Origins: She Moves through the Fair

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: MartinRyan
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 06:44 PM

Malcolm

You're right about "gríosach" - I believe Paddy Tunney himself inserted it.

Regards

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 04:59 PM

There's a verse about small birds singing too, Derek Gifford sings it, but I've not got round to picking it off the tape yet. Anyone know where that came from?

LTS

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: poet
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 04:55 PM

20 years ago (before mudcat) the only source of lyrics open to me was what I could pinch from visiting singers. I once heard the misterious 3rd verse and then NEVER heard it again. so when I decided that I wanted to sing this song I took a liberty and wrote this verse in its place.

Oh my young love she left me for death came that night
and he took her away from the world and the light,
and the thoughts in my mind were of what she did say
that tommorrows the morning of our wedding day.

I have since of course found the missing verse but I find that I cannot imprint into my memory to replace the one that I wrote so i'm afraid I still sing my own words.


Graham (Guernsey)

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR (f. Mouskouri)
From: Alice
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 12:16 PM

Well, I love anything the way Nana Mouskouri sang it. I actually have always sung this changing it a little myself, because when the lyrics are first person male, I usually look for a way to have it make more sense for a woman singing it. Here are my slight changes for when I sing it:

His young love said to him,
My mother won't mind,
And my father won't slight thee,
For your lack of kine,
And she stepped away from him,
And this she did say,
It will not be long, love,
Til our wedding day.

She stepped away from him,
And she moved through the fair,
And he watched her fondly,
As she moved here and there,
And then she went homeward,
With one star awake,
As the swans in the evening,
Move over the lake.

Last night she came to him,
Her ghost came in,
She came so softly,
That her feet made no din,
And she layed her hand on him,
And this she did say,
It will not be long, love,
Til our wedding day.

So, not much different from the other version, but if you are a woman, better than singing words written for a man.

Alice

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 11:54 AM

Lovely, Snuffy! I hate parodies of songs I love, but some are actually very good!
Different topic: A friend tells me he has heard that this song originally had other lyrics, concerning a mother looking for her dead child. I've never heard this story before, but maybe someone else knows what this may refer to? - Susanne

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVES THROUGH THE FAIR (parody)
From: Snuffy
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 06:12 AM

I don't know the parody "She Fell Through the Flare", but here's Les Barker's take on the song.

SHE MOVES THROUGH THE FAIR

(Les Barker)

My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind,
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind."
Then she put her arms around me and this she did say,
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

She stepped away from me, and she moved through the fair,
She won some old goldfish and one teddy bear.
Then she made her way homeward, with one star awake,
It was too dark to see, and she fell in the lake.

Last night she came to me, my wet love came on.
And sadly she told me that Teddy had gone.
The she put her arms around me, and this she did say.
"It's goldfish and chips for your dinner today."

Sung by Alison Younger on Oranges And Lemmings, Mrs Ackroyd Records DOG007

Wassail! V

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From:
Date: 13 Aug 00 - 01:02 PM

Has anyone heard the lovely version sung by Nana Mouskouri on her album of songs of the British Isles? It includes the 4 "classic" verses.This was my first exposure to this beautiful song. I agree that Sandy Denny's singing of it is superb also. Must say that "HE Moved through the Fair" (the version Nana sings) gave me the impression that the man had left the girl to pine despite the promise of marriage, and that the final ghostly reappearance was but her wishful fantasy.

BTW, I think my personal favorite song of all is "The Streets of Laredo." I suppose that's being discussed by another thread, eh? I shall have to find it. Michael Martin Murphey in performance (and perhaps on one of his albums) makes clear the Gaelic origins of "Streets."

Marian C.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Catrin
Date: 13 Aug 00 - 10:41 AM

Wow, Malcolm C. That is sooo interesting. I think it shows that the folk tradition, of songs evolving because of half remembered words and tunes, is still going on, even with all of todays technology which freezes songs into 'correct' versions. Perhaps that's a thread drift though.

I like the 'murdered' bit of the story though. I think it makes it more interesting. And the ghost bit too. Come to think of it, I always thought it was a ghost story and the references to 'dead' love, rather than 'true' love, were 'original'.

I am though, as always, only too ready to be proved wrong.

Cheers,

Catrin

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 05:31 PM

I must try to listen to that...  The version Catrin posted above seems to be mainly Paddy Tunney's (verses 1-4), with a verse 5 that may have come from the version in Kennedy (or one like it) and a final verse that could be from the Barney MacGarvey version I mentioned, and which Paddy recorded on The Wild Bees' Nest.

Having said that, there are some important differences, since, as I said, none of them mention death.  Paddy's 4th. verse ran:

According to promise, at midnight he rose
But all that he found was the downfolded clothes.
The sheets they lay empty 'twas plain for to see
And out of the window with another went she.

Verse 5 looks like a conflation of two of the verses from Kennedy, with "soul" substituted for "welfare".  In MacGarvey's version, it's "true love", not "dead love".  Unless somebody can find a traditional source for it, I'd put money on it's being a recent re-write, though certainly an interesting twist to the story.  Oh, "grease-hawk" is given by Tunney as "greesagh", which I believe is Gaelic "griosach": "burning embers".

Malcolm

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: P05139
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 04:23 PM

Yes, Malcolm, BOYZONE! They are Irish after all!

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
From: Catrin
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 03:50 PM

I once had a sweetheart, I loved her right well
I loved her far better than my tongue can tell
Her parents did slight me for my want of gear
Adieu to all pleasure, since I lost my dear

She went away from me and she moved through the fair
Where hand-clapping dealers' loud shouts rent the air
The sunlight around her did sparkle and play
Saying "It will not be long love, 'til our wedding day"

When dew falls on meadows and moths fill the night
When the glow from the grease hawk(?) on the hearth throws half light
I'll slip from my casement and I'll run away
Then it will not be long love, till our wedding day

Then according to promise, at midnight I arose
But all that I found there were her bloodstained clothes
Now it's out through the window and plain for to see
Oh gone is my love and murdered is she

Now my own, how I loved her, as much as my life
And yes, my intention was to make her my wife
My poor heart lies bleeding for the girl I adored
I will pray for her soul now, what can I do more?

I dreamed last night that my dead love came in
She came in so easy that her feet made no din
She came stepping up to me and this she did say
"It will not be long love, 'til our wedding day"

Probably a bit of a mish mash that - it's words a friend gave to me and I haven't got a clue where they came from. Might help in the discussion though.

And yes, one of my favourites too.

Catrin

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 11:10 AM

Boyzone?  Good heavens.  Mind you, good as so many of the contemporary recordings of the song are, to my mind they're really "covers" rather than distinct variants in their own right, at least for the moment.

I was maybe a bit abrupt earlier, Bernard; sorry about that.  I should really have gone into more detail.  A look at other traditional versions will soon make it plain what sort of fair we're talking about!  As to the supernatural element, in the traditional versions that I've seen, with one exception, the young man loses his love, not to death, but either for an unspecified reason (as in the version Paddy Tunney heard from Barney MacGarvey in 1960, and printed in The Stone Fiddle) or, more usually, to another man; as in, for example, Our Wedding Day (in Kennedy, mentioned above by Muriel Doris; there is another version, from Sam Henry's Songs of the People, here: Our Wedding Day ) or My young love said to me (Paddy Tunney).

The exception is Margaret Barry's four-verse version; this is virtually identical to Padraic Colum's rewrite, but instead of "she came softly in", she sang "my dead love came in".  I strongly suspect that it was she who introduced that bit to the song, and in so doing completely changed its meaning.  That would be some time in the 1940s or 50s, presumably.  As it happens, I think that it was a stroke of genius, but it does mean that any speculation as to the deeper meaning of that particular version of the song can only be subjective and personal; a matter of opinion, not fact.  I'm hoping that John Moulden will look in and tell me if I'm hopelessly wrong in my guess, and that somebody will post the Gaelic version that gets mentioned from time to time.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: P05139
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 10:30 AM

OK, everyone's mentioning the Sinead O'Connor version, but Boyzone also did a fantastic version which can be found on the B-Side of the single "A Different Beat" or Track 14 of the album of the same name.

Ronan Keating's voice suits the song perfectly, so there!

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 08:07 AM

Fair enough; I still think it's wrong, though.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Bernard
Date: 12 Aug 00 - 04:44 AM

Not my opinion, chuck, I read it somewhere a LONG time ago...

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 09:11 PM

Unless it just means "the fair", as in one of those events you go to that involve buying and selling livestock etc.  It is not a "demon lover" ballad; the reference to death is recent (20th. century I think, though John Moulden would know for sure), though it is of course very romantic.

Beware of reading things into songs for which there is no evidence beyond wishful thinking...

Malcolm

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Bernard
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 06:48 PM

It's what is known as a 'demon lover ballad', meaning that one of the partners has already died before the start of the song, so to speak.

The 'fair' means a field of flowers.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Lox
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:32 PM

Dear "...."

What are the words in Irish?

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: IanC
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 08:21 AM

JTT

The Contemplator looks useful on this.

"The original words were an old ballad from Donegal which was collected in 1909. The words were "reworked" by Padraic Colum to this version. Alternate titles and variants include, Our Wedding Day and Out of the Window."

Cheers!
Ian

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 07:49 AM

Padraic Colum told me when I was a child that he had written She Moved Through the Fair and was extremely chuffed to find it listed as "traditional" and "anonymous" within his lifetime. He saw this as a high compliment.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: okthen
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 04:12 AM

Alice

you may well be right about mixing the two songs up but,i'm pretty sure that's how i heard the story. maybe the person who told me had them mixed up?

i'll try and research this from C SHARP HOUSE but that could take a while

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: GUEST,Barry Finn
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:31 AM

Still wouldn't mind if someone posted the parody "She Fell Through The Floor". Thanks, Barry

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Alice
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 02:00 AM

okthen/bill, I think your memory has mixed this up with another song,click here MOLLY BAWN.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
From: BigDaddy
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 01:33 AM

Okay, to muddy the waters a little more:

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

She stepped away from me and she moved through the fair
And fondly I watched her move here and move there,
As homeward she went with one star awake
As a swan in the evening moves over the lake.

The people were saying, "no two were e'er wed,
But one has a sorrow that ne'er can be said."
She passed close beside me with her goods and her gear
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.

Last night she came to me, my dead love came in.
So softly she entered, her feet made no din.
She stepped close beside me, and this she did say:
"It will not be long love, 'til our wedding day."

I feel it's important to establish the fact that she's dead by the last verse. And the way I learned it (as written here) does that.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 23-Jul-02.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 09:36 PM

The "swan" image is just that; a poetic image of a sort particularly popular in Ireland, usually with no deeper significance.  So far as being mistaken for a swan and shot goes; well, that's a completely different story.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Lox
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 09:22 PM

There's a film starring Daniel Day Lewis about a dentist (passionately obsessed with oral hygiene) who goes to work in South America. I think Argentina, to be precise, but can't quite remember.

Anyway, he sings "She moved...etc..." in Irish whilst in the bath (steady now!).

It's a good film, but it's been a while since I saw it, so if anyone else has seen it and can remember the name, please post it.

You will then hear it as it was meant to sound (though abridged to a certain extent)

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: okthen
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 12:55 PM

i'm dredging this up from an aged memory but i was told that the couple were engaged to be married but she died before the wedding day

"and she made her way homeward with one star awake

as the swan in the evening moves over the lake"

she was shot by mistake by hunters who thought she was a swan

the night visiting lore is that an engaged couple would spend the night together before the wedding and that if anything happened to either of them the ghost of the departed would visit the other.

i can't remember the titles but there are songs where on the "night before" although the parents would turn a blind eye to the situation they would also tie pots and pans etc. beneath the bed so that the couple could sleep together but not energetically!

cheers

bill

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Naemanson
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 12:53 PM

I always thought that the bride to have died before the wedding. That's why: (a) her feet made no din; and (2) the song exists in the first place.

I doubt the song would have been created in the first place if they got married and lived happily ever after. And if it had been written about an actual marriage I doubt people would have kept the song alive without that element of tragedy.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Alice
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 12:23 PM

she died before they could marry, so her ghost came in at night to him (she came so softly that her feet made no din)

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: GUEST,Jana
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 12:09 PM

Hello,

Love all the info on She Moves. But no one has really touched on the actual story behind the song. Has this man married another and she's coming in the night to haunt him? "The people we're saying no two were ere wed" He didn't marry the girl moving through the fair. Anyone know?

Thanks!

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: DanMulligan
Date: 08 Jun 99 - 10:53 AM

A very interesting variation on this tune was recorded on Ashley MacIssac's CD, Hi, how are you today? It is titled "Sad Wedding Day" on this CD, and is sung in gaelic. Dan

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 03 Jun 99 - 01:49 AM

I just came across this post at rec.music.celtic I quote:

"Anúna [Anuna] are currently preparing to record this piece - and have confirmed with MCPS in Dublin that Padric Colum only wrote one verse of the four existing verses, therefore the traditional version has only three verses, not four as with Colum's version:
"My young love..." "She stepped away..." & "Last night..."

Can anyone give me any further verses or preferably information on this song?

Thank you

Michael McGlynn http://www.anuna.ie "

That would explain why that third verse is so often left out...

SingsIrish

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Philippa
Date: 02 Jun 99 - 01:13 PM

Dave Murphy (5 May 1997) - yes, I do

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Helen
Date: 02 Jun 99 - 12:24 AM

Hi all,

Here is a
midi file of She Moved Through the Fair http://members.aol.com/ReelyKEELY/midi.html

I suspect it might be a Barry Taylor sequence but it isn't credited with any names for the sequencing.

Helen

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Alice
Date: 01 Jun 99 - 10:10 PM

It's good to have you here, Pam. Yes, I noticed a few notes of similarity between the two.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: pam
Date: 01 Jun 99 - 04:02 PM

Hello out there...

I'm stepping out onto the thread for the first time with my little circus umbrella over my head for balance, so try not to laugh me off the page for this.

I'm brand new to traditional music, and I love She Moves Through the Fair as well. I just can't get it out of my head that it's fundamentally the same song as My Lagan Love (except for a lovely chord change in the b figure of Lagan). They're both very sweet and I've been wondering whether there's something in the origin of the two that accounts for the similar melody...Ah well to paraphrase Father Mulcahy in M*A*S*H, "...i'ts all just Sleepy Lagoon played fast."

By the way, it's pretty amazing that there's a place like this to have this sort of conversation!! Nice to be here.

Pam

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: alison
Date: 01 Jun 99 - 10:32 AM

Dan,

Go to the she moved through the fair Lyrics in the database and scroll to the bottom... click where it says "Click here to play"... you'll hear the tune.....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Dan
Date: 01 Jun 99 - 09:42 AM

Can anybody tell me how I can get the tune to this. I love the words but have no idea how it goes. Thanks.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: HåvardR
Date: 30 May 99 - 12:20 PM

This is somewhat embarassing, I was sure I had the lyrics for the parody written down at home, but I haven't. (blushing, and hoping someone will rescue him)

The chorus however , as far as I remember, goes:

She stepp'd away from me and she fell through the flare,
Through the linoleum and down the stairs
And she stepp'd away from me and this she did say:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiii (bump)

sorry, Håvard

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Helen
Date: 30 May 99 - 08:29 AM

Hi all,

An Australian singer, Kavisha Mazzella does a lovely version of this too on her CC called Mermaids at the Well

Helen

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Brakn
Date: 30 May 99 - 07:32 AM

My favourite version was by Sandy Denny when she was with Fairport Convention.

Mick Bracken

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Barry Finn
Date: 30 May 99 - 12:14 AM

Harvard, if you have the parody "She Fell Through The Floor" it would be far more scandelous if you didn't post it here, now. Barry

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Marlor
Date: 29 May 99 - 10:43 PM

Hi Lisa: I have to agree. It's one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs I've ever heard. Canada's CBC used to have a program hosted by a gentleman named Max fergusson. H'e play that song every onece in a while. I was blown away the first time I heard it.

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:59 PM

Thanks for fixing that Joe!

Mary

Subject: Chords Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:44 PM

Guess that idea with the chords didn't work! Here's the proper placement...

(D)My (C)young (Bm)love (C)said (D)to me, "My (C)mother won't (D)mind
And my father won't (Bm)slight you for (C)your lack of (D)kine."
And she stepp'd away (Bm)from me and (C)this she did (D)say:
"It (C)will (Bm)not (C)be (D)long love till our (C)wedding (D)day."

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:38 PM

In all the times I've heard this song sung, it seems everyone leaves out verse three (which Lisa mentioned) and it changes the feel of the song immensely! So I am going to post the lyrics again with verse three and chords as well... --SingsIrish Songs

SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR

  D--(C----Bm---C----D)---------C------------D---
  My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
  --------------------(Bm)-----------C------------D---
  And my father won't slight you for your lack of kine."
  ---------------------(Bm)--------C------------D---
  And she stepp'd away from me and this she did say:
  ----(C---Bm--C--D)-------------------C-------D---
  "It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

She stepp'd away from me and she moved through the fair,
And fondly I watched her go here and go there,
Then she went her way homeward with one star awake,
As the swan in the evening moves over the lake.

The people were saying no two were e'er wed,
But one has a sorrow 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.

I dreamt it last night that my young love came in,
So softly she entered, her feet made no din,
She came close beside me and this she did say,
"It will not be long, love, till our wedding day."

 and 

added to space chords.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Erin
Date: 29 May 99 - 05:40 PM

Mary Black sings another version on the album "Collected". ' Does anyone have the lyrics??

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Philippa
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:47 AM

Håvard, there's a space for you here:

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: HåvardR
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:43 AM

Hmm! This might be sligthly blasphemous, but has anyone heard the parody "She fell trough the flare (floor)"?

Håvard

Subject: RE: She Moves Through the Fair
From: Philippa
Date: 29 May 99 - 09:35 AM

Dave Murphy (5.5.97) Yes, I'd like the S Uist version! Is it to be found in Margaret Fay Shaw's book? I'm familiar with the English language song as sung by Paddy Tunney, Áine uí Cheallaigh and Jane Cassidy (Sam Henry collection) and , of course, as arranged by Padraic Colum, but I didn't know of a gaelic coneection.