"Carrickfergus"

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Wikipedia has the following to tell of this tune;

"Carrickfergus" is an Irish folk song. The origins of the song are unclear, but it has been traced to an Irish language song, 'Do Bhí Bean Uasal', (There was a noble woman) which is attested to the poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Gonna who died in 1745 in Co. Clare.

The song appears on a ballad sheet in Cork City in the mid Nineteenth Century in macaronic form. The quintessential Cork singer Seán Ó Sé performs this macaronic version of the song on his album 'Heritage'.

The original Gaelic lyrics were about a man being cuckolded, a bawdy and humorous ditty. By contrast, the English verses which came to accompany it (and which comprise the entire song today), are nostalgic, dissonant and grammatically incorrect.

Gaelic Lyrics:

    Do bhí bean uasal seal dá lua liom,
    's chuir sí suas díom fóraíl ghéar;
    Do ghabhas lastuas di sna bailte móra
    Mar go dtug sí svae ['sway'] léi os comhair an tsaoil.
    Ach dá bhfaighinnse a ceann siúd faoi áirsí an teampaill,
    Do bheinn gan amhras ar m'ábhar féin;
    Ach anois táim tinn lag 's gan fáil ar leigheas agam.
    Is go mbeidh mo mhuintir ag gol im' dhéidh.

    Do shiúlaíos Éire is an Mhumhain le chéile
    Is cois Beann Éadair ag lorg mná,
    Is ní fhaca éinne ar fhaid an méid sin
    Do dhein mé phléasáil ach mo Mhalaí Bán.
    Mná na hÉireann do chur le chéile
    Is nach mór an t-aeraíocht dom san a rá;
    'Sé dúirt gach éinne a chonaic mo spéirbhean.
    Go dtug sí svae léi ó Chontae an Chláir.

    Tá an ghrian ag imeacht is tá an teas ag tréigean
    Is an tart ní féidir liom féin do chlaoi,
    Mar go bhfuil an geall orm ó Shamhain go Féabhraí
    Is ní bheidh sí reidh liom go dtí Lá Mhichíl;
    Ach geallaim féin daoibh nach mar gheall ar an méid sin
    A d'iontaíos féinig i gcoinne na dí,
    Ach mar gheall ar mo chéad searc a dhein mé thréigean -
    Chuaigh sí ag bailiú déirce dá clann iníon.

    Agus táim tinn breoite is mo chos dheas leonta
    Ó ghabh an ógbhean úd tharam isteach;
    D'iarras póigín uair nó dhó uirthi,
    For I'd long to roam with my own sweetheart.
    For I'm tired of drinking and I'm seldom sober!
    I'm a constant rover from town to town!
    But now I'm dying and my days are over -
    Come Malaí, a stóirín, and lay me down!

In modern times, "Carrickfergus" became known after actor Peter O'Toole related it to Dominic Behan, who put it in print and made a recording in the mid-1960s. The middle verse was allegedly written by Behan.

The song has been recorded by many well known performers including Declan Affley, Joan Baez, Dominic Behan, Charlotte Church, De Dannan, Bryan Ferry, Brian Kennedy, Declan Galbraith, Loreena McKennitt, Órla Fallon, Van Morrison and Bryn Terfel. The song is a popular request at folk festivals and concerts, and was played at the 1999 funeral of John F. Kennedy, Jr.

Lyrics

Carrickfergus

    I wish I was in Carrickfergus, only for nights in Ballygran
    I would swim over the deepest ocean, the deepest ocean for my love to find
    But the sea is wide and I cannot swim over and neither have I wings to fly
    If I could find me a handsome boatman to ferry me over to my love and die

    My childhood days bring back sad reflections of happy times I spent so long ago
    My boyhood friends and my own relations have all passed on now like melting snow
    But I'll spend my days in endless roaming soft is the grass my bed is free
    Ah to be back in Carrickfergus on that long road down to the sea

    And in Kilkenny it is reported there are marble stones as black as ink
    With gold and silver I would support her, but I'll sing no more now till I get a drink
    I'm drunk today and I'm seldom sober, a handsome rover from town to town
    Ah, but I'm sick now, my days are numbered so come all ye young men and lay me down