© Maria Dunn, 2024

Arranged M. Dunn, S. Johnson, J. McDade, S. McDade

I started writing this song in my head while walking Glanlough Loop in West Cork, Ireland in 2018, remembering hiking with my family in Alberta’s Rockies, and reflecting on a beautiful concert I had just heard with Iarla Ó Lionáird and Steve Cooney in Glengarriff (An Gleann Garbh).

When I was a kid, you took us walking

One on your back, three in tow

Our childhood confidence carried us higher

Bear bell jangling along as we’d go

I still feel the cool of the path

The sun’s warmth through a break in the trees

We step, surprised, into dazzling meadow

Surrounded by peaks in the midday breeze

And later at night, we gather by campfire

Singing the blues or an old Scottish song

The flames and feeling warm our hearts

The harmonies telling me that I belong

In the music and the mountains

My spirit soars with ease

In the meadows and melodies

My heart is most at peace

In times I lost my way

Or I only saw scree and slog

With memories of those alpine rambles

I found my way over the rocks

Now I am walking, singing, praying

In West Cork hills, far from my own

Fifth generation from famine and misery

So grateful for all the joy I’ve been shown

And later at night, sean nós by candlelight

In the old church, sweet the sound

My pilgrimage met with an uncanny welcome

The voice of an angel comforts me now

Kathleen’s been scanned six ways to Sunday

She laughs and looks me straight in the eye

Doctor can’t say how long to hope for

She’s no time to waste being scared or shy

Though we’ve only just met as we wait for the concert

We might’ve been talking the whole afternoon

As an old friend cuts right through the chatter

She winks and whispers “you’ll find love soon”

And later that night, in Glengarriff moonlight

Aglow in the beauty of all that I’ve heard

A language I’d lost reaches to find me

With stories of home and life assured

When I was a kid, you took us walking

Maria Dunn  vocals, accordion

Shannon Johnson  violin

Jeremiah McDade  whistle, acoustic guitar

Solon McDade  upright bass