Andy M. Stewart: By The Hush

Album cover: By The Hush -- Andy M. Stewart

By The Hush
1989

Andy M. Stewart: Vocals
Phil Cunningham: Whistles, Accordion, Keyboards, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass
Martin Hadden: Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass

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Titles & liner notes

Haud Your Tongue Dear Sally
(Trad./Arr.: Andy M. Stewart/Phil Cunningham)
This beautiful and unusual song comes from Aberdeenshire in the North East of Scotland, its melody is well-known and is one of the loveliest in the Tradition. The song itself is relatively unknown, however, which is surprising considering its poignancy and quality. The lyrics were given to Andy by Kathleen Clark, a singer from Aberdeen.
The Ramblin' Rover
(Words and Music: Andy M. Stewart)
See the lyrics at Cantaria, a library of traditional songs
If there is a "recipe" for consistently having a great time than this gent seems to have found it! He favours a roving life spent in traveling with a bunch of good friends in search of a common goal - fun.
By The Hush
(Trad./Arr.: Andy M. Stewart/Phil Cunningham)
Exile songs seem to Andy to have been wrung from the very souls of their creators: the yearning of the exile for his Home and begging perhaps the very essence of the emotion of sadness. Happily for the emigrant, he may not only left behind his native land, but also the hunger and persecution that forced him overseas.

In "By the Hush" the unfortunate man sells up and leaves his farm in famine-torn Ireland for a new life in America, only to find on arrival that he has been drafted into the Army of President Lincoln, to fight in the Civil War. In one of the Battles that follows he is severely wounded and thus the song's chorus carries a chilling warning to anyone contemplating emigration to America. The song ends with the powerfully simple line - "I wish I was at home in dear old Erin".
The Orphans' Wedding
(Words and Music: Andy M. Stewart)
In the village in which Andy grew up, there lived a strange eccentric and fascinating old man. He knew everything there was to know about the countryside and countrylore, from dry-fly trout fishing to build a drystone dyke. One day Andy's Mother told him of the bizarre event that completely changed his, and another, young life. This is his true and tragic story in song.
Patrick Sheehan
(Trad./Arr.: Andy M. Stewart/Phil Cunningham)
See the lyrics on Cantaria
Eviction! A terrifying ordeal endured by the gentle inhabitants of Gaeldom. From the Highlands of Scotland to the Green Glens of Ireland, they were subjected to the heartless barbarism of Landlord and Sheriff, Soldier and Constabulary. This powerful ballad describes how a young man is forced by eviction and near-starvation to join the English Army, although his only wish is to continue farming in Ireland. He is blinded at the Battle of Sebastopol in the Crimea, but knows he can never return to Aherlow, as he would face the rejections of his neighbours for having enlisted as a soldier.

Andy learned this song when he was about fourteen from a man from the Island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Although obviously Irish, it is known and sung in Lewis as a traditional song. Its melody has a haunting Hebridian feel to it, quite different from some Irish versions Andy has heard, where it is sung to the melody of "The Homes of Donegal". Years after learning "Patrick Sheehan", Andy found that it was written by Charles Joseph Kickham, born in Tipperary in 1830, who became a leader-writer for the "Irish People" - a paper concerned with the Fenian Movement. For the humanitarian outflowings of his pen, Kickham was sentenced by the Government to fourteen years' penal servitude. His comment on the conclusion of his trial was terse: "I have endeavoured" he said "to serve Ireland, and now I am prepared to suffer for Ireland". Four years after his conviction he was released.
The Parish Of Dunkeld
(Trad./Arr.: Andy M. Stewart/Phil Cunningham)
See the lyrics at Cantaria, a library of traditional songs
The most outrageous true story Andy has ever come across in any song! An indication as to the character of the inhabitants of this Perthshire parish (in earlier times of course) is given by the series of events which take place in this song. Unable to withstand the incredible severity of life under their Church and doubtless "fire and brimstone" Minister, the congregation got together one day - and hung him.

The good people then silenced the ever-tolling bell and constructed a large Whisky Still inside the Church. With the wonderful produce of that blessed invention and with McDonald the piper blasting away in the pulpit on his pipes, their Sundays were transformed into a series of tremendous Ceilidhs.

The words were given to Andy be Martin Hadden and Andy has set them to the old Jacobite air "Over the
Water to Charlie".

The Curlew
(Trad./Arr.: Andy M. Stewart/Phil Cunningham)
They Wounded Old Ireland
(Words and Music: Andy M. Stewart)
This song deals with two recent periods in Irish history - some of the events leading up to the formation of the Irish Republic, and the present-day situation in Ulster. The cause of the "troubles" is well-enough documented in history books, the song, however, is simply Andy's prayer for Peace and maybe one day happiness for the peoples of the North, and an end to the violence that has claimed so many innocents.
I'd Cross The Wild Atlantic
(Words and Music: Andy M. Stewart)
Andy wrote this love song around an old Gaelic poem he found. He likes to think that is has a happy ending.