Celtic Woman: Origins and Hidden Gems

I thought it would be fun to create thread dedicated to discovering the origins of some of the Celtic Woman songs we know and love.

This is going to blow some minds, especially for some of the newer fans that weren't on the old Celtic Woman forum.

Here are a few to get us started:

Song: Tara's Tunes
Origin: 3 traditional tunes:
- Spatter the Dew
- Farewell to Ireland
- Hunters House

Song: The Enchanted Way:
- Tune 1: ?
- Tune 2 (0:52-1:43): The Swallotail Jig
- Tune 3 (1:43 - 2:13): Morrison's Jig  (I think, I'm not sure about this one yet)
- Last tune (last 38 seconds): Cooley's Reel

The Kesh Inn:
- The main part of the tune is The Kesh Jig
- But I think the second melody in there is part of Morrison's Jig (1:37 - 2:08 on the Homecoming album)

Song: The Calm of the Day / The Banshee:
- In this case, these are the actual names of the tunes

Song: Across the World
- Tune 1: The Rocky Road to Dublin
- Tune 2: ?

Song: The first part of Dúlaman in Emerald, which Lisa Lambe performed
Origin: An Cailín Álainn

Song: O, America
Origin: Melody: Sweet Rememberance of You (William Joseph). Brendan Graham heard the melody, loved it, and added lyrics.

Song: The Butterfly (Celtic Woman)
Origin:
- Part 1: The Butterfly slip jig (traditional)
- Part 2: The Butterfly Reel (Liz Carroll)

Song: The Pacific Slope (A New Journey)
Origin:
- Tune 1: The Cock and the Hen
- Tune 2: ?

Song: The Coast of Galicia
Origin: Traditional, but not sure of the original name

Song: The World Falls Away (Believe)
Origin: Part of the song uses "Tamhair Do Lamh"

Song: Bean Phaidin (chorus in the Ancient Land version)
Origin: Nead Na Lachen (aka The Foxhunter's Jig, no relation to melody of The Foxhunter in Believe)

Song: The Foxhunter (Believe)
Origin:
- First tune: Kid ar an Sliabh
- Second tune: ?

Song: Mná na hÉireann (Believe DVD)
- The first tune in the set is as titled
- The second tune (played right after Mná na hÉireann on the Believe DVD) = ?

Song: Dulaman (Emerald DVD)
- The song Lisa opens the track with, before the main melody = ?

Song: Dulaman (Emerald DVD)
- The tune during the extended (very extended) intro to Níl Sé'n Lá = ?

Song: Shenendoah (Emerald DVD)
- There are at least 2 tunes. Shenendoah is obvious, but what is the tune after that?

Song: The Soft Goodbye
Origin: the first tune in Dance at the Crossroads (Heart's Quest album by Fir Na Keol, aka David Downes and Chloë's dad)

Song: How Can I Keep From Singing (Destiny)
Origin: An American folksong, originating as a Christian hymn. It's now in public domain.

Which other origins can we discover?

Didn't they say part of Across the World was an original for CW? I could be wrong though

Didn't they say part of Across the World was an original for CW? I could be wrong though

Might be. That may explain why I can't for the life of me figure out a traditional tune it was based on.

Also, here's a neat (probably unintentional) connection given the upcoming 20th Anniversary production. "Across the world" was in the lyrics of the very first Celtic Woman song, Walking In the Air, on the very first Celtic Woman PBS special.

Oh wow! What a cool thread.

I haven't heard some of the origin songs. I will try to listen to them as originally produced when I have time. (I'm on vacay now.) And I'll have to re-listen to some of the CW songs again with a new appreciation.

Who is the genius behind the evolution of the songs? Is it David Downes?

I found a few more.

I think the last 2 tunes in The Enchanted Way are:
- Morrison's Jig
- Cooley's Reel

I think part of the Kesh Inn (1:37 - 2:08 on the Homecoming album) might also be Morrison's Jig.

What about The Butterfly from the debut album? The first half of the song is the real jig called "The Butterfly," but I don't know about the other half?

Or Granuaile's Dance? I haven't figured out any of those tunes.

What about The Butterfly from the debut album? The first half of the song is the real jig called "The Butterfly," but I don't know about the other half?

Or Granuaile's Dance? I haven't figured out any of those tunes.

Granuaille's Dance is an original song (David Downes and Máiréad Nesbitt co-wrote it). That particular one isn't derived from a traditional tune.

The first part of The Butterfly is indeed the traditional Irish slip jig by that name. The second part is more like a reel than a jig and seems based on The Butterfly track from her debut album Raining Up. Liz Carroll is credited for that track in the liner notes. It was surprisingly time-consuming to find, but here it is, from the album Trian II:
https://youtu.be/AqWgaCEMfX8?t=146

I'll add a summary of that to the first post.

I also managed to track down another part of The Enchanted Way: The Swallotail Jig (0:52-1:43). I still haven't figured out what the first part of the track is based on, but I've definitely heard the traditional song outside of Celtic Woman before.

It would be a lot easier to figure some of these out if they provided the original tune names in the liner notes instead of just saying "trad." Lol. That would be less fun than scouring the Internet though.

The Celtic Woman scavenger hunt continues!

Is The Hills of Ireland the actual song? I’ve heard other people perform it, but it was shorter than the version on Destiny