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Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow

24 Feb 97 - 05:04 PM (#2518)
Subject: a pretty maid milking a cow
From:

I'm searching for a friend who remembers a terrific song Judy Garland sang 50 years ago at Carnegie Hall. Found the title on a list of recordings she made for Capital Records, but no luck with lyrics. Anyone remember it?

26 Feb 97 - 09:52 PM (#2606)
Subject: RE: a pretty maid milking a cow
From: dulcmrdav@aol.com

It is on an album by Thistle & Roses, "Wind on the Moor" Contact me for a copy. Dave
Messages from multiple threads combined. Messages below are from a new thread.
-Joe Offer-

02 Apr 00 - 05:46 PM (#205739)
Subject: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Ebbie

Does anyone know the author or the lyrics to this pretty waltz? I found part of one verse in an OLD, worn and torn book. It starts

It was on a bright morning in summer
When I first heard her voice singing low
And I said to the colleen beside me
Who's the pretty maid milking her cow

If I remember correctly it was written in the late 1800s. I wrote a second verse and conceivably I wrote part of the first verse. But I would much prefer the original! Thanks in advance.

02 Apr 00 - 05:56 PM (#205748)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: GUEST

Look for an old thread on the subject. There's been more than one song to that old Irish tune.

02 Apr 00 - 06:04 PM (#205752)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Ebbie

Thanks but how do I do that, Guest? It's not in the DT under this name.

02 Apr 00 - 06:08 PM (#205754)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: GUEST

I didn't ay it was in DT. Go to Quick Links and Search the Forum for old thread .

02 Apr 00 - 06:41 PM (#205758)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Ebbie

Wow! I had no idea. Thanks, Guest.

02 Apr 00 - 07:54 PM (#205790)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Alice

See earlier thread Info: Pretty Maid (Girl) Milking a Cow click here and the same tune for Terence's Farewell To Kathleen click here

02 Apr 00 - 08:22 PM (#205799)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Ebbie

Thanks, Alice. That's where I went on Guest's instruction. However, I don't make out a B part- just A. Is that correct? I realize that many lyrics for fiddle tunes are like that. Do you know of any lyrics that fit the B part?

03 Apr 00 - 10:00 AM (#206009)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: GUEST,Gentleman Jim

There is a folk song by this name which was collected by Percy Grainger in the early 1900s, for which he made several arrangements. They are available on a number of recordings now - notably Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten, or alternatively check the new range of Chandos recordings.

I believe he only collected two verses - at least his arrangement has only the two, and he was usually scrupulously faithful to his original collected versions!

From memory, the lyrics are:

It was early one bright summer's morning
When the birds sat and sang on each bough
I heard a young damsel a-singing
There as she sat milking her cow

She sang with a voice so melodious
It made me scarce ab' to go
And my heart is now riven with sorrow
By the pretty maid milking her cow

I'll check these over the next couple of days and get back to you.

03 Apr 00 - 10:06 AM (#206012)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Alice

G.Jim, there are lyrics at the links already provided.

Ebbie, here is notation with words if that helps click here, Colm O Lochlainn There are seven verses to this version, which I did not copy. Colm O Lochlainn's book is available from libraries.

Alice Flynn

03 Apr 00 - 10:30 AM (#206019)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Gentleman Jim

Thanks for your help, Alice - as you can see, I'm only just beginning to find my way around this site!

03 Apr 00 - 07:16 PM (#206240)
Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: TOMMY MCDONAGH
From: Snuffy

On the Grehan Sisters 1967 album "On the Galtymore Mountains" is a song called Tommy McDonagh, which seems to be related to the Pretty Maid. I've had this for over 30 years but have been unable to make out many of the words (in bold type) of this song.
Would Cailín Deas Crúite Na Mbó sound like Colleen jas crucha na mor to an English ear?
And is it the same song, even though the words and the tune are different??

TOMMY MCDONAGH

As I roamed by the shores of Loch Gara
On the eve of a bright harvest day
'Twas there I beheld a young maiden
As I homeward was winding my way.
Oh I tried for to hide my emotion
For her features I miss nor recall/mystery call
I stood and I gazed there enchanted
On the colleen jas crucha na mor.

She sang of the one she loved dearly
And her voice it was mellow and clear
And the note of her song, sadly playing
"My love was a bold Volunteer.
His name it was Tommy McDonagh
And his eke will I miss and recall/mystery call
And his memory still lives in my bosom"
Said the colleen jas crucha na mor.

"My love, he was tall, young and handsome
He was perfect in every degree
And my heart it is broke in deep sorrow
Since the evening he parted from me."
"Goodbye, love, my comrades are waiting
I will meet you next Sunday at four"
"But alas, 'twas a parting for ever"
Said the colleen jas crucha na mor.

"That night as I lay in my slumber
I dreamed never ever so strange
I saw Orange forces/horses in conflict
And my love he stood by his close range/grave
The shots they rang out with emotion
And my love he was laid in his pall
I awoke and my heart was near broken"
Said the colleen jas crucha na mor.

"My love, all the fair maids of Ireland
Who pray that his soul rest on high
All along with those bold IRA men
Who for their own country did die.
Dear Tommy, may we yet meet in Heaven
Where our parting for ever shall be o'er
Where we'll sing with God's angels above us
Said the colleen jas crucha na mor.

X: 1
T:Tommy McDonagh
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=90
K:G
|:dd|d4AB|c2d3A |B/G/-G2-G3-|G2z2dd|
g4fg|a2g2f2|e6- |e2z2ef|
g4fg|a2g2f2|e/A/-A2-A3-|A2z2fe|
d4AB|c2B2A2|G6- |G4z2:||



The sleeve notes of the 1967 LP say:

This ballad was written by a man called Patrick McGrath who lives just outside the town of Boyle, County Roscommon. The story is of a young lad named Tommy McDonagh who was shot by the Tans in 1921 during an attempted raid on the barracks in Castlerea which was occupied by the Tans. McDonagh's mother and his fiancée were forced to drag his corpse through the streets of Castlerea as a warning to the rest of the Irish. McDonagh who was only twenty one years old came from a place called Cloonlo which is about six miles from Boyle. This song is a great favourite in Roscommon.
The parents of the Grehan Sisters used to run a bar in Boyle, so I guess that's where they learned the song.

Wassail! V

03 Apr 00 - 07:56 PM (#206256)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE PRETTY GIRL MILKING HER COW
From: GUEST,radriano

Here's another song with that title:

THE PRETTY GIRL MILKING HER COW
[from "The Ancient Music of Ireland", composed by a Miss Balfour]

The moon calmly sleeps on the ocean
And tinges each white bosom'd sail
The barque, scarcely conscious of motion
Glides slowly before the soft gale
How vain are the charms they discover
My heart from its sorrows to draw
While memory sill carries me over
To the pretty girl milking her cow (To cailin beog chruite na mbo)

Ye billows, beneath me now swelling
to you my hard fate I deplore
Though far from my oak-shaded dwelling
Ye bear me to some distant shore
Though blood-thirsty pirates may sever
My frame from thy cot roof'd with straw
This heart shall adore thee for ever
My pretty girl milking the cow

Ye breezes! around me that hover
The tale of my woes ye may learn
And bear back the sighs of a lover
Who never again shall return
For next, when along the waves fading
The last blush of evening shall glow
Those waves will my sorrows be shading
My pretty girl milking the cow

radriano

03 Apr 00 - 10:24 PM (#206300)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: Alice

Snuffy, use the link I posted here to go to the earlier thread on this song. The phrase is written there in gaelic and in phonetic English.
Earlier thread on Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow, Cailín Deas Crúite na mBó

alice

31 May 03 - 08:13 PM (#962669)
Subject: Lyr Add: CAILÍN DEAS CRÚITE NA MBÓ (PRETTY MAID...
From: GUEST,CTodd1000@aol.com

Here's the lyrics from Cathie Ryan's incredible CD, titled "Somewhere Along the Road."

Hope this helps. Yours, Catherine Todd, Durham / Oxford NC

http://www.cathieryan.com/songs_Cailin_Deas_Cruite_na_mBo.html

Cailín Deas Crúite na mBó (Pretty Maid Milking a Cow)

(traditional, adapted by Cathie Ryan)

It being on a fine summer's morning,
As the birds sweetly tuned on each bower,
I heard a fair maid sing most charming
As she sat milking her cow.
Her voice was enchanting melodious,
Which left me scarce able to go,
My heart was soothed with solace,
By the cailín deas crúite na mbó.

I courteously did salute her:
"Good morning, most amiable maid.
I'm your captive slave for the future."
"Kind sir, do not banter," she said.
"I am not such a precious rare jewel,
That I should enamour you so,
I am but a plain country girl,"
Says the cailín deas crúite na mbó.

"The Indies afford no such jewels,
So precious, so transparent clear.
Do not refuse me, my jewel,
Consent now and love me, my dear.
For riches I care not a farthing,
It's your love that I want and no more.
I'd rather live poor on the mountain
With the cailín deas crúite na mbó."

"I don't understand what you mean sir,"
I ne'er was a slave yet to love.
For these feelings I have no desire
So I pray your affections remove.
To marry, I can assure you,
That state I will not undergo.
I'm prepared to live single and airy,"
Says the cailín deas crúite na mbó.

25 Sep 09 - 01:01 PM (#2731188)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow
From: GUEST,mike maclellan

looking for the tab for this. A friend played it once or twice for me a long time ago and I remember it was the nicest piece I had ever heard played on guitar.