Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore

Subject: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: The Dane
Date: 26 Oct 01 - 05:17 PM

Hey all

We're a Danish band playing Irish folk and we are at the moment seaching for a song called Kitty from Ballinamore. Has anyone got the lyric and maybe even a story behind this song?

Jacob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Oct 01 - 11:29 AM

No luck with lyrics, but there is a free MP3 here (scroll down). If you click on the link that says "more" you will get an e mail link for the Danish band "Ash Plant" who has recorded this. You could ask them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 Oct 01 - 12:32 PM

Kitty of Ballinamore is apparently an alternate title for Tatter (Father) Jack Walsh; that tune can be found at both  The Fiddler's Companion  and  J C's Tunefinder.  The song was also recorded by Triona Ni Dhomhnaill (Triona; I can't remember the label) some years ago; it's available on CD, and I seem to remember that lyrics were included, though I haven't seen it in a long while and could be mistaken.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Noreen
Date: 29 Oct 01 - 03:18 PM

Oh, 'twas little I knew she would prove untrue,Sweet Kitty from Ballinamore...

Never heard of it... :0)

Well, ok then, I'll rack my brains if no-one else can find them written out- think it was on a Paddy Tunney tape from years ago? (No, no relation to Cyril Tawney, Catrin...)

Subject: Lyr Add: KITTY FROM BALLINAMORE
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Oct 01 - 08:43 AM

The lyrics below are copied from the LP insert in the Triona LP. The lyrics in that insert are not always reliable, but I didn't check this song. I have two other versions, one on the LP 'The White Rock' and the other on one of the twenty CDs of the Voice of the People series.

Wolfgang

KITTY FROM BALLINAMORE

Oh, when I was young and full of fun like many's a dashing blade
My own delight from morn' to night was to court a comely maid.
I'd walk with her and talk with her as thousands have done before,
Oh, but it's little I knew she would prove untrue, wee Kitty from Ballinamore.

Young Kitty was tall and handsome and gentle as a dove.
Ten times a day she used to say with me she was in love,
Oh, when she'd say this I'd have a kiss I would love her more and more
For without a lie I would then die for Kitty from Ballinamore.

Oh it was her parents I must blame to leave her in such a state,
Although I was poor they couldn't endure for to court their daughter Kate.
Although I loved her dearly and told them o'er and o'er
For without a lie I would then die for Kitty from Ballinamore.

Well indeed my love says Kitty I'd rather be a soldier's wife,
To dress myself in man's attire go fight for all my life.
So the very next day he sailed away and joined the foreign force
For without a lie he would then die for Kitty from Ballinamore.

But I was not very long listed when a letter I did receive,
And when I read the answer I thought I'd get some ease,
But the very first line that I did read, it grieved my heart full sore
For young Kitty was wed to a farmer's son in the town of Ballinamore.

So come all you pretty fair young men a warning take by me,
Don't fall in love with every wee girl that you see,
For they'll tell you this and they'll tell you that and they do like they'll done before,
They will curl their hair and leave ye there like Kitty from Ballinamore.

From the notes on the record sheet: Another lovesong that doesn't quite end as it should.
Seamus Ennis recorded a version of this song some years ago in Loughanure...He believes the 'Ballinamore' of the song to be a substitution for Baltimore in Co. Cork. Whenever she lived, young Kitty and her flirting left a moral in song to us.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: GUEST,noreen no-cookie
Date: 31 Oct 01 - 07:45 AM

Thanks Wolfgang- that's a lot more than I'd have remembered.

The third line of the 1st verse I remember as

With her I'd walk, with her I'd talk as thousands did before..

which keeps the internal rhyming going.

Noreen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 Oct 01 - 01:01 PM

You might well be right, Noreen. When I typed I often looked twice due to the lack of internal rhyme and lack of correct pattern of stress. I'll listen to find whether Triona actually sings what the lyrics sheet claims she does.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Kerstin
Date: 01 Nov 01 - 10:38 AM

With blushing cheeks I must admit that my wee daughter, clickt my song away. Can anyone give me KELTY KLIPPIE,song texts again please Big hug Kerstin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 01 Nov 01 - 10:47 AM

Forum search on 'Kelty' will find the word in an old thread.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Noreen
Date: 01 Nov 01 - 01:52 PM

Here you are Kerstin, with a hug back.

Lyr Req: John Watt's Keltie Clippie

Noreen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Kitty from Ballinamore
From: Wolfgang
Date: 02 Nov 01 - 05:07 AM

Triona sings what I have posted above, but my other two versions have quite different lyrics and both have the line as Noreen recollects it.

Wolfgang