A St. Patrick's Day Apology Gift - Updated

Unfortunately, because of the absolutely horrific non-searching capability of the philly.com archive site, I am not going to be able to produce “Where The Rubber Meets The Road” for the week ending March 9th. I tried multiple times to obtain the voting record for that week using their search engine which yielded an endless list from my query which was totally irrelevant to what I was looking for.

Apparently, if I don’t retrieve this information by no later than the Friday of the following week, I’m basically screwed. Nice.

So instead, please allow me to bring you something which is infinitely better, actually, and that is “The Foggy Dew” by Sinead O’Connor and the Chieftains, absolutely appropriate for today. The song pertains to the Easter Uprising of 1916.

As down the glen one Easter morn
To a city fair rode I,
Their armed lines of marching men
In squadrons passed me by.
No pipe did hum, no battle drum
Did sound its loud tattoo
But the Angelus' bells o'er the Liffey swells
Rang out in the foggy dew.

Right proudly high in Dublin town
Hung they out a flag of war.
'Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky
Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar.
And from the plains of Royal Meath
Strong men came hurrying through;
While Brittania's Huns with their long-range guns
Sailed in through the foggy dew.

The bravest fell, and the requiem bell
Rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Easter-tide
In the springing of the year.
While the world did gaze with deep amaze
At those fearless men but few
Who bore the fight that freedom's light
Might shine through the foggy dew.

And back through the glen I rode again
And my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men
Whom I never shall see more
But to and fro
In my dreams I go
And I kneel and pray for you
For slavery fled
Oh, glorious dead
When you fell in the foggy dew

(It feels weird to watch The Chieftains and not see Derek Bell and his harp.)

I’ll have the area votes for the prior week next Friday (and by the way, please partake of these).