The Leitrim Larks

Tag: emigration

  • Rossinver Braes/ The Lovely Melvin Side

    Rossinver Braes/ The Lovely Melvin Side

    “Rossinver Braes”, also known as “The Lovely Melvin Side”, is a song of emigration and longing for home. Its verses praise the landscape and people of Rossinver and Lough Melvin, recalling Sheehan’s Mountain, Rossinver Cemetery, neighbouring houses filled with music and dancing, and the sound of the thrush and blackbird.

    A version was preserved in the Schools’ Collection in the late 1930s. It was supplied by Terence Connolly, aged 66, of Larganhugh, Rossinver, and written down by Michael G. Hughes, principal teacher at Rossinver National School. The manuscript attributes the song to a deceased local writer whose name appears to read “Patrick Magee”. The surname is difficult to decipher and is transcribed on Dúchas.ie as “Uagle”, so the attribution should be treated with some caution.

    The song remained in oral tradition. On 10 November 1971, collector Tom Munnelly recorded Morty Gilmartin of Blacklion singing it under the title “The Lovely Melvin Side”. That recording is now held in the National Folklore Collection’s Audio Collection.

    Song Details

    • Songwriter: Patrick “Magee” (surname to be verified)
    • Place: Rossinver and Lough Melvin, County Leitrim
    • Theme: Emigration, landscape, courtship and longing for home
    • Archival sources: Dúchas Schools’ Collection and Audio Collection
    • Source singer: Morty Gilmartin, Blacklion, County Cavan
    • Recorded by: Tom Munnelly
    • Recording date: 10 November 1971
    • Audio reference: TM0019B.3
    • Roud number: 31673

    Listen

    Fionnuala Maxwell – Rossinver Braes / The Lovely Melvin Side

    Fionnuala learned the song from the 1971 recording of Morty Gilmartin and supplemented it with a verse preserved in the Dúchas Schools’ Collection.

    Listen to Morty Gilmartin’s 1971 archival recording

    Lyrics

    Rossinver Braes


    Adieu my native country boys must I leave you all behind
    And go and seek my fortune in some far and foreign clime
    To leave the land that gave me birth it grieves my heart full sore
    Adieu my old aged parents will I ever see you more

    The grandeur of my native place it’s rare for to behold
    It’s brighter far than the morning star or a diamond set in gold
    For the glorious sun of a summer’s morn sends forth her glittering rays
    To enchant the scene that looks so grand round bold Rossinver’s braes

    In the summertime when the fields are fine and the days are bright and clear
    The woods around with music sound to enlighten the wanderer’s ear
    It’s by the thrush and blackbird as they sit on their boughs with pride
    Singing the praise of Rossinver Braes and the lovely Melvinside

    Adieu to Sheeaun Mountain and her subterranean caves
    Where the hare and sheep for shelter seek when the wintry winds do rage
    The boys and the girls in the summertime to this hill they’ll go with pride
    With the love in their eye as they pass by the lovely Melvinside

    On a winter’s night when the moon shines bright and the stars do twinkle above
    It’s to some neighbour’s house we go to meet the girls with love
    We’ll sit and chat about this and that or dance a reel or slide
    Where e’er I roam I can find none like the girls on the Melvinside

    Adieu Rossinver Cemetery, famed for it’s beautiful scene
    Its castle hall and crested wall clad o’er in ivy green
    There’s some patriot sons in tombs now lie who with fervour and with pride
    They once enjoyed a happy home near the lovely Melvinside

    Sources & Credits

  • Farewell Bornacoola

    Farewell Bornacoola

    Farewell Bornacoola is an emigration ballad written by Molly (Reynolds) Connor. In the tradition of many Irish emigration songs, it recalls scenes from the writer’s childhood around Bornacoola in south County Leitrim and laments the fact that so many local people had to leave home to make a living elsewhere. The song captures both the pain of departure and the lasting attachment emigrants retained to the people and places they had left behind.

    Song Details

    • Songwriter: Molly (Reynolds) Connor
    • Place: Bornacoola, County Leitrim
    • Theme: Emigration, childhood and remembrance
    • Song type: Ballad
    • Singer on this recording: Fionnuala Maxwell
    • Recorded by: Fionnuala Maxwell
    • Earlier singer associated with the song: John/Seán Roche

    The song was also known to have been sung by John (Seán) Roche, although no recording of his version has yet been located.

    Lyrics

    FAREWELL BORNACOOLA 

    Farewell Bornacoola, I’m lonely to leave you, 

    My thoughts will be with you wherever I go 

    For ‘twas there I was born and it’s there I would tarry, 

    In the fields where so sweetly the Rynn waters flow. 

    ‘Twas there in the summer we strolled through the meadows 

    To Rynn where in plenty the blueberries grow. 

    On the heathery banks between Bor and Gortletteragh 

    We sat where so sweetly the Rynn waters flow. 

    ‘Twas there we went fishing for perch, pike or cardy 

    Or swam in the river near the bridge down below. 

    We played on the alley or kicked the brown leather, 

    In the fields where so sweetly the Rynn waters flow. 

    From Dromod to Clooneen, through Rooskey’s wide arches, 

    There flows the broad Shannon to guard on the West, 

    Here Leitrim and Longford united forever, 

    Make proud Bornacoola as good as the best. 

    But thousands are leaving the homes of their fathers, 

    To seek fame or fortune wherever they go 

    They’ll never find any more kind or more friendly, 

    Than in old Bornacoola where the Rynn waters flow. 

    Sources & Credits

    • Words: Molly (Reynolds) Connor
    • Performance and recording: Fionnuala Maxwell
    • Research and contextual notes: Fionnuala Maxwell
    • Source: Meandering Through Bornacoola by Scully John and MacAodha, Donnchadh.