Declan states:

>>>De Dannan. The De Dannan version with Mary Black on vocals is probably the version which became best known here in Ireland.<<<

That's a really lovely recording. I forget which album it was off of but I bought that on Cassette in 1986 I think. I was dating guy whose Mum was from Ireland (My Family is also from Ire;land, my father is the first one born here in the USA) and his dad from Italy - he was first generation. Anyhoo - we bought the cassette on a trip to The Irish Catskill resort town of East Durham. i say resort town, but think a bunch of cabins that families rent with a central dining hall which later serves as the music hall for the evening entertainment.

We played that casette all the way back to Staten Island, where his irish family was living . We stayed with them a lot that summer.

Truly lovely song even if the lyrics are a bit much at times. Mind you, I love the song. I just get some groans sometimes when I ask to play it in a group.   It does make for a lovely instrumental piece when played in a group with traditional instruments if you run into groaners.