I come from a very large extended Irish-Catholic family. My father came from a family of 11 kids and they all have upwards of 4 children. I'm not sure exactly when my family came to America, but I think it was a lot longer ago then they'd think. My family takes it's Irish heritage pretty seriously. They love the Kennedy's, they all have maps of Ireland on their walls and they all have little Irish knick knacks they either picked up on their own trip to Ireland or someone brought it back to them. I have never felt a connection to my Irish heritage as I was never really taught anything about it. I honestly don't know the history of the Whalen clan. I do know our family has Murphy's, Mulcahey's, Sweeney's and Shipley's in it. Other than that, I couldn't even tell you what part of Ireland we originally hail from. Rumor has it our last name used to be "O'Whelan" but we changed it upon our arrival in American. My siblings and a few of my cousins do not have middle names, just "O's" to bring back the old name. So for their sake, I hope the rumor of the old last name is true, or they'd look pretty silly. I think giving your kid an "O" for a middle name is pretty silly to begin with, but who am I to say? There is one particularly annoying part of my big family's celebration of being Irish. The song "Danny Boy." My God, if I have to hear that song sung one more time at a family gathering, I may very well vomit. It's a good thing I don't attend family gatherings anymore. Mostly because it would make my sister's born again Christian blood boil. I always wondered why no one seemed to notice how absolutely depressing the song is. There is a quote from a book about the Kennedy's that says, "There's no point in being Irish unless you realize the world will break your heart." That would explain their obsession with this morbidly depressing song. As a kid, everyone thought it was so cute to sing Danny Boy to me, but say Billy Boy instead. Well I have finally uncovered the truth behind the ever-annoying song and it turns out it was written by Fred Weatherly, an Englishman who NEVER set foot on Irish soil! We know the Irish are not fond of the Engligh so this should stop Irish people and wanna be Irish people from singing it altogether. It's funny the little bit of joy I take in finding out this information. Here is the article from the associated press that outs Danny Boy:
What's St. Paddy's Day without its familiar North Americanization: slugging back green beer and belting out the mournful 'Danny Boy'?
You'll have the beer, all right, but not the song in one Manhattan pub where the Irish-bred owner is banning the tune for the entire month of March. How now? A true Irishman won't let his patrons hear 'Danny Boy'?
It's depressing, it's not usually sung in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, and its lyrics were written by an Englishman who never set foot on Irish soil. ...
"It's overplayed, it's been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time and it's more appropriate for a funeral than for a St. Patrick's Day celebration," said Shaun Clancy, who owns Foley's Pub and Restaurant, across the street from the Empire State Building.
Clancy is promising a free Guinness to patrons who sing any other traditional Irish song at the pub's pre-St. Patrick's Day karaoke party.
Farewell you sad and morbid little Danny Boy. May I never have to hear your depressing lyrics sung in my presence again. Wow, to think the Irish have been duped all these years! I know, this sounds a bit bitter and jaded, but it's the result of having this song sung to me over and over and over again as a child. "Where have you gone Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" To Maine, that's where!Reality TV tidbits: Every season on Top Model there is one complete and total diva who is convinced she's legions ahead of the other girls and makes no bones telling everyone. I know, people like this make for good tv, but they annoy me. So imagine my surprise when the judges voted that girl off this season! I'm not an avid "American Idol" fan, but I tune in from time to time. Well not so much last year because Sanjaya (I hated even typing his name) really annoyed me. How someone with so little talent go that far is beyond me, but hey, go with dude! This year's Sanjaya was Danny and I could not stand him at all. Didn't like his voice, his attitude or even his look. So imagine my utter delight to read this morning that he was voted off. Bye Bye! This is where the random people who stumble across my blog send me hate mail for dissing the two boys, just like I got a few years back when I dissed Clay Aiken.
Coming this weekend, reviews of the cds, "Cuts & Garbage" by Kirsten Price and "Discipline" by Janet Jackson!
Ciao.
