As promised, words and notes from a CD by Pat Prunty:
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BANKS OF THE CALLAN

As I went a-walking one evening in June
For to view the green fields and the meadows in bloom
I espied a wee lassie as the streams they ran down
On the banks of the Callan near Sweet Keady Town

Well I stood in delight while this fair one did sing
The hills and the valleys with echo did ring
The thrush and the blackbird their notes they did sound
For t welcome this fair one to Sweet Keady Town

I stepped up to her and I asked her her name
I asked her her dwelling and where from she came
Young man, she made answer, my dwelling is found
On the banks of the Callan near Sweet Keady town

Says I my wee lassie if you will agree
We will both join in wedlock and married we'll be
I'll dress you in rich attire, your joys I will crown
On the Banks of the Callan near Sweet Keady Town

To marry, to marry kind sir I am too young
Like all other young men you have a false flattering tongue
And my aged parents, on me they would frown
If I go and leave them in Sweet Keady Town

Now since you won't marry will you tell me your name
You have told me your dwelling and where from you came
And some other evening when I'm strolling round
I'll chance for to meet you in Sweet Keady Town

To praise this wee lassie I feel much inclined
She is neat, tall and handsome both comely and fine
With hair o'er her shoulders in ringlets hang down
I will style her the primrose of all Keady Town

To bring to a finish I will now bid adieu
To the fields around Keady and Swet Annvale too
It's true that I love her, I will make her my bride
And we both will be happy on the old Callanside.

Words from the handwriting of song collector, Rachel Cornett, deceased, of Moss Road, Darkley – probably written down from the singing of a co-worker in Darkely Mills in 1950's or earlier.

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