Nutty wrote above, "This site has what I have always believed was the traditional version of 'Red is the Rose'. Not an Irish Connection in sight."

Newfoundland is populated by a vast number of Irish, whose ancestors immigrated to what was then a British colony rather than to America. The Irish connection is very strong in the folk music of Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada, and many's an Irish-Newfie lad who sang:

"It is all for the loss of my bonnie blue-eyed lass,
That I'm leaving my homeland forever." :-)

GEST Songs Of Newfoundland And Labrador