I was listening to the Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem, and their commentary in live concert recordings is absolutely hilarious. One track begins with one of the brothers quoting (in his lovely Irish voice), “Boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen,
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
…what I’m askin ye, in Shakespeare’s words, is, have ye no homes to go to?’
The audience responds that no, they haven’t, and so they proceed with another song.
19
May