The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #44796   Message #660822
Posted By: Mervyn
01-Mar-02 - 03:53 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: The Spanish Lady
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Spanish Lady-Triona's recent album
I learned a version of Spanish Lady in Australia, as a ballad, rather than with the usual more up-beat melody. My Irish friends at the time said (somewhat disparagingly) that the melody was created by an older Australian singer.

The song has basically the same lyrics as the two versions above combined, but with the "Whack for the..." chorus and an additional stanza inserted before the "I've wandered North..." stanza.

As I went back through Dublin City as the sun was about to set,
Who should I see but the Spanish lady chasing a moth with a golden net.
When she saw me then she fled me, lifting her petticoats over her knees.
In all my life I ne'er did see, a maid so shy as the Spanish lady.

I was also told by multiple sources that:
- Yeats wrote these last two stanzas.
- A "Spanish Lady" was an Irish term for a whore.

You can find multiple versions of Spanish Lady lyrics if you do a Yahoo search on "song lyrics Spanish Lady.”