"The Ferryman", also sometimes known as "The Strawberry Beds",
is an
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 ...
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
, written by
Pete St. John
Peter Mooney (31 January 1932 – 12 March 2022), known professionally as Pete St John, was an Irish folk singer-songwriter. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he was best known for composing "The Fields of Athenry".
Life and career
St John was born in I ...
.
Set in modern-day
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in Ireland,
as with other works by St. John, "The Ferryman" relates to economic change in the city. The song is a
monologue
In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...
, by a former pilot of a
ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
on the
River Liffey
The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...
to his wife, Molly, as he contemplates the implications of his
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
.
Despite the unpleasant subject matter, the song ends optimistically, with the declaration "we're still living, and ... we're still young, and the river never owned me heart and soul".
Recordings
The song was recorded by the
Dublin City Ramblers
The Dublin City Ramblers is an Irish folk band, originally formed by the name of The Quare Fellas in 1970. The band has had a long line of members and Sean McGuinness is the only current of the original line-up, that also included Patsy Watchorn ...
in the early 1980s for their EP, ''The Ferryman'', reaching number 6 in the
Irish charts in December 1982.
The song has also been recorded by
The Dubliners
The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-ye ...
,
,
The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that originated in Toronto, Canada. Formed in 1963'Irish Rovers are Digging out those old Folk songs', By Ballymena Weekly Editor, Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, N. Ireland – 20 August 1964 and na ...
,
Gaelic Storm
Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996. Their musical output includes pieces from traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. The band had its first ...
,
Patsy Watchorn
Patsy Watchorn (born 16 October 1944 in Crumlin, Dublin) is an Irish folk music, Irish folk singer. He is notable for being a member of the Dublin City Ramblers and later The Dubliners.
Music career
Watchorn first came to prominence around 196 ...
, and
Patrick Clifford.
See also
*
List of Irish ballads
The following are often-sung Irish folk ballads and folk songs. The songs are arranged by theme under the categories "Politics and soldiering" and "Non-political" and are not necessarily contemporary to the events to which they relate.
Songs ma ...
*
Strawberry Beds
Strawberry Beds or The Strawberry Beds () is a locality and small settlement 7 km to the west of Dublin City, Ireland, located on the northern banks of the River Liffey between Chapelizod and Lucan where the closest bridges span the river ...
*
The Rare Ould Times
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferryman, The
Irish songs
Irish folk songs
Year of song missing
Songs written by Pete St. John