
It's about time to move on from the most recent bedtime song: Patrick Kavanagh's poem "On Raglan Road" as set by the poet to the 17th-century air "Fáinne Geal an Lae."
I lived just a few blocks from Raglan Road in Dublin back in 1996-1997 and every Sunday I'd walk south along the canal right past the statue of Kavanagh on the park bench. That was back at a time in my life when I still believed in poetry and I believed poetry could heal the pain of being so far away from the girl who would one day become my wife. On my first night in Dublin, I dragged my suitcase across the Liffey from the bus terminal and walked up and down Grafton Street because it was always full of people and that made me feel less alone. I remember one of the buskers sang a song that Wood loved and that night I slept in an empty room in one of the oldest buildings of Trinity College. When I saw Once a few months ago those first scenes of Glen Hansard in Grafton Street nearly broke my heart even before the movie was supposed to. Although it's unlikely anyone will ever own "On Raglan Road" like Luke Kelly did, I just found this recording of Hansard singing the poem on an Irish radio show. And his trademarked brokenhearted delivery may just be perfect for this particular song.
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