Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell

Subject: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: Peader
Date: 06 Mar 24 - 09:57 AM

I am looking for the author/source for an old folk song.
My dear departed Aunt used to sing a song that we called:

Cape Breton Farewell

Chorus:
These are the last hours I'll spend in Cape Breton
Please God arrange it so I'll see once more
My own lovely land at the dawning of morning
And then be returning to Cape Breton's fair shore

At the dawn of the morning my ship will be sailing
To take me away from the land of my birth
And I know in the morning my heart will be breaking
For I'm leaving the place i hold dearest on earth

I have more verses but woul like to find the songwriter/originator.

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: meself
Date: 06 Mar 24 - 10:19 AM

I can't help you, but I'd certainly like to see (if not hear!) the rest of the song .....

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: Peader
Date: 06 Mar 24 - 12:08 PM

CAPE BRETON FAREWELL

At the dawn of the morning my ship will be sailing
To take me away from the land of my birth
And I know in the morning my heart will be breaking
For I’m leaving the place I hold dearest on earth

Chorus:
So, these are the last hors I’ll spend in Cape Breton
Please God Arrange it so I’ll see once more
My own lovely land at the dawning of morning
And then be returning to Cape Breton’s fair shore

I now will be parting from my own lovely sweetheart
So, I thought it would be best to say farewell last night
For I know in the morning my heart will be breaking
And I ‘ll dread the approach of my highland delight

My mother will come to the station to greet me
Oh, her lovely sad face I will never forget
And the pain in her heart although bravely she’ll hide it
And I know she’ll be there when we dance our last set

Yes, and the boys will be there with their music
They know How I’ve loved all the dancing the while
As the music will ring out the train will come rolling
To take me away from my own little isle

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: meself
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 07:19 PM

Thank you!

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: cnd
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 08:13 PM

Your grandmother's version seems to be a modified version of a song I've found that's otherwise only associated with Ireland. Here's an example sung by Miss Bridget Geary of Camphire, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford in August 1906. Apparently the singer used a ballad sheet in her rendition, but I haven't located one. From Folk Song Society Journal, Vol. 3 (1907), pp. 24-25 (some linebreaks added for continuity)

FAREWELL TO THE VILLAGE

At the dawn of the morning the ship will be sailing,
That takes me away from the land of my birth,
I am forced into leaving the home I was born in,
The Garden of Eden, the fairest on earth.

It is not my wish I should part from old Erin,
Or leave that sweet cot at the foot of the hill,
’Tis nought but oppression now tears us asunder,
For the love of my country shall cling to me still.

Chorus—Farewell to the village, farewell to the green,
Where it's oftimes I danced with a blue-eyed Colleen,
My heart is nearly breaking with sorrow and pain,
For leaving the home I may ne'er see again.

The home of my fathers, his birthplace for ages,
Was torn from our grip by the governor’s hand,
My people and me were nothing but strangers,
As Irishmen are, in their own native land.

It has broken the hearts of my father and mother,
Thank God! they’re at rest in their own native clay.
My heart is nearly breaking with sorrow and pain,
For leaving the home I may ne'er see again.

Farewell to the dance on the green every evening,
Farewell to the Colleen so beauteous and bright!
Farewell to the stories we've told to each other,
While around the turf fire on a cold winter's night.

They say, in the land far across the Atlantic
It is there that the Irishman happy can be,
Where the stars and the stripes shelter every stranger,
May Ireland be soon, like it, happy and free.

Bridget Geary took the words of this song from a ballad-sheet. Mrs. Clandillon writes that she and her husband know the ballad well, but only in Irish. She does not think that either words or air have been published. She adds that Mr. Patrick O’Shea sings a version of this tune to Irish words about “John the Smith.”— L. E. B.

This tune has Æolian characteristics, but not the Æolian cadence.—R. V. W.

Otherwise, I've only found brief snippets; see link and link

A mudcat thread (click) notes that the song was published in Songs in Irish Emigrant Ballads and Songs (Robert L. Wright, 1975)

Subject: ALT Version: Cape Breton Farewell
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 08:33 PM

Dick Holdstock and Allan MacLeod sang a very different "Cape Breton Farewell" on their Seasoned Songs CD:

CAPE BRETON FAREWELL

Late spring, the leaves all green
There's sheep on the hillside, there's birds on the wing
Over my shoulder the last time I'm seeing
The old home all weathered and gray.

CHORUS:
And I'm leaving for Halifax to see what's to spare
In the way of some work and if there's nothing there
It's Toronto out west to God only knows where
But there's bound to be friends from back home.

We talked till three, my father and me
And the fiddle tunes flowed like the clear Margaree
Never forget who you are son, said he
And I followed my brothers away.

One thing I know wherever I go
My heart's in Cape Breton, it will always be so
Whenever the fiddler rosins the bow
My first and last thoughts are for home

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: meself
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 11:23 AM

That one was written by Alasdair MacDonald of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (with Cape Breton roots). Recorded by many people.

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: GUEST,peader
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 05:00 PM

Thank you CND for you "illumination"
I guess that makes it makes my Late Aunt's song a true "folk song".
I am always amazed how song & tunes can travel.
I do know Alasdair MacDonald's Heading for Halifax and have sang it many times in my travels from Cape Breton to New Zealand and now back "home" - we often refer to it as "Late Spring".
Here is a clip of Alistair performing his beautiful song:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=4882962701806596&id=850502298386010&paipv=0&eav=Afbrl-vkEbAxTwn5C20m7OFpaPJVt34dUqWyEit5y-llH3eeS1impquDr-k993v1PXU&_rdr#_=_

Subject: RE: Source/Author for Cape Breton Farewell
From: GUEST,peader
Date: 15 Mar 24 - 03:37 PM

proper link to heading For Halifax (blue clicky)
Heading For Halifax by Alasdair MacDonald