I found this reel on Nigel Gatherer's website when I was researching tunes for my migration video. But it isn't really about migration, so I didn't use it there. It is John Renton's tribute to the ferrymen who keep Lismore alive. My illustrations are the Potomac river near where I live. It is not as beautiful as Loch Linnhe (where is?), but it has its own grandeur and, as you can see, it is a serious bit of water. It used to be served by dozens of ferries, dating back to the 1740s, but now there are none, save the odd urban water taxi. The first picture shows the river at Harper's Ferry, the most famous of them all (John Brown and all that.) There also aren't many bridges (it is very wide, as you can see), so this creates an obstacle to travel between Maryland and Virginia. (Between 1861 and 1865, this was a good thing if you lived on our side of the river.) The last ferry crossing, White's Ferry, closed during the pandemic over a stupid dispute about access to land on the Virginia side. This is sad because, despite the fact that the ferry boat itself was named after a general of the treacherous persuasion, it was a wholly delightful way to reach Virginia avoiding the DC metro sprawl. This is much more information than you will ever need or want on my local ferry situation.
Your texts are always so informative and entertaining that I look forward to them just as much as to the music. Speaking about the music, though, you have certainly developed your own recognisable style that works so well for the tunes you play.
You almost expect Gen. Robert E. Lee stepping out of the bushes after relieving himself The tune is much more funny and lighthearted than what the grim history of the landscape suggests (but so were the fife&drum tunes at the time).
What a great tune, Richard. John Renton, the accordionist, still lives in Inveraray, the seat of the Clan Campbell, under 40 miles from my home. Interesting that he chose a reel to celebrate the ferryman as I tend to think of those ferry crossings as being done at a more leisurely pace. You play your version really well here and it is a tune I have now added to my playing list. Thanks for posting.
Sweet! And interesting info on the war. Thanks Richard. I’ll try to learn this today (but as usual probably wont have time to record it). https://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/tunes/L/LismF.html
Awesome Richard! Just a great tune with really fine pick'n!
Thank you all for your kind comments. It is a great tune, which makes it all the more surprising that I have never heard it played. Nigel Gatherer lists it as a reel, so I played it fairly fast, but I am not sure if that was the intention. As you say, John, it doesn't really evoke a ferry crossing. Something like the Island of Mull in a steady 6/8 would have you believe you are on the CalMac ferry from Oban to Craignure. Dennis, I'm glad you enjoy my notes. I suspect it is a potentially irritating habit, but I have a historian's cast of mind - an urge to dig into how things used to be (and then tell everyone about it). And here I managed to introduce the completely irrelevant topic of historical ferries near my home. Bertram, General Lee was not often seen on this side of the river. His most notable visit was to Harper's Ferry as an officer in the Federal army to arrest John Brown. Other visits were en route to getting whipped at Antietam and later Gettysburg. He would presumably have had to relieve himself from time to time on each visit.
Oh, did General Lee have a comical bodily function issue?
Richard, it has always been a great pleasure for me to listen to your music and read the texts that accompany it, I have always been interested in history. I must confess that I watched your video "The Emigrant's Adieu" with interest, I enjoyed the music but I understood very little, no subtitles...
Not to my knowledge, Simon, (it was Bertram who initially raised General Lee's lavatorial requirements) but I would be very happy to spread the rumour. Cross the river into Virginia and every other street is named after him. It's like naming streets in France after Pétain (which they have finally got rid of, I think). Thank you, Jairo. You are very kind. Did you try the YouTube subtitles for The Emigrant's Adieu? I gave them a try (though not all the way through) and they seemed pretty accurate except for names.
as for Gen. Lee, my assumptions come mainly from his age at the time of the civil war (I had to step into the brush sometimes on a day out when I was that old) and from the fiction work of Michael Shaara (Killer Angels) mentioning his heart condition. Not comical, just biological and perfectly common (and yes, "lavatorial", must remember that word ).
Indeed, Bertram. Many of us have been there. I'm sure bouncing up and down on horseback and not being able to cross his legs can't have helped. This prompts me to a broader observation, which might seem flippant but really is not. History was really smelly. When I stroll through the former Union emplacements on the banks of the Potomac I can't smell how disgusting they would no doubt have been when inhabited. For the first book that I was involved in, I had to do some research on the introduction of waterborne sewage in British cities and the enormous health benefits arising from this. This really was one of the most revolutionary developments in human history, which we now take for granted. It's only when we are caught short in the woods or the river banks that we think what life was like without it. Incidentally, the man who built the London sewers was called Joseph Bazalgette. His great grandson was Peter Bazalgette, who was responsible for developing the Big Brother TV show. This prompted the remark that Bazalgette senior pumped sh*t out of our homes, while Bazalgette junior pumped it back in again.
"Incidentally, the man who built the London sewers was called Joseph Bazalgette. His great grandson was Peter Bazalgette, who was responsible for developing the Big Brother TV show. This prompted the remark that Bazalgette senior pumped sh*t out of our homes, while Bazalgette junior pumped it back in again." hahahahaha, it's so good, I can't stop laughing! what a comment, caballero!
bouncing up and down on horseback is an experience I never had, for unknown reasons, and now I am sure I didn't miss out on anything Riding a bicycle for two hours has been hard enough, and I have given up on that, too. How hardy those men in the past must have been.
Bertram, you are lucky. Don't. Ever. Jairo, it's not my line I'm afraid, but it also makes me chuckle, which is why I repeated it. (What any of this has to do with Lismore ferrymen is a mystery.)
A beautiful tune, that you played with elegance and flair, Richard!
Thank you, Christian. As I wrote somewhere above, it surprises me that there aren't more versions because it is a good tune.
https://youtu.be/4wu4Ixq4gnI
What a great version of this reel, Simon. You really give it a great lift in your playing here, and your ferry picture makes me feel quite at home!
Thanks John, I wanted it to sound proud and stately, hence the lift. I did wonder about the boat photo though, it looks more like a fishing boat, but maybe it’s part-time. Am slowly working on the fiddle… it’ll improve no doubt.
I'm very pleased someone else has picked this up - and what a wonderful rendition, Simon. This one has a lovely atmosphere to it. I think the Lismore ferry is pretty small - not one of those big CalMac car ferries.
Bravo maestro! Although I must say, Simon, your version does suggest a ferryman, Richard's version instead suggests a train driver...
Yay! I agree with the positive comments. We've talked before about how the beauty of this group is to see a tune being given a new facet by being interpreted in each member's unique style. I, for one, am much better at studying these variations than at actually contributing. You're adding something extra by developing your style right before our eyes and ears! The fiddle is supporting the mandola very well here, and I'm sure we'll hear much more of this combination in future. I'm looking forward to it!
Sadly, those big CalMac ferries are at present causing intense problems for the islanders and others in Scotland who rely on them as their main or sole means of transport. The ferry fleet is well past its sell-by date and there are constant breakdowns and cancellations of service happening across the network on a regular basis. Two promised replacement vehicle and passenger ferries being built at Port Glasgow on the River Clyde are now five years overdue and running at several million pounds over the original budget. Other new ferries have been commissioned from shipyards in Turkey! The Clyde was once the world's greatest shipbuilding region! South Uist is going to be without its main ferry until the end of June, and this at the start of the tourist season. People are finding the situation worse than it was during the Covid lockdown period. I was travelling back from Newcastle in the north of England last Tuesday and on my final stage of my journey, after three railway journeys, I was catching the passenger-only ferry back to my home from Gourock to Dunoon. This should be serviced by two dilapidated boats, known locally as the bathtubs, but as normal one was off due to some damage to the fibreglass hull, so we were reduced to an hourly service. The boat I got, The Argyll Flyer, carried only about a dozen passengers on this crossing (about 7pm) and the passenger lounge had a pervasive smell of diesel fuel throughout the 20 minute crossing. At least we all travelled free as the newly-commissioned electronic ticketing service had apparently not been working for a few days so the crew members did not bother trying to collect the fares. It seems they don't handle cash! Don't talk to me about our ferry system in the West of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands. Yes, Dennis, positive comments are what we really need!
That is a sad, if somewhat comical story about the ferries, John - I like the part about the ticketing services, but I am concerned about the Turkey connection (Bosporus competence for the Minch?). Strongly reminds me of the motorway bridges in our area, the majority of which are in dire need of repair, some being blocked for lorries (with a weighing system in place) and one being completely blocked more than a year ago (and now finally demolished; the pillars were found to be hollow, other than planned, because the mixer drivers had sold part of their load to local friends and family at the time, apparently...), with traffic clogging the small towns around it, crazing local people. The Scots did it right, building the new Forth Road Bridge in time.
John, I don't know if you read the late Ian Jack's excellent article on all this in the London Review of Books last year. I seem unable to attach it here, but I'd be happy to find another way to share it with you and others.
We often use dropbox Richard, and then post a link. Googledrive is another. This it? https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n14/ian-jack/diary
Thanks, Simon. Of course Dropbox. I was being a bit slow this morning. That is not the article I had in mind, but this one is.
Richard. The last 3-4 pages of the PDF are scrabbled like an omelette. Unless I’m not reading it correctly.
Great article, Richard, with lots of very interesting insight not only on the current ferry fiasco but the past of the yards and the Clyde shoreline. Interestingly as I type this response the BBC Scotland News has a feature on the Glen Sannox, the more nearly-finished ferry of the two, saying that it is now at a stage when it 'could set to sea today' according to the boss at Ferguson Marine! I feel a connection with the area as I live just across the Clyde from the yards and one of my aunts was the forewoman of a team of thirty French Polishing craftswomen in Scotts shipyard in Greenock for a large part of her working life and lived close to the yard - now long gone as are most of the shipbuilding complexes on the Clyde. As Simon says, the last three or four pages of the thirty-page article have become somehow jumbled, but still so much to read in the article. Thanks for posting this link.
You're right Simon, overprinted pages, both in the browser preview and Acrobat.
I was touched by Richard’s recording. I played a few times through the sheet music and was happy that Nigel Gatherer offers a somewhat slower mp3 of mandolin and flute. Now, I’m impressed of Simon’s fiddle playing!
Thanks Gents, yay Frithjof, the fiddle is only difficult because they expect you to use a bow to strum the thing.
Thank you, Frithjof. I hadn't listened to Nigel Gatherer's mp3 (silly, really) so I just took my guidance from the description of it as a reel. Try this one - I downloaded it again. Unless it's LRB's clever way of stopping me sharing content from behind the paywall. Note that the article itself finishes on p 30.
it is kind of creepy when you read the ferry stories here, then go on vacation, arrive at the Dutch ferry port of Holwerd and see THIS. Happened to me two hours ago...
Yikes, Bertram.
Mind the gap Bertram, hope you're ok. From dry land to sea, like purgatory, it can be a very disturbing experience. Great news though! My video has nine likes. I can't believe it. I play the fiddle so well now. Or maybe people are just voting for the fish.
Thanks Richard and Simon, we made the journey. But I would have been a fly on the wall when these car passengers were being told they could not disembark and had to return to the island...
Very convincing playing on both instruments, Simon.
