Scorn Not His Simplicity
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"Scorn Not His Simplicity" is a song written by the Irish musician and songwriter Phil Coulter and performed on his albums Classic Tranquility and The Songs I Love So Well.[1][2]
The song has also been performed by several Irish musicians, including Luke Kelly, Sinéad O'Connor, Paddy Reilly, The Dubliners, Sonny Knowles, The Irish Tenors, Celtic Thunder, Paul Byrom, George Donaldson, Mike Denver.[citation needed]
Phil Coulter's first son was born with Down syndrome,[3][4] and several months later the father wrote the song "Scorn Not His Simplicity" about his experiences with his son's disorder.[5] He first played the song to Luke Kelly. Because of the personal sentiment of the song, Luke Kelly felt that the song should not be sung except for special occasions, and not during every performance.[6][failed verification] The song appears on The Dubliners 1970 LP Revolution.[7]
Composition
The song is unusual in the chorus as it has an 6th minor chord going into an 4th minor chord. Coulter explains that, "I do it in C so it's an A minor chord going into an F minor and that's unusual. Funny enough a critic said that it's that second chord that makes you kind of pay attention. There's that sadness with the two minor chords". Coulter has said that he wrote the song with Luke Kelly's voice in his head.[8]