets him with "'tis great to see you, boss."

Cover versions

In 1993, it was covered by Four to the Bar, on Four to the Bar (EP).

External links

Lyrics on Christy Moore's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Brendan's Voyage 1985 songs Songs written by Christy Moore