When Eleanor McEvoy began write her new album, I'd Rather Go Blonde, Ireland was in the grips of severe winter weather and a devastating economic crisis. The 6th song on the album, Shibboleth, is especially relevant in light of the news of the recent bailout of the Irish government.
Eleanor described Shibboleth recently: “What I did with that was a trick on what the old traditional Irish songs used to do where you weren't allowed to talk about the conflict, or England, so they used to talk about Ireland as woman. I'm doing the same in Shibboleth. I'm singing as if it's a person: 'Mo ghra, mo chraoi, mo cuisle/How hard it is to see/ A mhuirin, they have brought you to your knees.' But I'm actually singing about Ireland”.
A rather beguiling song, only too fitting for the time that is in it. With the current state of Ireland's economic unsettlement, 'Shibboleth' attempts to transpire across the routes which took the small country from boom to bust.
McEvoy Concludes: “I wrote the track this year in loving sadness of what they’ve done to my beautiful country…….It seems to have grown in relevancy in the intervening months".
Link to exclusive live stream here: http://bit.ly/f5PsAY
Taken from the new album: I’d rather go blonde (out now)
Website: www.eleanormcevoy.com
'Shibboleth'
-(E. McEvoy)
Your beauty in the spotlight
It was something to behold
A final hope of something good
A pool of solid gold
How hard it is to see
A mhuirnin, they have brought you to your knees
A shining shibboleth
You dared to take the breath away
Of everyone you met
How hard it is to see
A mhuirnin, they have brought you to your knees
I’ve only realised
Are just the tears you fail to keep
Cascading from your eyes
How hard it is to see
A mhuirnin, they have brought you to your knees
How hard it is to see
A mhuirnin, they have brought you to your knees
