Remember Doolough
Track 5
Notes on the Track (5)
Recorded: 1992Notes on the Song
This song commemorates a tragic sequence of events which took place in Southwest Mayo during the Great Famine. John credits his sister Brigid, then working closely with the third world agency AFrI (Action From Ireland), for encouraging him to write the song.
The text is closely based on research conducted by Áine Ní Channain and published in The Heritage of Mayo (1982). The song was written by John Tunney in 1988, while on a train journey from Sligo to Dublin. The eight verses came to me all at once and I simply wrote them down. The first public performance of the song, the day after it was written, was during the commemorative Famine Walk that AFrI organised from Louisburgh to Delphi. (JT)
The air is the haunting tune The Valley of Knockanure.
The Singers
John Tunney
Rec. 1992
The Song Texts
The Tunney Song Tradition Trust’s Archive of Song Texts preserves the words of traditional songs, offering a valuable resource for singers and anyone interested in the living song tradition.
Where the Linnets Sing 2026, developed by the Tunney Song Tradition Trust with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, celebrates 75 Bliain ag Fás by bringing the original collection to a new online audience, enriched with fifteen additional tracks, eleven more voices and two further generations of the tradition.
