Not to me in this instance Gloria. My feeling is it's not as general as Jimmy MacCarthy say's in

"...purely and simply, it is a song of parting. The parting of lovers, the parting of emigrants from their homeland and friends, the parting when illness or accident takes the life of a loved one ... Life is hard. Ride On."

I'd bet it does refer to an incident in his own life.

I tend to see a woman of higher status to him, probably married... but everyone of us is likely to come up with different interpretations.