I've been trying to discover the words of this song for a while but haven't found any printed set. Working from a very indistinct recording, I got most of them apart from a couple of place-names. Recently, I heard a woman in Sligo singing a version of the song, and asked for these place-names; although she supplied the words she had, she added that the man who wrote them out for her was himself unsure of some of them (writing them only in pencil). Some of them are consistent with a Cork setting. I give the two versions I've heard.


It was westwards to [?through] Clondrohid parish
One day as I chanced for to roam,
There I met with a gentle young damsel
Who happened to be all alone.
She was the bright star of the morning,
So brilliant and charming was she;
No name shall I give for this fair one,
But style her, Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe.

I approached her the moment I saw her
As I was always inclined for to do,
And the words that I spoke to this fair one
I now will repeat them to you;
"Fair Lass, will you leave your own father
And fly to the Border with me?"
Yet no name shall I claim for my darling
But Lovely Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe


(The other version has - correctly, I think -
"Fair Lass, will you leave your own father,
And fly o'er those mountains with me?")



As sure as the Summer comes warm,
As sure as the Autumn proceeds,   [surely "succeeds"?]
As sure as the Winter comes after,
And the Spring, when we all sow the seeds,
As sure as blight catches gardens,
Or the Winter leaves fall from the tree   [?"withered"]
No name shall I claim for my darling
But, Lovely Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe

Till ------- is eastwards of -------
Till Cork and PortArlington meet,
Till trout can't be found in Blackwater,
And dry runs the broad river Lee,
Till the sun rises West in the morn,
When it shines on the ?lawn so sweet,
No name shall I claim for my darling
But, Lovely Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe.

And, through Carraiganimmy next morning
I carried my Love with great speed,
I was not afraid of her father
For doing so awful (sic) a deed;   
I took her to sweet 1. Lough Sheelin   2 ?Skelmolina
My bride ever after to be,
And I will roll her in my arms,
My Lovely Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe.



It seems to me there are some corruptions here; the line about "Fly o'er those mountains with me" is more conventionally poetic than the line about the Border, which may have been inserted to explain the reference to Lough Sheelin, which is in County Cavan, a long way to the North, though still in the Republic, unless of course there's a smaller Lough Sheelin nearer to Cork/Kerry. I can't find Skelmolina on any map, either. In the second-last verse, I wonder if there's been some transposition of lines; this attempted reconstruction runs better with regard to rhyming, and I suspect "till the sun rises West in the morning" may originally have been "till Sunrise be West in the morning", that is, a conventional impossibility:

Till Curran be Eastwards of Corran,
Till Cork and PortArlington meet;
Till Sunrise be West in the morn -
When it shines on the Laune it's so sweet;
Till trout can't be found in Blackwater,
Till dry runs the broad River Lee,
No name shall I claim for my darling
But Lovely Sweet Gra Geal mo Chroidhe.

The suggested place-names here are at least consistent with the setting, and "Laune" is a river near Killarney. The pencilled words here were "Larnet", which again I can't find.

I wonder if "Lough Sheelin" might have been "Lough Leane", or even, depending on pronunciation, Lough Guitane? Anyone got any ideas, since I'd rather be accurate than attempt any inappropriate revision.