Later in the night, after the young woman had received a few anonymous
whiskies from some well wishers, she approached Joe. Her voice had a very
slight drawl to it, for she had enough liquor in her to be mildy
intoxicated. She spoke quietly with him and he thought for a moment. As the
young man in the over sized cowboy hat and carrying a rhinestone studded
guitar got up to butcher another country song, Joe winced in anticipation
of the protest. Making a hand gesture at one of the waitresses, he hastily
poured another beer to send over to the would be cowboy and motioned the
slightly tipsy woman towards the stage.
The hasty change in musical line up was met with no end of amusement from her friends until she said a quiet word to them. They suddenly went from laughter to seriousness and a few gave her consoling looks. Methos who was plesantly buzzed from the several beers he had consumed turned and poked Duncan in the arm. "Look, she's back up there," he said, grinning broadly, "What do you think she'll sing next?"
Duncan looked at Methos and grinned, unable to help the response that formulated and escaped him before he could stop it. "Roll out the barrel," Duncan said before bursting out in to laughter at the horrified look on Methos's face. The young woman walked to the mic with much more confidence and took hold of the mic stand and pulled the mic free. She looked defiantly at the crowd.
"This is not some little piece for the sake of being pretty or to sing in another language. Some of you will recognize it by simply the sound while others may actually understand it," she said, with the last flashing a glance at Duncan, "This is for a friend of mine who died." As some of the more inebreiated began to hurl a few snide comments, the young woman returned the mic to the stand and closed her eyes.
She took a deep breath and her second song stunned Duncan to a point where he dropped the pilsner in his hand and said in a soft gasp "An Caoineadh." He hadn't heard it sung since his first death, and those that were weak attempts to repeat it hadn't the same raw grief and torment as this one did. The lament stunned him and broke the fragile walls of denial he built between himself and the deaths of Tessa and Richie.
The song: (In Gaelic) Is airiu! Agus a leanbh Cad a dheanfaidh me? Ta-tau ar shiul uaim Agus airiu!
Agus anuraidh! Nil duine ar bith agam! Is airiu! Agus me liom fein Da mbeithea go moch agam Agus och! Och! Ochon airiu - gan thu!
(In English) 'S ariu Oh child of mine And what shall I do? You've been gone a long time 'S ariu And a year ago now, now there is no one 'S ariu And now I'm on my own If I had you at the break of dawn - Agus och! Och! Ochon ariu! - without you!
The hasty change in musical line up was met with no end of amusement from her friends until she said a quiet word to them. They suddenly went from laughter to seriousness and a few gave her consoling looks. Methos who was plesantly buzzed from the several beers he had consumed turned and poked Duncan in the arm. "Look, she's back up there," he said, grinning broadly, "What do you think she'll sing next?"
Duncan looked at Methos and grinned, unable to help the response that formulated and escaped him before he could stop it. "Roll out the barrel," Duncan said before bursting out in to laughter at the horrified look on Methos's face. The young woman walked to the mic with much more confidence and took hold of the mic stand and pulled the mic free. She looked defiantly at the crowd.
"This is not some little piece for the sake of being pretty or to sing in another language. Some of you will recognize it by simply the sound while others may actually understand it," she said, with the last flashing a glance at Duncan, "This is for a friend of mine who died." As some of the more inebreiated began to hurl a few snide comments, the young woman returned the mic to the stand and closed her eyes.
She took a deep breath and her second song stunned Duncan to a point where he dropped the pilsner in his hand and said in a soft gasp "An Caoineadh." He hadn't heard it sung since his first death, and those that were weak attempts to repeat it hadn't the same raw grief and torment as this one did. The lament stunned him and broke the fragile walls of denial he built between himself and the deaths of Tessa and Richie.
The song: (In Gaelic) Is airiu! Agus a leanbh Cad a dheanfaidh me? Ta-tau ar shiul uaim Agus airiu!
Agus anuraidh! Nil duine ar bith agam! Is airiu! Agus me liom fein Da mbeithea go moch agam Agus och! Och! Ochon airiu - gan thu!
(In English) 'S ariu Oh child of mine And what shall I do? You've been gone a long time 'S ariu And a year ago now, now there is no one 'S ariu And now I'm on my own If I had you at the break of dawn - Agus och! Och! Ochon ariu! - without you!