{"id":324,"date":"2008-09-10T16:49:08","date_gmt":"2008-09-10T16:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.229.91.100\/libraryandarts\/library\/ehistory\/?p=324"},"modified":"2025-09-24T13:04:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T12:04:39","slug":"who-was-charlie-og-mccann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/who-was-charlie-og-mccann\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO WAS CHARLIE OG MCCANN?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A query re. a folk Song about Carbury from Eamonn Pitts – can anybody help identify the subject of the song? Was this an actual historical character? The song was either entitled The Hill of Carbury or Charlie Og McCann. If anybody can shed any light on the subject they can either email me at localhistory@kildarecoco.ie<\/a> or email Eamonn direct [his address is below]<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is text I received from a member of the Comhaltas branch in Edenderry about two years ago. Like all folk songs there are variations e.g. I remember from my youth the first line of the fourth verse as “The autumn breeze blew loud and shrill, the rain began to fall”. and my memory is that at the end of each verse you go Charley Og McCann, Charley Og McCann followed by a repeat of the last line.<\/p>\n

1 The brave old hill of Carbury is stately bold and strong
\nand down the vale of Newberry, the river flows along
\nstrong and ancient is that hill, well known to every man
\nand gentle as the purling rill went Charlie\u00a0 Og McCann<\/p>\n

2 Twas in the merry month of May we met upon the green,
\nthe fairest at the fair that day my Charlie Og was seen,
\nthe brightest at the dance was he, where mirth and music rang
\nand many a maid invited him, my Charlie Og McCann<\/p>\n

3 The brave old hill of Carbery, where many a time we met,
\nwhen summer birds sang merrily, I never can forget.
\nTwas there we wandered side by side, twas there our love began,
\ntwas there I said I’d be the bride of Charlie Og McCann<\/p>\n

4 The evening breeze blew loud and shrill, the leaves began to fall,
\nI stood alone upon the hill beside the castle wall.
\nMy love was borne away from me, all in a prison van
\nThey banished him far oer the sea, brave Charlie Og McCann (beyond the waves rather than far o’er the sea in my memory)<\/p>\n

5 the brave old hill of Carbury in grief I wander o’er
\nMy heart is beating wearily for I know he’ll come no more
\nHis loving bride i ne’er shall be, his face i ne’er shall scan
\nfor its in old Ireland’s cause he died, brave Charlie Og McCann<\/p>\n

Eamonn Pitts eamonnpitts@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

An interesting ballad\/song relating to Carbury which begs the question – Who was Charlie Og McCann? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting ballad\/song relating to Carbury which begs the question – Who was Charlie Og McCann?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,118,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folklore","category-people","category-places"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7749,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/7749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}