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On the heels of its platinum-selling Up album, Play -- which hits the streets May 20, followed by the lead single "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)" a week later -- includes a few original songs and two covers, but the majority of selections, as usual, are traditional.
"There's a lot of traditional songs but not as many traditional Great Big Sea songs," says multi-instrumentalist Bob Hallett. "Some traditional songs have 95 verses in d-minor about the great Fin famine of 1933, which are excellent songs but I can't really see a place for them in a Great Big Sea show."
All dyed in the wool Newfoundlanders, Hallett, guitarist Alan Doyle, bodhran player Sean McCann and bassist Darrell Power are rich in knowledge about their heritage and gladly give history lessons to foreigners (that includes mainland Canadians), explaining the origins of the traditional songs, the stories behind them, and the meanings of the dialect.
In talking about, "Recruiting Sargeant", you'll learn from the lads that Newfoundland was a self-governing country up until 1949 with its own army and navy; that the phrase "she got seagulls in her eyes" in the original "Seagulls" means she's restless, constantly looking for something better, and, above all, that traditional Celtic music is just as prevalent in a Maritime teens life as Marilyn Manson and No Doubt -- and just as cool.
"It's not uncool because in that part of Atlantic Canada, Newfoundland, Cape Breton and PEI, in those communities, traditional music is, to some degree, popular music," explains Hallett.
Here's a quick lesson from Hallett on Celtic music forms:
REEL: a dance tune that's in 4/4 time. It should sound like the running of a horse
JIG: in 6/8, it's more of a rolling rhythm.
WALTZ: is in quarter-time, unlike the popular version Viennese one which is very structured. Most Canadian waltzes are a lot looser.
STRATHSPEY: slower, also in 4/4 time, very difficult to play. It's more a Scottish form.
SINGLE (as opposed to a double which would be a reel): we use this form quite a lot. A single is cut time, which is 2/4 time, same as 4/4 but you count to the beats in double time. It's very very fast. The only thing that's remotely similar is a polka, but not much.
SHANTY: they were songs that were originally to coordinate work efforts on sailing ships and sailing docks.
The track listing from Play:
Ordinary Day (Doyle/McCann)
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down) (Telfer, Prosser, Jones)
The Night Pat Murphy Died (trad./arr.GBS)
How Did We Get From Saying I Love You... (Doyle)
Donkey Riding (trad./arr.GBS)
Haven't seen You In A Long Time (Colin Hay)
End of the World (Berry, Buck, Mills, Stipe)
General Taylor (trad./arr.GBS & Fergus O'Byrne)
Seagulls (Hallett)
Recruiting Sargeant (Hallett, based on trad.)
Greenspond (trad./arr.GBS)
My Apology (McCann)
Jakey's Gin (trad.arr.GBS)
Something I Should Know (McCann)
Jolly Roving Tar (trad.arr.GBS)
* hidden track Jolly Beggar Dude (trad.arr.GBS based on Beggar Man)