Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair

Subject: She Moves through the Fair
From: Luke
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 04:46 PM

This is a song that I sing and sort of half sing cuz I never learned the words quite right.

Could somebody help me here. I've heard Irish singers sing it.

Thanks,

Luke

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVES THROUGH THE FAIR
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 04:53 PM

My young love said to me, my mother won't mind
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kine
Then she turned away from me and this she did say
It will not be long love till our wedding day

She turned away from me and moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there
Then she went her way homeward with one star awake
As the swan of the evening moves over the lake

The people were saying no two were ere wed
But one had a secret that never was said
And I smiled as she passed with her goods and her gear
And that was the last that I saw of my dear

Last night she came to me,he softly came in
So softly she moved that her feet made no din
Then she laid her hand on me and this she did say
It will not be long love till our wedding day.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
From: guinnesschik
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 04:54 PM

My own love said to me, "My father won't mind,
And my brothers won't slight you for your lack of kyne (or kind)."
She went away from me and this she did say:
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day."

She went away from me and she moved through the fair,
And I watched her go fondly, moving here and there.
She went her way from me with one star awake,
As the swan in the evening moved out o'er the lake.

The people were saying, "No two ever were wed,
That one has a secret that cannot be said."
She went her way from me with her goods and her gear,
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.

I dreamed last night that my own love came in.
She came in so sweetly her feet made no din.
She lay down beside me and this she did say:
"No, it will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day."

That's the way I learned it....

;-)g'chik

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Catrin
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 04:57 PM

Hi Luke click here for a really interesting discussion.

I think this song is a favourite for a lot of us.

Enjoy!

Catrin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Luke
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 04:58 PM

Thank you both for the great help.

Luke

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:01 PM

interesting,the slight variations..... I wonder how many other versions there are?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: guinnesschik
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:03 PM

Probably as many as there are singers.

I had to chuckle to see Morticia had beat me to the punch! I tried to be first. ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Catrin
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:04 PM

One million, seven thousand, six hundred and thirty-three (at the last count)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:07 PM

I type fast Guinesschik!!Catrin, you're just showing off!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Catrin
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:31 PM

Yeah - I got carried away then - what I was REALLY talking about was the number of times me and mel..... (oh never mind)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Morticia
Date: 29 Nov 00 - 05:53 PM

( waaaaiiiilllll).......and you ate the chocolate!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: GUEST,Owen An Geal
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:25 AM

Hi fellow celtophiles....I have heard many versions of this...but as it is a 'ghostly' song one very clear version I have heard actualy pin points this by saying...Last night she came to me...my 'dead' love came in...and so softly...etc etc...This is a hauntingly beautiful song and should be sung hauntingly....The words "It will not be long love till our wedding day"...(meaning)...It will not be long till the singers own death.

Slan.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Owen an geal gael
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 09:38 AM

Sorry not just the singers death...but his reunion with his love....I guess that's kinda obvious and didnt need sayin?...but hey that's what I do best...state the 'obvious' (not much of a gift when you think about it really?) Anyways I am a member now...so get ready for the occasional 'obvious' statements and bad spelling from meself to yourselves!
slan.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 10:22 AM

Welcome aboard, Owen!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Jim Lad
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 12:19 PM

I was very young when I wrote this one.
Ticks me off no end when people tamper with the words.

"Last night she came to me
My Fond love came in"


Cheers!
Jim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: BB
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 02:50 PM

?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 04:05 PM

sinead O'Connor sings a version where she changes the words to "my mother wont mind, and my sisters wont slight you for your lack of kind.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: michaelr
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 05:55 PM

Owen, there are a lot of other threads here concerning this song (see links at top). I suggest beginning with this one and paying close attention to Malcolm Douglas's posts. He suggests quite convincingly that the "ghostly" element was not traditionally part of the song.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Aug 08 - 07:53 PM

Although I didn't say so unequivocally back in those days, there is no doubt at all that there was no supernatural element in Padraig Colum's poem; nor was there in the older song he based it on. 'Dead love' was introduced (possibly by accident, possibly by design) in a commercial recording by the famous lyric tenor John McCormack. Margaret Barry learned the song from that record and introduced it to the folk song revival, which adopted it enthusiastically.

Ever since then, people have imagined all manner of extravagant things about it; the many other discussions here (almost all of which contain more information than this old thread that Owen has dragged out of the merciful oblivion of the grave) are full of the most extraordinary nonsense, though real facts are there too, if you are patient enough to sift through all the rubbish.

Colum lived into the 1970s. I still wonder if anybody ever asked him what he thought about the whole thing; or if he ever received any royalties from any of the vast number of revival performers who have recorded arrangements of his song over the last half-century. Scarcely one of them has had the courtesy to credit him, though his authorship of the song has been a matter of public record since it was first published in 1909.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: MartinRyan
Date: 31 Aug 08 - 03:50 AM

Malcolm

He (and his estate) did in fact get a regular stream of income in royalties.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Owen an geal gael
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 09:21 AM

Ah well I guess I have to stand corrected to some degree....and that's fine....criticism that is 'constructive' is always acceptable...Anyways I have heard many versions by many people and I do preffer the "dead love" one. Maybe because I first heard Alan Stivell sing it to those lyrics..and I have a special spot for the Harpist and his music...myself being a harp maker now of 27 years. Though I do bow (always) to the original version (where provable) as being the final arbiter on it's own subject!

So I see that I have entered a site with real people who not only read but reply...how cool!

Thanks folks for putting up with me and my bit.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Owen an geal gael
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 10:21 AM

I feel inclined to add this bit though....Even taking out the word 'dead' ...How this has no hint of the "supernatural" is beyond both my poetic sense and indeed what I have learned over the years of Celtic Myths in general. The mention of both the 'star' and the 'swan/s' in the verse preceeding ...the singer proclaiming "and that was the last I saw of my dear" ...and in the very last verse "her feet made no din" all imply just that!

However if infact the third verse was as some say added later? (And I freely admit know nothing of this one way or the other)...then the whole story changes!

But hey! It's gotta be (even if changed) One of the most bloody beautiful and clever...'added' verses of all time!...What a stupedously sad song it has become for it's addition.......Now I am off to me leaba...it's 1.20 am for me....Oiche maith folks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 10:32 AM

Owen

Check out the similar story on "Reynardine" sometime - there's a thread on it around here somewhere!

Regads

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 10:54 AM

See also Out of the window. I've done it a couple of times (it's a lovely tune, although singing some of the triplets is a bit fiddly) and the bit about the feet making no din always gets some puzzled looks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 10:58 AM

Barefoot in the dark?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 03:37 PM

A definitive copy of the original poem SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR has been posted here, copied via Google Book Search from Wild Earth and Other Poems, by Padraic Colum, New York: H. Holt, 1916, page 26.

Another good copy, from The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse, was posted by nutty here.

Other versions, all more or less corrupted (or folk-processed, if you prefer), are posted here: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

There is a Gaelic version here.

Les Barker's parody is here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 03:53 PM

Martin - I meant that when some people hear that bit they automatically think "oh, it's that one... no, hang on..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 04:32 PM

Pip - it's my favourite version too.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: Owen an geal gael
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 02:46 AM

Hand up.....all those who want her dead!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: She Moves through the Fair
From: breezy
Date: 24 Feb 13 - 03:40 PM

can she brought back to life then ?
now thats supernatural