The Lament of the Irish Emigrant
| TYPE | 3 - Complex Melody |
| TUNE STRUCTURE | A8 B9 |
| VERSE STRUCTURE | 2v 8l |
| TIME SIGNATURE | C |
| TONAL CENTRE | C |
| INCIPIT | GF♯EDEDB,B,B,A,B,A, |
| GENRE | Art Song |
| TEXT SOURCE | A Selection Of The Songs of Lady Dufferin … set to music by herself & others (London: John Murray, 1895), pp.1-5 |
| TUNE SOURCE | as above |
| FIRST LINE | I'm sitting by the stile Mary where we sat side by side |
| NOTATED INCIPIT | |
| This song was wrriten to an air composed by George Arthur Barker c.1845. It was popular among the Irish diaspora in Boston, New York and Chicago, where it was published. It was written in response to the Great Famine which forced the emigration of more than a million Irish men and women. Another air to this poem exists and is perhaps more widely known in the repertory. Digitised by the Irish Traditional Music Archive. | |
The Lament of the Irish EmigrantI'm sitting by the stile Mary where we sat side by sideOn a bright May morning long ago when first you were my bride,The corn was springing fresh and green and the lark sang loud and highAnd the red was on your lip Mary and the love light in your eye.The place is little changed Mary the day is bright as thenThe lark's loud song is in my ear and the corn is green againBut I miss the soft clasp of your hand and the breath warm on your cheekAnd I still keep listening to the words you never more may speak you never more may speak.I'm very lonely now Mary for the poor make no new friendsBut oh they love the better still the few our father sendsAnd you were all I had Mary my blessing and my prideThere's nothing left to care for now since my poor Mary died.I'm bidding you a long farewell my Mary kind and trueBut I'll not forget you darlin' in the land I'm goin' toThey say there's bread and work for all and the sun shines always thereBut I'll ne'er forget old Ireland were it fifty times as fair, were it fifty times as fair.