Origins: She Moves through the Fair

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Jerome Clark
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 08:07 PM

One morning some two decades ago, as I was shaving, I got to thinking, for no apparent reason, about Hank Williams's "Mansion on the Hill" and "She Moves Through the Fair" at the same time. The result was a set of lyrics which, with melody and arrangement supplied by Robin & Linda Williams, became a song titled "The Other Side of Town."

The Williamses recorded it twice, most recently on their album Back 40 (Red House, 2013). It was also cut by the bluegrass band Seldom Scene on its Like We Used to Be (Sugar Hill, 1994), and nearly covered by The Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton). The lyrics go:

On the other side of town there is a great mansion
Where my love lives, I know
On the other side of town they all dress in fashion
And no one ever gets old.

On the other side of town sweet music plays
And dancers glide through the air
On the other side of town
Old friends embrace and live with no care.

Chorus.
On the other side of town
The bright lights glow
On this side of town
The chilly winds blow
I feel them as I wait for my time to come round
When I'll go to the other side of town.

From the other side of town she came in a dream
Dressed in pearly white
Oh she looked so far that to me it seemed
Her face lit up the night.

From the other side of town I heard her speak
Though her voice made no sound
She said it won't be long until we meet
On the other side of town.

Chorus.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Jerome Clark
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 08:10 PM

In that second to last verse, that should be "Oh she looked so fair," not "far."

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Dennis the Elder
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 08:47 PM

My favourite version of this beautiful song is that of Joe Brown, with his daughter Sam.
It certainly surprised my when I first heard it.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Jerome Clark
Date: 07 Mar 15 - 10:03 PM

Try

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXdnixp7lFg

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: GUEST,Iain MacDonald
Date: 02 Feb 17 - 10:10 AM

re 'dead love': before Margaret Barry, John McCormack sang it that way in (according to Wikipedia) 1941, and Father Sydney MacEwan sang it that way in a recording from 1936, released on Parlophone - possibly the earliest commercially released recording of the song?

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Feb 17 - 02:07 PM

Padraic Colum told me that he wrote it, and said it for me. I was about… let's see… from where we were living I must have been about 14 then. Remembered it always.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: GUEST,Les
Date: 03 Mar 17 - 06:26 AM

The version of the lyrics I recall, from Anne Briggs' recording:

My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kine."
Then she laid her hand on me, and this she did say:
"Oh, it will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

She laid her hand on me, and she moved through the fair.
And fondly I watched her move here and move there.
Then she laid her hand on me, and this she did say:
"Oh, it will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in.
And so softly she came, her feet made no din.
Then she laid her hand on me, and this she did say:
"Oh, it will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

Though I must admit I always heard the second line as "And my father once liked you...", until I came here and read the correct ones, which do make more sense.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: eftifino
Date: 04 Mar 17 - 02:27 AM

I agree with Guest Les on the word Kine. It is an old word for cattle. A man's suitability for a daughter's depended on his wealth, measured in cattle. So the girl is telling her boyfriend that her parents won't send him away because he is not wealthy.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Merritt
Date: 16 Mar 17 - 06:04 PM

That's a song that goes to the bones.

I heard various recorded versions growing up. My favorite interpretation is by Tommy O'Sullivan of Dingle, County Kerry. He headlined a Wisconsin, USA festival some years ago - my buddy and I were closer to the bottom of the poster - and the night before the big show he played this song at a pub by Lake Michigan. Gave me chills. From his album, Song Ablaze:

http://www.tommyosullivan.net/05%20She%20Moved%20Through%20the%20Fa.mp3

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Tony Rees
Date: 09 Mar 18 - 01:22 AM

In as it has not been posted before (or maybe on an expired link), you can hear Margaret Barry's version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DZXRQLN3bs

Cheers - Tony Rees

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Tony Rees
Date: 09 Mar 18 - 01:25 AM

And Count John McCormack's precursor here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-g_4yVxnQY

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: GUEST,Pete
Date: 21 Oct 20 - 07:35 AM

My favourite version is that by Tommy Dempsey and John Swift, on their Trailer LP "Green Grows The Laurel", a casualty of the Celtic Music disappearance. It has the extra 1909 "no two ere were wed" verse, plus another I've not heard before. He sings it beautifully (if you like the decorated style of Irish singing, which I do).


My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind."
Then she stepped away from me, and this she did say:
"Well it will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

She stepped away from me, and she moved through the fair.
And so fondly I watched her move here and move there.
And then she went homeward with one star awake,
As a swan in the evening moves over the lake.

Well the people they were saying, that no two e'er were wed,
For one had a sorrow that never was said,
And then she went home with her books and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.

And still in the evening, when the wild birds they do sleep,
I heard a soft whisper and the young maiden weep,
I heard a soft whisper and to me she did say,
"It will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in.
And so softly she came, that her feet made no din.
She laid her hands on me, and this she did say:
"It will not be long, love, til our wedding day."

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Felipa
Date: 22 Jun 21 - 04:13 PM

the version of Out of the Window which is in The Sam Henry Collection and also in the DT under the title Our Wedding Day should have its blue clicky added to the top of the thread.

This version has been recorded by Jane Cassidy and by Phil Edwards.
lyrics:

l once had a sweetheart and I loved her well,
I loved her far better than my tongue can tell,
But her parents despised me for my lack of years,
So adieu to all pleasure since I lost my dear.

Then last night I dreamed that my love she came in ,
So softly she came that her feet made no din.
And she laid her hand on me, and this she did say
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

Then according to promise at midnight I rose
But nothing I found there but her down-turned clothes,
The sheets were all empty, as plain as you see,
And out of the window with another went she.

Oh, Molly, my dear Molly, what's this you have done?
You have pulled the dry thistle, left the red rose alone;
The thistle will wither and fade all too soon,
But the red rose will blossom in the merry month of June.

I wish I were a small bird and had wings to fly,
I would fly to the castle where my love does lie,
On a bed of green ivy l would lay myself down,
And with my soft feathers my love I'd surround.

==== The version Catrin gives in this discussion appears to be a recombination of the Padraic Colum poem, the version of it with the word "dead love", and the lyrics of out of the window that Paddy Tunney sang. I heard that it was Paddy Tunney himself who substituted the older-sounding word "casement" for "window".

I think Colum did mean that the narrator never saw his dear again because she died, but since "dead love" was not in the poem as originally published, we can't be sure of that. As has already been pointed out, only the last verse of the poem comes from the Out of the Window songs that were already in the tradition.

Neither the tune Paddy sings for his version nor the tune Jane Cassidy sings for the version from the Sam Henry collection is the same as the tune of She Moved Through the Fair. I wonder what lyrics were sung to the same air as She Moved Through the Fair. Someone suggested My Lagan Love; but again, it's not the tune My Lagan Love is usually sung to nowadays.

Subject: RE: Out of the Window aka Our Wedding Day
From: Felipa
Date: 22 Jun 21 - 04:33 PM

I thought from what Martin Ryan wrote earlier that Áine Ní Cheallaigh had also recorded the version from the Sam Henry Collection, but no -

Aine Ní Cheallaigh via youtube

Paddy Tunney via youtube

As for the Sam Henry version, Phil Edwards and Jane Cassidy have the same lyrics but different tunes; I would need to refer to the actual collection to check what tune was published therein.
Jane Cassidy via Apple i-tunes

Phil Edwards via Bandcamp

Subject: RE: Out of the Window aka Our Wedding Day
From: Felipa
Date: 22 Jun 21 - 08:57 PM

The lyrics I posted some hours ago were copied from Phil Edward's Bandcamp page. The words are only slightly different from the lyrics that Jane Cassidy (and I myself) sing and that are in the Digital Tradition
https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=4544

It is this latter set of lyrics that are published in Songs of the People from the Sam Henry collection.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 24 Jun 21 - 05:40 AM

arguably the most murdered song in the Irish tradition?

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Felipa
Date: 01 Jul 21 - 06:18 PM

A Dave Murphy in this discussion back in 1997 says Séamus Ennis traced an origin to "The Bold Forester". When I looked for lyrics of the Bold Forester, I found a version of Child 73, Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender/Fair Eleanor/Fair Annet; and also a song in the DT, Robin Hood and the Ranger. Neither of those seems to me to be related to either She Moved through the Fair or Out of the Window.

I really wanted to know about the S. Uist Gaelic song, mentioned in the same post. I had the luck recently to come across David Murphy, a traditional singer from Ireland who now lives Scotland, at a singing circle on Zoom. He says he knows versions of "The Bold Forester" but doesn't know of any related Gaelic song. And he doesn't think he was the Dave Murphy who wrote the 1997 comment.

Subject: RE: Origins: She Moves through the Fair
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Jul 21 - 09:00 AM

Am I the only person who thought that the Sorrow never said, that got in the way of their wedding, was a botched abortion, that killed her?

I always took Lack of kine to mean poverty.