We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Blasket Island

from Green to Gold by Moonrakers

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

The final inhabitants of the Blasket Islands off the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland left in 1954, but descriptions of their isolated lifestyle, along with their fireside stories, are well recorded. This is a reimagining of one of the tales about the killing of seal pups for their skin, common practice around the islands until it was outlawed. Jon’s song suggests a curse on the hunters and perhaps even a hint as to why the islands were abandoned, but this is purely for dramatic effect.

lyrics

There is a bay off Ireland’s shore
Etched by wind and soil
Where once the earth begotten men
Did go to dream and toil.
And there in Blasket Island coves
Seaweed from the foam
Was gathered up in moleskin bags
Before the journey home
Oh, the tender souls

Then one grey Autumn day
These men, their labour spent,
Did spy a pair of ocean seals,
And so with clubs they went.
The brother seals were torn apart
The first-born cried for life
They laid him down upon a stone
And raised the hunter’s knife
Oh, the tender souls

A hundred years for every cry
Til all are scattered wide
A hundred years for every skin
Stolen on the tide
A hundred years, this barren land
No mortal soul remains
And while the curse hangs over us
We bow our heads in shame
Oh, the tender souls

And seldom now a fisherman
To Blasket isle will row
And hear a lonely ocean seal
Above the tidal flow
Is this the brother standing guard,
The keeper of the land?
Or just a breath of the ocean wind
Along forgotten strands?
Oh, the tender souls

credits

from Green to Gold, released May 27, 2023
Written by Jon Bennett, arranged by Moonrakers

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Moonrakers image

Moonrakers Oxford, UK

Described as “startlingly talented” (Oxford Times) and now with five albums of "exquisite music "(BBC) and "truly wonderful" (Wycombe Festival) performances, Moonrakers present an informal evening of musical excellence and humour.

contact / help

Contact Moonrakers

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Moonrakers, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now