Where is my wild rose Where is my flower Where is my wild rose Where are you wandering now. Ramble you in Connemara Across that misty moor And does your heart beat loudly By Killarney's stony shore And do you bloom in Dublin I've enquired in Stephen's Green I've searched through Londonderry Twixt the Orange and the Green And as busy as they were They sloped arms for a while To muse on you with rich sweet brogue Red remembered with a smile They said you passed as a ghost Walks through the hazel wood Or Aengus searching for his love Walks through the hazel wood Where is my wild rose Where is my flower Where is my wild rose Where are you wandering now. Chris sings this song in the key of of B minor: capo on the 2nd fret for these chord shapes. Play this 1 K Midi tune. History Chris wrote this while sitting in a Volkswagen in Auckland. He had spent some time previously travelling through Ireland. A skilled guitarist, Chris composed the guitar accompaniment in a modal D tuning. I'm not a modal D sort of guitarist, so I have worked out some chords for the rest of us. Robin Pecknold recorded this song again in March 2012, and it has been popular on Youtube. This is the 6th of Chris's songs to be covered by other artists, joining "The Song of Wandering Aengus" "London Blues", "We neeed Oil", "Hamilton" and "The River Song" But is this a New Zealand song? I'm just starting to see now why this song strikes a chord with so many people here. I had sidelined it as ... "a pretty Irish song, and not about New Zealand at all" ... but I was wrong. Because no Irish writer could have written this. For an Irishman, Connemara and Killarney etc are not far-away places any more, as they are here in New Zealand. This song is about the feelings, the yearnings, the soul, of so many young men in the materially rich but spiritually impoverished 1960s world of Pakeha New Zealanders. In his Hamilton, Hamilton... song, Chris highlights the dissatisfaction of our young rural men with their financially rewarding but repetitive mindless jobs and soulless entertainment; shearing, TV, haymaking, beer, shearing, beer, haymaking, TV, shearing, TV, ... ... I'd do any thing to get away And so hundreds of our young people go on their OE, wandering through the lands of their ancestors, searching for dreams, trying to rediscover that faraway land (the land of Fairie) that they half-remember playing in as children, that happy land of Here-And-Now, when a 4-year-old played games at the back of an overgrown garden with that vivacious little girl from next door, plucking petals off an overgrown climbing rose bush rambling all over Where is my wild rose Where are you wandering now The Song of Wandering Aengus W.B. Yeats, 1899. I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire a-flame, But something rustled on the floor, And someone called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun. Dream Angus ... and this old Scottish lullaby chorus: Dreams to sell, fine dreams to sell, Angus is here with dreams to sell. Hush now wee bairnie and sleep without fear, For Angus will bring you a dream, my dear. 1. Can you no hush your weepin'? All the wee lambs are sleepin'. Birdies are nestlin', nestlin' taegether, Dream Angus is hurtlin' through the heather. 2. Sweet the lavrock sings at morn, Heraldin' in a bright new dawn. Wee lambs, they coorie doon taegether Alang with their ewies in the heather. Wild Rose on Record 1981 Chris Thompson Hometown Voodoo (cass) 1984 Mike Harding Time On The Road (LP) 1990 Chris Thompson The Road to Raglan (cass) Chris Thompson New Zealand born singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Chris is probably best known for his songs Chelsea Style (aka London Blues), Hamilton, We Need Oil, I Know What It's Like, and Where is my Wild Rose? He is a composer and player of what could best be described as 'country folk blues.' His tunes combine insight, energy, technical complexity, and an ironic sense of humour. He has also written beautiful love ballads. He learnt guitar from Dave Calder of the Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, turned professional in 1968 while living in Auckland, and was employed as Julie Felix's guitarist in London in 1971. Between 1971 and 1973, Chris lived in London and Dublin, where he was either touring as Julie Felix's guitarist, recording at home or playing gigs around London's then-thriving folk circuit. " I was in Julie Felix's band," said Chris in a 2001 interview. "Julie was a big star then, so we were mainly doing concerts - town halls, theatres, etc. but I was doing my own thing as well, playing at folk clubs like The Troubadour and Les Cousins with some of the musicians that turned up on the album. The glamorous aspects I suppose were appearing on 'Top of the Pops' with Julie, and jamming with John Paul Jones, recording at Abbey Road, etc." "I returned to New Zealand in 1974 - I was holed up in a cottage on the farm. I'd just got the phone connected when Bruce Kirkland from NZUSA rang and asked me did I want to tour with Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. I said, "Yes, I certainly." His skill as a guitarist earned him an international reputation, and he has been enjoying renewed interest in his music lately (in the year 2001). Following a bit of good fortune, Chris has just had his self-titled debut album, originally recorded in the early 1970s, re-released by the American folk label, Scenescof. He has written nearly 200 songs & instrumentals including Where is my Wild Rose, Chelsea Style, Witchdoctor Blues, and Barcelona, which are regularly performed by other artists, both in NZ & overseas. His most popular songs with a specific New Zealand theme are We Need Oil (covered by various artists, incl Mike Harding), Hamilton, All the Rain Fell Down and Road to Raglan. © The copyright holders for Chris (and Lynne's) songs are: Wild Rose Music Limited (in New Zealand), and Peer Sourthern (elsewhere). Lynne Thompson Chris's canadian-born wife Lynne is also a writer and performer of note. Lynne did quite a bit of performing in the late 70s & early 80s in the Auckland folk scene before she met Chris. She and Chris have produced two shared albums, "Together" (Ode 1985), which features some of Lynne's early efforts at song-writing, and "Live in Concert" (Ode/Radio NZ 1988). Lynne has also taken part in the production of several later Thompson albums. Now working full time as an accountant, she doesn't get much time to practise and perform these days. Chris Thompson on Record "Chris Thompson" (LP) 1973. Re-released as a CD in 2001 Echoes from the Pit (LP) 1975 Minstrelsy (LP) 1977 Hometown Voodoo (cass) 1981 (Hamilton, We Need Oil) The Natural Blues (LP) 1983 Together (LP) Ode 1985. (Lynne and Chris Thompson) * Live In Concert (Ode) 1988 (Lynne and Chris Thompson) * The Road to Raglan 1990 * Sings one track on "25 Years Of Kiwi Pop" -compilation CD 1990 (This Is The Moment) Far Out & Solid (cass) 1992 * Coffee Break (CD and Cass) 1993 * Wrote one track on John Farnham's album Then Again 1993 Song for Laura (CD) 1995 Time Flies (CD) 2000 * Old Ode albums are now held by BMG(NZ). Order them from any record store.