The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #325   Message #545788
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
09-Sep-01 - 03:31 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Kitty McGee
Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: KITTY MAGEE (sung by Tommy Makem)
The following is from  The official website of Tommy Makem and the Makem Brothers, which wasn't available at the time of the original request.  There are enough textual differences for it to be worth posting in addition to the above.


KITTY MAGEE
(Traditional; as sung by Tommy Makem)

I've kissed and courted them all, gentle and simple, short and medium and tall,
But kept a merry heart free, 'till it was stole unknownst by Kitty Magee.
Her smiling face, her slender waist, her lips would tempt a saint to taste;
Oh, sure it was small blame to me to lose my heart to Kitty Magee.

'Twas down at Ballina Fair, colleens and boys were gaily stepping it there,
And I the soul of the spree, when I set eyes on Kitty Magee.
Her smile so sweet, her step so neat, hide and seek her two little feet;
Gliding just like a swan at sea, went handsome, winsome Kitty Magee.

And now I'm dreaming all day, sighing from dark to dawn and wasting away
Like a lone bird on a tree, sighing the long hours through for Kitty Magee.
Oh, darling dear, the shrove is near, say the words I'm dying to hear;
Promise me mine you soon will be, handsome, winsome Kitty Magee.


The song appeared on Songs of Tommy Makem (Tradition Records 1044) and doubtless on other records; no information is given as to previous source.  An entry at Andrew Kuntz's  The Fiddler's Companion  includes the following :

KITTY McGEE/MAGEE (Caitilin Ni Micaeda).  AKA and see "Picking Up Sticks."  Irish, New England; Jig.  D Major (most versions): B Flat Major (Stanford/Petrie).  Standard.  AB (Stanford/Petrie): AABB (most versions).

(A list of notated examples follows, together with the following abc, apparantly with no source specified)

T:Kitty McGee
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:D
d2d AFA|d3 efg|f2d e2d|cec ABc|d2d AFA|d3 efg|f2d e2c|ddd d2A:|
|:d2f agf|e2f g3|f2d e2d|cec A3|aaa g2f|e2f g3|f2d e2c|ddd d2A:|

This is not exactly the tune as sung by Makem, but is clearly a close variant.  Obviously, the repeats should be ignored for singing.