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Sleeve Notes
The Unicorn is a choice collection of Irish ballads and folk songs, sung with the warmth, tenderness and high spirits that have become trademark of the Irish Rovers. Blessed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of enchanting Irish music and the unique to relate to any audience in any surrounding, they are destined for more than ordinary fame. If there are any "quare" souls left who have not yet succumbed to the magic of this remarkable foursome, THE UNICORN is sure to win them over.
Come In — Did you hear the one about the Irishman who fainted at party? Well, they brought him to — then they brought him two more, and he was all right! Come in and have a couple yourself.
Goodbye Mrs. Durkin — Why do the Irish leave the country? Why do the Irish emigrate? They're all following the whiskey that's exported, crate by crate. They also gave up digging spuds in Ireland to dig for lumps of gold in California.
Bonnie Kellswater — Kells is a tiny village near Ballymena. You know, there must be at least one song just as sweet about every village in Ireland.
Hiring Fair — They call it the employment bureau (or "brew") nowadays, but it used to be run like a fair. The only trouble was that, in order to get a job, you had to sign up for a stretch. Then God help you!
The Unicorn — We all live near the Glens of Antrim where the little people abound, and King Brian himself, ruler of the leprechauns, goes riding of a moonlit evening on a lovely wee white horse with a silver horn on its head.
But unicorns are not as plentiful as they used to be, and here is a song that explains why.
Black Velvet Band — Oh, but it's terrible what can happen to an innocent young man when he "discovers" the girls of Belfast.
Bridget Flynn — "I'd sing like a thrush in a hawthorn bush, if she'd only have an eye for me." Kind of a sad wee song with a happy melody.
The Wind That Shakes The Corn — In 1798, men from all over Ireland rose against the forces of the Crown. The young man in this song joined their ranks when his sweetheart was shot by a British bullet.
The First Love In Life — There are love songs to girls, to nature, to love itself, but here is the sweetest of all love songs to the water of life — to whiskey.
Pat Of Mullingar — This fellow was Ireland's answer to Robin Hood, Jesse James, and Dick Turpin — all put together.