This evening at maybe around 6:00, in Houston, somewhere between 88 and 92 FM, I heard this piece that was an Irish tune (part jig and part reel), which went into a woman with an aggressive voice singing a folkish song that mentioned something about being from the “bosom of a Mormon [something]”; it was only until after the music blended back into the Irish tune that I realized the singing woman hadn’t been a new track. After a while more of the tune, it transitioned into a man with a British accent saying some patter about how he wanted to sing an English folk song, but it was hard to find one. Then he sang a song where I think the words “any man” were prominent. Once again, it afterwards transitioned into the Irish tune. Next, it went into a piano piece reminescent of a silent movie. At that point I had leave. I found the whole thing really interesting for its variance of styles and recurring connection. I don’t know what station it was, but it sounded like the kind of thing that would be on NPR. Also, it was live. If it wasn’t all one seamless piece, the DJ was doing some real wizardry.
I know this is a longshot, but I figure I might as well try.
It’s from The Chieftains - An Irish Evening. The track is a longish (10.19) jam of the Chieftains (the “part jig and part reel” part) called Rachamid a Bhean Bheag featuring a solo by each Chieftain then goes into a solo by each of their special guests of a folk song from their own home country/regions.
Nancy Griffith being from Texas does a Texas folk song called Ford Econoline (the lyric you quoted actually goes “she was straight from the bosom of the Mormon church”).
Roger Daltrey is the one babbling about how difficult it was to find a London folk song, so he sings Any Old Iron. (the lyrics are actually “any old iron, any old iron, any any old iron” not any man. It has the familar “shave and a haircut” bit on the end.)
It’s a pretty good track, but the all time best track on that album is the Celtic version of Daltrey’s Behind Blue Eyes with a bodran instead of drums.
