Hi,

Maybe I'm a bit daft, but I've always wondered what the Carrickfergus mean:

(...)But in Kilkenny it is reported / On Marble Stones there as black as ink / With gold and silver I would support her (...)

What are the lyrics referring to??

Thanks for your thoughts, Stiofáin

P.S. Why do so few singers leave out the most beautiful verse of the song which goes:

My childhood days bring back sad reflections / Of happy times I spent so long ago / My boyhood friends and my own relations / Have all passed on now like melting snow. / But I'll spend my days in endless roaming / Soft is the grass, my bed is free. / Ah, to be back now in Carrickfergus / On that long road down to the salty sea.

Just a little thought...