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Charlie Baum Origins: Streets of Derry/Derry Gaol (26) Lyr Add: THE STREETS OF DERRY 31 Jan 98


Julie Henigan sings a version she calls "The Street of Derry" on her CD "American Stranger" (Waterbug WBG 0035).

Her notes say:

THE STREETS OF DERRY
Trad. Arr. Henigan & Russell
Possibly a reworking of "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (Child #95), this Northern Irish song exists in a number of variants in Ulster and the US I learned this one from several sources, including Scottish singer Janet Russell, from whom I filched the guitar "fill" I use between verses.

[Transcription by chb]

And after morning, there comes an evening,
And after evening another day;
And after false love there comes a true love
Come listen now to what I say.

My love he is a handsome young man,
As fair as any that the sun shone on.
But how to win him, I do not know.
For now he has been sentenced to be hung.

As he walked out through the street of Derry,
I'm sure he stood out quite manfully.
He looked more like a commanding officer
Than a man to die upon the gallows tree.

Oh where's my love; she's so long in coming
And what detains her so long from me.
Perhaps she thinks its a shame and a scandal
For a man to die upon the gallows tree.

He's looked around and he saw her coming
As she rode swifter than the wind.
She said, "I'll show them that they cannot hang you
And I'll crown my love with a bunch of green."

And after morning, there comes an evening,
And after evening another day;
And after false love there comes a true love
Come listen now to what I say.

Her version eliminates the clergyman and refocuses the tale on the feelings and supposition of feelings between the condemned man and his beloved.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEslRrU67lo

    Note from Joe Offer: these are the lyrics used by the Digital Tradition for "The Streets of Derry," filename [ STDERRY

    The DT uses the melody from Kennedy


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