Note also this thread about the Chieftains/Mark Knopfler recording of the song. I swear we had something earlier about the European origins of the song - I'll look around a bit more.
I'm sure I'm not the only one here who learned the song with these lyrics (click) from the Peter, Paul and Mary Moving album. Oh, yeah, there's an interesting recording by a young feller named Dan Milner on an album called Irish Ballads and Songs of the Sea. Dan calls his Lily of the West "Molly," not Flora.
-Joe Offer-

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Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Lily of the West, The [Laws P29]

DESCRIPTION: The singer courts (Mary/Flora), only to see her courting another man. He stabs the other man to death. He is taken and sentenced, all the while saying that he loves the Lily of the West despite her betrayal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1839
KEYWORDS: homicide jealousy betrayal trial
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North,South,West)) Ireland US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Laws P29, "The Lily of the West"
Belden, pp. 132-133, "The Lily of the West" (1 text plus reference to 1 more)
Randolph 145, "The Lily of the West" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
High, pp. 13-14, "The Lillie of the West" (1 text)
Eddy 49, "The Lily of the West" (2 texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 267, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, with little of the plot remaining)
Chappell-FSRA 113, "The Lily of the West" (1 fragment)
Moore-Southwest 85, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 148, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rosenbaum, p. 135, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 54, "Lily of the West" (2 texts, 1 tune)
SHenry H578, pp. 416-417, "Flora, The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 133-136, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 93, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 473-474, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 42, "Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 225, "Lily Of The West" (1 text)
DT 507, FLORAWST*
Roud #957
RECORDINGS:
Mr. and Mrs. Freeman Bennett, "The Lily of the West" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
W. Guy Bruce, "The Lily of the West" (on FolkVisions1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(104), "The Lily of the West," W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 b.9(276), 2806 c.15(122), 2806 b.11(137), Harding B 19(15), "The Lily of the West"
LOCSinging, as107800, "The Lily of the West," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as107780, sb20280a, as107790, "The Lily of the West"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(87a), "Flora The Lily of the West," Poet's Box? (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
SAME TUNE:
Caroline Of Edinburgh Town (per broadsides Bodleian LOCSinging as107800, LOCSinging as107780, LOCSinging sb20280a)
NOTES: OLochlainn 93 ends happily: "I then did stand my trial, and boldly I did plead, A flaw was in my indictment found and that soon had me freed."
Broadside LOCSinging as107800: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 3.3
File: LP29

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