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Farewell to Nova Scotia: The Pogues or Maybe The Irish Descendants

Farewell to Nova Scotia is a popular folk song of unknown authorship. It is believed to have been written just prior to or during the First World War.

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This entry was posted on July 13, 2010 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Music. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

25 Comments on “Farewell to Nova Scotia: The Pogues or Maybe The Irish Descendants”

  2. Fred's avatar Fred Says:

    July 13, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    I can still recall how stunned and grief-stricken I was when I first heard that Stan Rogers had died in that aircraft fire (1983). On my list of influential musicians who died way too young/too soon, I would absolutely include Stan Rogers near the top. Right up there with, of course, Kate Wolfe.

    Who can tell me what happened to the music that they didn’t get to write for us?

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      July 13, 2010 at 6:32 pm

      Fred,
      I too was shocked when I heard of his death. You are so right about the number of musicians who have been taken far too soon. Steve Goodman is another who comes to mind.

      All those notes and songs lost forever.

  3. casey's avatar casey Says:

    July 13, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    we’ve got nothing but love for stan in our house – but this doesn’t quite sound like him… ? the singer here seems to have an irish/scottish accent, so perhaps stan was putting an accent on, but it’s hard to tell. would you mind sharing which recording this is from?

    love love love your blog – my dad and i always tune in. thanks for sharing great music and stories with us!

    🙂

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      July 13, 2010 at 6:30 pm

      Casey,
      You’ve got me befuddled on this one. My file does not list the album. I did find references to him singing this song when I went hunting on the net, but I just couldn’t find the album. One site listed it as part of his greatest hits which I couldn’t find either. Now you have me wondering if it is Stan as it purports to me on my file. I’m going to have to stay on this. I hate to post incorrect information.

      I’m so glad you and your dad are enjoying Coffee. It is one of the pleasures of my day!

  4. merlin's avatar merlin Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 7:14 am

    That’s not Stan Rogers, unless it’s a pre-pubescent recording or he’s been sucking on helium.

  5. splendid's avatar splendid Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    hahaha sucking on helium!

  6. merlin's avatar merlin Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    Of course, now I’m curious about just who it actually is on that recording. Hopefully someone will recognize the voice.

    Like yourself and Fred I frequently find myself missing the unwritten songs, especially as I’ve been and still am a large fan of Stan, Steve Goodman, Jim Croce and Harry Chapin – to name those that immediately come to mind.

    (My brother and I briefly met both Stan Rogers and Harry Chapin -on separate occasions- not long before their deaths. We decided that meeting both of us at the same time was too great a risk for any other artists we admired, and since then have avoided the possibility of repeating ‘the curse.’)

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      July 14, 2010 at 7:02 pm

      merlin,
      Your last paragraph gave me pause. I know it is coincidence as I expect you do as well, but I’d think twice about meeting anyone either. I always figure it’s best not to test the fates.

  7. kippy's avatar kippy Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    Could it be John Allan Cameron?

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      July 14, 2010 at 7:03 pm

      kippy,
      I see from your comment below you found the artists. Thanks for putting us all out of our miseries. I kept looking and didn’t find anything.

  8. wolf's avatar wolf Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    i believe that’s a group called The Irish Descendants

    w

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      July 14, 2010 at 7:04 pm

      Thanks, kippy! My fingers can rest from the hunt on line.

      • wolf's avatar wolf Says:

        July 14, 2010 at 8:09 pm

        i fear this link (and others) is mislabeled as often happens on the Net — if that’s The Pogues, i’ll go drinking with Sean McGowan

        w

      • katry's avatar katry Says:

        July 14, 2010 at 8:15 pm

        Wolf,
        I give up, al least for now!! I’ll go back to the hunt later.

  11. merlin's avatar merlin Says:

    July 14, 2010 at 8:53 pm

    This is a bit maddening isn’t it? I agree that it doesn’t sound like the Pogues, and I can’t find it listed in the discographies of either the Pogues or the Irish Descendants. And none of the MANY variations amongst Amazon.com’s samples of their MP3 downloads for the title match the arrangement on this file.

    The strongest lead I can find is a link (http://www.mp3fusion.net/music/farewell-to-nova-scotia-1.html) that claims it’s from an album called “Rebels, Rogues & Pirates” by a now defunct group called the Newfoundland Kitchen Party (members now in Shores of Newfoundland – http://www.shoresofnewfoundland.com/members.htm). But of course, we’ve already seen links to exactly the same music file claiming it to be the Pogues and Irish Descendants.

    I’m inclined to believe it may be the ‘Kitchen Party’ simply because I can more easily see such an obscure group being mislabeled as someone else, while a better known group like the Pogues would be more likely to have fans immediately recognize their sound and correct erroneous listings. But until someone can find a listing on a CD, I’m thinking this one might remain a mystery.

    (And I suppose I should clarify that I don’t think the lead singer here has a BAD voice. Just that Stan Rogers’ voice was SO low and SO deep, seeming to well up from the soles of his shoes, that he would have had to be sucking helium to get it to where this singer is.)


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