Fiddling Friday midnight

Playing airs and jigs
A round of verses and choruses
Halls, rooms, pubs and clubs
Connisborough Castle, Kirk Sandal, Denaby Main,
Grandmas in walkers, kids in wedding shoes
Men with pints, buying shorts for the ladies
Orange, purple, gold, glitter
Sunday bests, going-out-outfits
Heavy chains, chain-strap handbags
Jaden tattooed on a man’s arm in fairground typeface.

The songs like hymns
Black Velvet Band, Galway Shawl, Wild Rover
Mixed with 80’s saw Doctors and Pogues
Requests from ladies to click up their heels to
Half-remembered Irish dance steps from their 12th year
Men happy to watch and sing along
Young girls mixing line dancing, Irish dance, ballet
Wild swinging and harmonic singing.

Through it all I stand
I fiddle,
Two hours, three hours, five hours
I just keep going,
just keep playing
Don’t forget the bridge,
keep playing it if Ged forgets the next verse
A short instrumental is required while Christian and Benedict jog their memories for the lyrics
Keep on it
Keep awake
Christian on bodhran
Benedict harmonizing on guitar, Ged sings.
Keep playing
Once more for ‘Dirty old Town’, once more for the North
Once more for the ‘Green Fields of France’
And at last

Those ‘Fields of Athenry’.

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