"Red Is the Rose"

The Irish variant of the song is called "Red Is the Rose" and is sung with the same melody but different (although similarly themed) lyrics.[11] It was popularized by Irish folk musician Tommy Makem. Even though many people mistakenly believe that Makem wrote "Red is the Rose", it is a traditional Irish folk song.[12]

The chorus of "Red Is the Rose" is:

    Red is the rose that in yonder garden grows
    And fair is the lily of the valley
    Clear are the waters that flow from the Boyne
    But my love is fairer than any

This version was also reworked by the Scottish Musician Alastair McDonald, who set it by Loch Lomond, too. This chorus was:

    Red is the rose, that sae bonnie and brightly grows
    And white blooms the lily sae bonny
    And clear is the watter that flows down Lomonds braes
    But my lass is fairer than a' they (Although, some may argue whether he says "fairer" or "famer")

Lyrics


Come over the hill, my bonnie Irish lass
Come over the hill to your darling
You chose a rose love and I have made a vow
Thet she'll be my true love forever

    Chorus
    Red is the Rose by yonder garden grows
    And fair is the lily of the valley
    Clear is the water that flows from the Boyne
    But my love is fairer than any.


T'was down by Killarney's green woods that we strayed
And the moon and the stars they were shining
The moon shone its rays on her locks of golden hair
And she swore she'd be my love forever.


    repeat chorus


It's not for the parting that my sister pains
It's not for the grief of my mother
It is all for the loss of my bonnie Irish lass
That my heart is breaking forever.

    repeat chorus


Notes

    ^ Vocal Melodies of Scotland
    ^ James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular and Folk, p. 336.
    ^ Poems of Andrew Lang: THE BONNIE BANKS O' LOCH LOMOND
    ^ Lang & Philipp 2000, p. 235.
    ^ Am Baile - The Songs and Hymns of the Scottish Highlands. Part II Song 5
    ^ a b RPO - Andrew Lang : The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond
    ^ Fraser, Amy Stewart (1977). In Memory Long. Routledge. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7100-8586-3. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
    ^ Kennedy, Michael (1996). A Catalogue of the Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford University Press. p. 85. ISBN 0-19-816584-6.
    ^ [1]
    ^ Moira Kerr, CD-Album 'Loch Lomond'
    ^ http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/01/jet/lyrics/redrose.html
    ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUXB_VNUAPk

References

    Lang, Andrew; Philipp, Peter-Eric (2000). Complete Poems of Andrew Lang: The Essential Library 2. Essential Library (xLibris). p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7388-2837-4.