I knew the song from Dolores Keane's singing and always liked it, primarily for the words...the shape of the melody—while pleasing—didn't seem to be likely either as a traditional melody, or a nineteenth century parlor production, so I wondered about the juxtaposition of poetic and musical sensibilities. A bit of web-poking showed the reason for my suspicions—roughly, a century. Fair play to Mr. Andretti, but his melody is very much of the modern, folk-strumming, construction...and very unlike the poem. The good news is, it works—and has brought a lovely poem back to currency.

Which got me thinking what Mr. Hodges might have had in mind when he wrote his lyrics. My [strong] suspicion? The VERY POPULAR tune known variously as THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER (Moore's Melody to it); or THE GROVES OF BLARNEY. In this latter guise [itself a knock-off of an earlier "Praise of Castle Hyde" song] it was host to a zillion songs throughout the nineteenth century, spawned to praise one location or another in Ireland—some seriously (like this one, if it is indeed another member of the extended family); some...not so much, like THE GROVES OF BLARNEY itself; and some...somewhere in the middle (like "Father Prout's" BELLS OF SHANDON).

Using the tune makes the song much harder to sing—the melody has an extended range—but, for those of a historicist bent like myself, I think there's an excellent chance doing so would restore the homesick Mr. Hodge's song to a form he'd both enjoy—and recognize.

As always...just one man's opinion.