The enormity of the ‘Harry’s Game’ moment was not lost on Moya, who told The Guardian:
“It was unreal for a small Irish folk band from Donegal. I was the first female Irish folk singer to break abroad. People started calling me the First Lady of Celtic Music, a title I’m really proud of.”
– Máire (Moya) Brennan
Upon reflection of yesterday’s senseless and cowardly assassination of freedom activist and conservative Charlie Kirk, the hauntingly beautiful Theme from Harry’s Game by the Irish folk group Clannad feels all the more timely. The vocalist Máire (Moya) Brennan told The Guardian: “The Irish Gaelic lyrics, derived from a saying in a book of old Irish proverbs that our grandfather had given Ciarán: ‘Everything that is and will be, will cease to be. The moon and the stars, youth and beauty’. There’s no solution to war, just people killing each other”. Ever since I first heard the theme in this scene from the 1992 movie Patriot Games adapted from the Tom Clancy book, it foraged its way somewhere deep-down.
It was commissioned as the theme for Harry’s Game, a Yorkshire Television miniseries adapted from a 1975 novel set in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The song catapulted Clannad to international superstardom, with a Grammy and a Billboard Music Award to follow. Peaking at No.2 in Ireland and No.5 in the UK, it remains the only hit single in the UK ever to be sung entirely in the Irish language. The sound would become Clannad’s signature, and they would go onto to sell 20 million albums.
You may have heard of the famous Irish new-age Celtic singer Enya, well she began her music career (as the younger sister) with her family band Clannad, but left in 1982 with their manager and producer Nicky Ryan to pursue a solo career.
The influence of Gregorian chant was an important strand in the musical mix. The lyrics laced the verse of a Connacht Irish Proverb with a chorus of ancient mouth music, conjuring the wilds of Ireland. The hymn-like song famously took just hours to write, but the sound had been years in the making. Brennan said “We wrote it in a couple of hours and thought, great, it’s a nice tune and everything,” she added, “but we didn’t realise the sound we created had developed over the six albums before, with all the experimentation we did with words and voices and harmonies.”
She compared the chorus to an aural fiddle: “Fol de liddle, taddle do, diddley idle oh.” Nonsense sounds like these are often inserted into Irish folk songs, as a free-form play or an expression of verbal dexterity.
The translation below from Irish Gaelic to English was made by retired editor Tom Thomson and his interpretation is below that.
East and west will go away
As has happened before
The moon and the sun
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the day fol the day
The moon and the sun will go away,
The young people, and later their fame
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the day fol the day
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the day fol the day
A going away that has happened before,
The young man and later his fame
Fol lol the doh fol the day
Fol the doh fol the day
Author’s comments:
Rather sad and pessimistic and absolutely true – the civil war, the troubles, the current unwillingness of politicians in the North to even try to work all go together to suggest that it will indeed all happen again and be forgotten and then happen again.
References:
1. Theme from Harry’s Game – Wikipedia
2. Theme From Harry’s Game – Great Irish Songbook
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I love Enya! This is an interesting look into her past and where she got started. I had no idea her family was so talented, very beautiful music.
Charlie Kirk’s death was an atrocity. The political unrest in the US alone, has gotten completely out of hand and suffocating.
I am fond of Enya as well having posted on her music 5 times so far. The latest I heard was ‘It’s in the Rain’ at the gym back in January which made quite the impression. My favourite is ‘A Day Without Rain’. What is yours?
I’m still very saddened about what happened to Charlie, especially considering the loss suffered by his young wife and children. I just hope America can pick up the cross he left behind — or as Ben Shapiro put it yesterday in his moving tribute: “Pick up the bloodied microphone from the podium and not be fettered from speaking the truth” (or words to that effect).
Orinoco Flow was the first song I ever heard of hers and it has stuck with me ever since. I also really enjoy Anywhere Is, Ebudae and One by One and are some of my other favorites.
I fear the repercussions attacks like this will cause. All we can really do is pray because evil has grown so strong. His family can rest easy knowing he went out doing exactly what he felt needed to be done and I take great comfort in that myself. It’s been rough emotionally the past few days for sure.
Nice to be rejoined with ‘Orinoco Flow’ and ‘Anywhere Is’ which I hadn’t heard in decades. The lovely tribal-esque ‘Ebudae’ was new to me as well as the gorgeous ‘One by One’. Thanks friend.
On the subject of violence in the US, another assassination which shocked me that went largely unreported by the ‘Western Maoist’ press for weeks was of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutka on the train by African American Decarlos Brown Jr. If it was a white guy stabbing a young black girl, we’d have already seen riots, protests and uproar. The media is beyond pathetic.
Of course! The first time I heard “Ebudae” was from the movie “Toys” with Robin Williams. I hunted it down right afterwards lol
Oh I know! The footage from the train car was heartbreaking. The fact this gentleman was even allowed to walk the streets with his long history of crime was beyond me. Also, the fact nobody had the decency to help her, instead choosing to walk off. I don’t know but one of the ladies closest to the door looked like she had scrubs on. Hopefully she wasn’t in the health field since she clearly does not have the character to fit. The double standard with the media’s coverage of tragedies like this is disgusting since it doesn’t meet their agenda.
Happy Sunday morning to you.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the footage of Iryna Zarutka’s last moments. The same with Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It would just bring me too much anguish and shock. Thanks for the breakdown of the bystanders’ reaction or lack there-of. It’s a sad state of affairs when people allow this girl to confront such depravity and evil head-on, and all alone.
Happy Sunday to you as well!
I just watched the moments leading up to it and shortly thereafter. There were stories of kids passing the raw footage of Charlie around certain schools, like it’s some sort of sick collection to show off.
I hope and pray justice is served in accordance with all horrific crimes like this. If not by the law, I know God will ultimately have the ultimate vengeance.
My 15 year-old son told me when he searched about the Charlie assassination, he saw the actual footage of the horrific shot. That made me angry and sad that he saw that. Social Media really needs to be curtailed for younger people – like what Australia is doing – restrict social media access for minors under the age of 16 which will take effect in December.
I, too, hope justice is served. Many are calling for his execution, but I am not among them. I would prefer he face life imprisonment, left to endure decades in confinement among fellow inmates, including Trump supporters, who can deliver their own form of reckoning.
That is horrible. I am sorry for your son that he was exposed to that, hopefully he is okay. I agree that young people should not have access to social media, it has contributed more negativity than positive in my opinion. If social media was outlawed here, I fear there would be absolute chaos. So many young people rely on it as their main source of income as well which is very much unfortunate. It is a tricky situation.
I find myself getting trapped with an overwhelming anger for these shooters. One second, I do wish pain and suffering on them, but I have to reel myself back and realize that burden is not on me. I just wish I trusted the justice system lol
My son, like almost every Colombian, has become desensitised to violent images, since the news here shows nearly everything when reporting a crime. It’s disturbing, but his family is obsessed with watching it, and I can’t do much about it as I only have custody on weekends and holidays.
The upcoming implementation of the social media restriction law is only applicable to 16 years and under, so I’m not sure how it would impact incomes if it’s specific to ‘minors’. But I might be missing something.
Ashley, you have a wonderful day!
Man, I hate that for your son but I understand the fixation with watching the news and stuff as that used to be my own family.
True, I am not sure how many people under 16 could be legally making money on social media. However, there has been an uptick in little kids having these platforms and actually making a living out of it. Their parents are typically a huge part so I am wondering if they would get away with it if the parents could prove they handle the business side and not their children. Or are they going to outlaw children’s faces even being on the platforms? Also younger people tend to connect their whole identities and purposes to social media so I fear the mental and emotional aspect of having something ripped out from under you when you rely on it so much for confidence and encouragement. Not that I agree with having too much access, it is just kinda scary.
Have a great day yourself!
The fixation on news and current affairs outside of our local family and community is a stupendous problem, which many are not conscious of. Take for example the following which I wrote about a long time ago:
As I heard it – The behaviourist psychologist B.F. Skinner did a rat experiment of extended awareness. The interpretation of its findings which I heard recently is that it exposed the danger of being conscious of too much, especially relatable now in a globalised society with social media.
Rats which were put on a table of perspex floating on water and didn’t know of the danger just ran around randomly, and the perspex continued to float. When human beings were put under the same test conditions, they lasted to float for just seconds because they would run to the same side to ensure equilibrium and in so doing topping themselves over.
Knowing too much and over saturated with too much stimuli can be a detriment to our human-race commensurate with extreme political polarisation since the advent of social media and systemic information dissemination problems associated with the Pandemic.
When we were living in clans – hunter gather or Agrarian societies we just went about making the most of life and living simply and locally. We weren’t conscious or inundated with how terrible human beings can be or the quantity of world problems. Sometimes knowing less means we can float.
In context with what you said about Social media and children, I love the quote from Daniel Schmachtenber ‘Porn and online dating is to intimate relationships what Facebook and Twitter is to tribal bonding’. I am almost entirely pro–freedom of information and expression, but when it comes to minors and the clear harm social media poses to their mental health, I tend to agree with the government stepping in and believe the benefits will outweigh the costs of children (as you said) having the platforms ripped away from them.
Regarding the Australian law – it places the responsibility on platforms, not parents or children, to ensure compliance. It will give platforms 12 months to develop and implement systems to enforce the age restrictions. Platforms affected include major services like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X.
Gorgeous song! I dig what I’ve heard of Clannad, especially their 1985 album “Macalla.”
Even if you don’t agree with the political views of an individual, violence is not the answer and must be condemned!
Macalla huh? I’ll go listen to some of that right now. Thanks.
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments about political violence.