A traditional song, here given sparse instrumentation with Don McIntyre's haunting vocals.
irish music
vietnam
social weevils
celtic music
Story behind the song
The Irish poet, Padraic Colum, had all four verses in one of his collections. He was also a folklorist who produced many fine collections of mythology from different lands, so he was probably setting down a trad. poem rather than claiming he wrote it.
The song is found in the Tinker (non-Romany Irish and Scottish gypsies) tradition...
--LaMarca
Lyrics
SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
(Padraic Collum)
My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind"
And she stepped away from me and this she did say:
It will not be long, love, till our wedding day"
As she stepped away from me and she moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there
And then she turned homeward with one star awake
Like the swan in the evening moves over the lake
The people were saying, no two e'er were wed
But one had a sorrow that never was said
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.
Last night she came to me, my dead love came in
So softly she came that her feet made no din
As she laid her hand on me and this she did say
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day"
Melody adapted from trad. by Herbert Hughes