The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14607   Message #2398667
Posted By: Jim Carroll
27-Jul-08 - 07:09 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Dungarvan, My Home Town (Mai O'Higgins)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dungarvan, My Home Town
IMO one of the best songs from that part of the country is 'The Maid of Lismore' aka The Lismore Turkeys or Dungarvan, as sung by Martin Reidy of Co. Clare:

One Morning I chanced to go roving
It being in the sweet month of May,
When flowers they were blooming most charming
And pleasant and warm the day.

I chanced for to meet with this fair one,
Her aspect so free and so rare,
And she going to the town of Dungarvan
At the very first dawn of day.

She hastened her paces before me;
I told her to take her ease.
But the more I advanced to discourse her,
The quicker she squelled (?) on the heel.

I quickly stepped up to this fair maid,
I asked her how far was she going,
Or did she belong to Dungarvan,
Or where was her native home?

She said: "I belong to Lismore, sir,
Some turkeys I have for sale,
And I'm going to the town of Dungarvan,
For this is our market day."

I asked her if she'd want a driver,
As her donkey was going too slow,
And she'd be in full time for Dungarvan
And her turkeys would all be sold.

In sweet Cappoquin I embraced her
And we called for a cruiscin lan (full jug).
If I drank up a barrel of porter
This damsel she'd pay for all.

When I found her so civil and jovial
I thought I might make her my own.
I told her I owned a large farm,
As long as the lease would hold.

"Besides, I have cattle and corn,
I have money that nobody knows,
And I'll have you as snug and as warm
As if you got all in Lismore."

While Kathy and I were discoursing
She used look at me now and again.
Her apron belt she kept folding
And twisting it up in a ring.

We called for another full jorum (large jug)
'Til Kathy and I were pleased
And we slept till the market was over
And the turkeys by and by got cheap.

"The curse of the crows may await you,
You tricked me, you naughty rogue.
Or how will I go home to my father,
Or how will I face Lismore?"

"I'll have you before the recorder
At Waterford Town next March,
And I'll have you hung or transported
For trespassing against the law."

Jim Carroll