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The Foggy Dew

[ Roud 973 ; Ballad Index RcTFDIII ; DT DEWFOG2 ; Mudcat 33292 ; Canon Charles O’Neill]

Charles O’Neill wrote new words to the tune of the traditional song The Foggy Dew after the 1916 Easter Rising.

Patrick Galvin sang The Foggy Dew in 1956 on his Topic 8" album Irish Songs of Resistance Part 2. The sleeve notes commented:

About the Easter Rising, the Black & Tan War and the Irish Civil War. Written by Rev. P. O’Neill in the late 1920s and set to a traditional love song.

The Wolfe Tones sang The Foggy Dew in 1965 as the title track of their Fontana album The Foggy Dew. This track was included in 1994 on the French anthology Planète Celtique.

Joshua Burnell sang The Foggy Dew as his Seasons Project folk song a week of 22 April 2017. This was included in 2021 on his album Seasons Vol. 2 Spring. He noted:

One of my earliest musical memories is the raucous sound of The Wolfe Tones blaring from the cassette player my parents had. As a child, I didn’t realise I was listening to traditional Irish rebel songs, but thinking about it now, it probably explains a lot. So when I eventually got into folk music as an adult (feeling a bit like a musical tourist) and I bumped into solid gold classics like Teddy Bear’s Head, Come Out Ye Black and Tans, and The Foggy Dew, I had a sudden epiphany that folk music was part of my musical DNA after all.

It was the melody of The Foggy Dew that I’d always loved, so without a second thought, it was added to our live set at The Snickleway once a month. One night, as we plugged into the PA balanced amongst pint glasses, Antonio pointed out The Foggy Dew on our crumpled setlist and wisely asked if it was a good idea to play it because of its political connotations. At the time, I felt songs were just songs. If you like it, play it! And we did, and had a very good time.

When recording it for the Seasons Project, I tried to capture that boisterous pub atmosphere, channelling a hint of Wolfe Tone as I went. But to be honest, it was a bit of a mess. The more time passed, the less comfortable I felt with it from both a performance and personal perspective. Antonio was right.

If you didn’t already know, The Foggy Dew was written following the 1916 Easter Rising. While Britain was fighting in the First World War, Irish Republicans proclaimed the Irish Republic in Dublin. Britain responded quickly with overwhelming force, leaving much of Dublin in ruins, detaining thousands in internment camps and brutally executing the leaders. Regardless of politics, it was a tragedy; people lost their lives.

I was very much aware of this at the time—in fact, I released it to coincide with the 101^st anniversary, to the day—but I don’t think my rushed rendition was a worthy tribute. Perhaps it wasn’t even my tribute to make.

When it came to re-releasing the Seasons Project, I didn’t want to simply omit a song but neither did I feel comfortable releasing The Foggy Dew as it was. To me, this is a beautiful song I love; for some it is a political anthem; but to others, it is a memorial to those who suffered following a tragic event in their history.

The compromise was to rerecord it. Whilst agonising over how to arrange it, I eventually just gave myself a metaphorical slap round the face and said to myself, “just sing it honestly”. So I sat down behind a keyboard and a microphone, pressed record and sang it honestly. The result is a more sensitive love-letter to a musical culture I admire.

Daoirí Farrell sang The Foggy Dew on his 2023 album The Wedding Above in Glencree. He noted:

In 2019 I was asked if I would sing this song as part of a TV production called Ireland’s Favourite Folk Song. I came up with the arrangement for the song while travelling through Australia on a three week solo tour that spring.

Lyrics

Daoirí Farrell sings The Foggy Dew

As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I
There armed lines of marching men in squadrons they passed me by
No fife did hum no battle drum did sound its lowly tattoo
But the Angelus bell o’er the Liffey’s swell it rang out in the foggy dew

And right proudly high over Dublin town they hung out the flag of war
It was better to die beneath an Irish sky than in Sulva or Sedd el Bahr
And from the plains of Royal Meath strong men came marching through
And Britannia’s huns with their long range guns sailed into the foggy dew

Well the night drew black and the rifle crack made perfidious Albion reel
Through the laden rain seven tongues of flame they rang out over lines of steel
And on to every blade a prayer I’d said that to Ireland her young men be true
Oh and when morning broke well the war flag shook out its folds all in the foggy dew

It was England that bade our wild geese go so small nations might be free
But their lonely graves are by Sulva’s waves on the fringes of the grey north sea
But had they died by Pearse’s side or fought with Cathal Bruagh
Well their names we’d keep where The Fenians sleep under the shroud of the foggy dew

Well the bravest fell and the requiem bell rang mournfully and free
For those men who died on that Eastertide at the spring time of the year
And as the world did gaze in grief and amaze at those gallant men but few
Who bore the fight so that freedom’s light might shine in through the foggy dew

Then back o’er the glen I rode again and my heart with grief it was sore
For I parted then with gallant men that I never would see no more
And to and fro in my dream I’ll go I’ll kneel and I’ll say a prayer for you
Oh slavery fled ye gallant dead when you fell in the foggy dew
Oh slavery fled ye gallant dead when you died in the foggy dew