Mick Mc Ginley

Occasionally, old documents and items of interest can be found stored in some corner of the house. Many of the items found may have belonged to relatives like grand parents and the usual place of discovery is up in the attic or down in the cellar. Items found in this manner are always of great interest and there is usually a story to be told about the find. Some finds could be of some monitory value but most items are considered family treasures never to be parted with.
Just recently two previously unknown and unpublished songs entitled ‘The Tricolour’ and ‘The Black and Tans in Ireland’, written by Mick Mc Ginley around 1923, have been found. Mick was a native of Breenagh, eight miles west of Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. The old songs were stored away in an attic amidst general paraphernalia collected by Stranorlar man Mr Michael Bonar who is also a relative of Mick Mc Ginley. Major discoveries of this type are rare and these finds are of great literary value. The songs are of great interest both locally and nationally, as the subjects they cover relate to the country in general. The fact that they were written by a renowned songwriter during the birth of our nation also adds to their interest. Both songs are hand written and signed by the author.

Mick Mc Ginley and ‘The Hills of Glenswilly’

This classic emigrant song ‘The Hills of Glenswilly’ was also written by Mick Mc Ginley. The song was written on board the Invercargill bound for New Zealand in the late nineteenth century. On his return some years later he became a farmer and pub owner in Strabane. He joined the Fenian Movement and the Irish Republican Brotherhood. During the eighteen hundreds there were many struggles in Ireland and the people had to battle many diseases like smallpox, cholera and typhus. On top of this came the famine and the mass emigration that followed.

The Hills of Glenswilly
‘Now list awhile my countrymen and hear your native muse,
Although my song is sorrowful I know you’ll me excuse;
I’ve left my native country a far foreign land to see,
I’ve bid farewell to Donegal, likewise to Glenswillie.

‘Twas with a sad and heavy heart I left my native glen,
My much beloved birthplace I may never see again;
But when I’m on a foreign shore with grief I’ll think of thee,
And of the Happy Days I spent around sweet Glenswillie’…

The only known handwritten version of ‘The Hills of Glenswilly’ by the author is on display at College Court in Ballybofey. It is signed by Mick Mc Ginley and dated 1877.
This song struck a note of approval with many Irish people both at home and overseas. The song is still popular today and many of our leading artists have sung this tune. The artists include John Kerr, Bridie Gallagher, Eileen Donaghy, Ryan’s Fancy, Irish Brigade Tyrone, Coguish, The Irish Paddy and Hugh Mc Lean.

‘The Drumboe Martyrs’ is another example of Mick Mc Gin ley’s ability to pen verses about real live events taking place in Ireland at the turn of the last century.

During the civil war in Ireland a number of men were executed by former comrades and the song entitled ‘The Drumboe Martyrs’ relates to four of them.

The Drumboe Martyrs
‘Twas the feast of Saint Patrick
By the dawning of the day
The hills of Tirconnaill
Stood sombre and grey
When the first light of morning
Illumined the sky,
Four brave Irish soldiers
Were led forth to die…’

The newly discovered songs ‘The Tricolour’ and ‘The Black and Tans in Ireland’ are well-written and informative verses.
History relates how the Black and Tans arrived on these shores in March 1920 but they were a poorly disciplined group with little training for soldiering in Ireland. Mick Mc Ginley depicts the attitude of the Black and Tans in a lighthearted manner and he also throws a bit of history into the mix. Mick intended this verse to be sung using the same air as that of ‘The Rising of the Moon’

Both of these newly discovered songs were written around the early nineteen twenties and ‘The Tricolour’ is a beautifully scripted ballad which deserves the talents of our musicians to ensure its place among the great songs of Eireann. Mick Mc Ginley was born just after the famine and he lived during one of the most difficult times during Irish history. He died at his home in 1940 aged eighty-eight years old, but the popularity of his songs will ensure that his verses will survive for many generations to come.

Patrick Bonar,
P.O. Ballybofey.