Roud No.22001. There are only 2 entries listed, one from Charlie McDonnell of Cushendall, Antrim (on Glens Music CD 'The Town of Cushendall') and the other from Packie Cunningham of Co.Fermanagh. The Packie Cunningham version appears on a Musical Traditions cd and the lyrics are in the booklet I Pray You Pay Attention and listen to my song (MTCD367-8) (pdf). I give the lyrics below; they are slightly different from the version above and the last verse appears twice (I don't know if that's how he sang it or an error in the notes!). According to the booklet A Sprig of Irish Heather was composed by the renowned Tyrone writer and poet, Felix Kearney. Mick
A SPRIG OF IRISH HEATHER (Felix Kearney) Well an Irish mother writing to her son so far away Said she meant to send a shamrock to wear on Patrick's Day But the shamrock is a tender plant, its beauty must have fled It's a sprig of Irish heather I'm sending you instead Chorus: Just a sprig of Irish heather That has seen all kinds of weather It has passed the heat of summer And survived the winter snow I'm sending to remind you Of the friends you left behind you In Tyrone, among the bushes In the days of long ago. Do you remember Carradonough and the mass rock standing there Where you knelt upon the heather and you’d left a childish prayer Often times I wander back there in the evening shadow’s gleam And I plucked a shamrock from the soil where once you used to kneel Well the years from us are fleeting and you know we're growing old While we sit around the fire, and the nights are long and cold One smile from you would cheer me and make gladness out of gloom Come back to me macushla, when the shamrock is in bloom. Well the years from us are fleeting and you know we're growing old While we sit around the fire, and the nights are long and cold One smile from you would cheer me and make gladness out of gloom Come back to me macushla, when the shamrock is in bloom. Source: www.mtrecords.co.uk/pdf/3678.pdf - Notes for record I Pray You Pay Attention and listen to my song - more traditional songs from around Lough Erne shore from Keith Summers' collection 77-83 (MTCD367-8). Recorded from Packie Cunningham, date and location unknown.
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