Editor’s Note: My sister married an Irish lad, Sean Murphy, in 1970 and has lived most of her life since then in Dublin and Galway. Sean passed suddenly of a heart attack in 1996 the day after Christmas playing golf with his brother in Bandon, the town near Cork where they grew up. At his memorial service, this traditional gathering song was played in his memory and its lyrics haunt me, especially while hearing the amazing tenor voice of Ed Sheeran and remembering my dear brother-in-law.
Favorite Verse: (so true of both Sean and me): “And all the harm that e’er I’ve done, alas it was to none but me.”
Peace,
Tim McCarthy
