The Likes of You and I

My favorite song is Tommy Sands' "There Were Roses". It's the saddest song I've ever heard, and it teaches a good lesson, too--"An eye for an eye...and another eye for another eye, until everyone is blind." Good point.

I first heard it...actually, I've only heard it done by the Crossing on their CD "Dancing at the Crossroads." The first time I remember really listening to the words is when I was about eight or so, doing a dance to the first five tracks off that CD (This particular song was no. 5) and I was listening to the words while trying to come up with dances that would match the lyrics and the tune. Tall order. I didn't do very well. I remember, however, being properly shocked by the lyrics and instead of doing a wild arm fling through the flowing parts (which is my characteristic style), I looked downward, instead.

After that, the song haunted me. So I listened to it and finally got the lyrics straight. Two guys are good friends, one's Catholic, the other's Protestant (why should that matter? I wondered; and where is this "troubled northern land", anyway?) and then the Protestant one dies and so does the Catholic one. Obviously, I didn't know anything about Northern Ireland, and so I thought it a very strange, but beautifully tragic song. About this time, I got the impression that the killing in it was senseless. Well, it still is, and it makes sense from a historical and cultural perspective, but I'm the type of person who will look at bombings on the news and if I'm not sobbing or flicking the TV off, will be thinking: "That's stupid. Why are they doing that? They're just making life miserable for everyone."

Then I did a little research when I knew a bit more and so I discovered all about Northern Ireland. Not pretty. Anyway, I finally knew what was going on. Of course, the killing still strikes me as pretty senseless. I guess that's one thing the song pounded into my head!

Finally, today at lunch, Mom says, "Now, just what's the likelihood of that actually happening?" I said I'd look up the origins of the song, I was curious myself. Anything to get out of my math and science! On Wikipedia, I finally found out that the song is, indeed, based on a true story. Both fellows were friends of Sands. And knowing a story is true makes it all the sadder.

Incidentally, a strange thing about this song is that I've seen versions with the two fellows named Allan Bell and Sean O'Malley. The Crossing's version (and mine) has them named Isaac Scott and Sean McDonald. Why the discrepancy? What's the original version? Hmmm, I guess it means more research...
Caitriona

P.S. The title of my post comes from my second favorite line: "Those who give the orders are not the ones to die. It's Scott, McDonald, and the likes of you and I." I overheard one person complaining about the grammer of this line once. I bit my tongue and did not say that I don't need no grammer in a song as long as it makes sense...