A number of songs are connected to this one. Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-

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Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, meeting is a pleasure between my love and I; I'll go down to yon low valley to meet her by and by...." The young (man) watches his love turn away from him. He laments her infidelity. (He departs from the town and goes to America)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Joyce)
KEYWORDS: courting separation emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland Australia US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Newf) Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 749, "Black-Eyed Mary" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
BrownII 82, "The Lover's Lament" (4 texts plus a fragment, "E," that is probably "Handsome Molly")
Meredith/Anderson, p. 172, "Lovely Molly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 44, "The Irish Girl" (1 text, 1 tune, a confused and conflate mix of this song and "The Irish Girl")
SHenry H625, pp. 342-343, "Dark-Eyed Molly"; H615, p. 343, "Farewell Ballymoney" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 155, "Going to Mass Last Sunday" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 63, "I Went to Mass on Sunday" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 103, "Loving Hannah" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LOVHANNA
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Dark and Dreary Weather" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Handsome Molly"
cf. "The Irish Girl" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Blazing Star of Drum (Drim, Drung)" (theme)
cf. "I've Travelled This Country (Last Friday Evening)" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Courting is a Pleasure
Notes: The setting of this song varies widely. One stanza, however, is fairly characteristic:
I went to church last Sunday, (this line may vary)
My true love passed me by;
I could see her mind was a-changing
By the rolling of her eye.
Unfortunately, this stanza also shows up in some versions of "The Irish Girl"; these two songs seem to have mixed badly
I believe the old-time country song "Handsome Molly" to be a form of this piece (and most experts agree), but it has achieved such a degree of independent circulation that it is listed in the Index as a separate song. - RBW
File: R749

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