Mary Beth's notes: My auntie Caroline Carty of Glasgow, Scotland, told me about this song when she came to visit. The song mentions her grandmother. So I endeavoured to learn it! More details :
“The words were written by Edward Dolan from Lusmagh in 1908 when he was en route to Australia. He posted it to his cousin from London. The tune is an old Irish melody. Lusmagh is a small parish of farmland in Co. Offaly. With the large families, many of the younger sons left for Australia or America. The girlfriend or coleen he was leaving behind was my grandmother Rose Anne Kelly, he was meant to send for her, but he was never heard of again by anyone, not her, not family, and it remained a mystery. My grandmother must have waited a while, marrying in 1917 Michael Sullivan, my grandfather, and my mum was born in 1918, the first of 9 children.
A few years ago when my mum’s youngest brother was still alive we visited him on the farm. We were in the “singing pub” in Banagher talking to locals, had the song sung for us and then were introduced to a descendant and he had fresh news for us. One of the Dolan family was out in Australia doing family research and found a gravestone inscribed with Edward Dolan, an Irishman, who died in 1908 or so, very soon after he arrived. I hope as it said in his words that his soul did fly to the Lusmagh fields of green.”
I searched the ITMA site but didn't find a more traditional recording of the popular "Green Fields Round/of Ferbane". I don't know if John Maguire's singing can be heard anywhere online.