Music For A Sunday

I'm doing a little work for Kansas City's newest Irish pub which will be opening soon downtown. The pub is called Raglan Road and while it's still under construction, it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous place when it opens in early March, just in time for the season, and a welcome addition to the downtown reawakening. If you haven't see what's going on down there in awhile, go check it out. If you're a long-time or a life-time Kansas Citian like me, it's a remarkable thing to see so much life in our once moribund downtown.

Anyway, I was thinking this morning about that and the beautiful song from which the pub takes it's name, one of my all time favorites. It was originally a poem written by Patrick Kavanagh in the 1940's and titled "Dark Haired Miriam Ran Away." Kavanagh's brother Peter later said "it was written about Patrick's girlfriend Hilda [Moriaty] but to avoid embarrassment he used the name of my girlfriend in the title." Luke Kelly later still matched it with a traditional air called "The Dawning Of The Day" and it's been covered since by dozens of Irish and international singers. Van Morrison did my favorite version with The Chieftains back in 1998 on the album "Irish Heartbeat" which you should own if you don't already. I don't think there's a better expression of heartbreak and unrequited love. Don't you know someone you could sing this song about? Here's Sinead O'Connor's take.