The Leitrim Larks

Tag: North Leitrim

  • Lovely Corranmore

    Lovely Corranmore

    “Lovely Corranmore” is an emigration song expressing a Leitrim exile’s longing for home. Its narrator recalls leaving from Sligo Bay to seek a living in America and contrasts the factories, lights and nightclubs of New York with the clean air, hills, homes and familiar faces of Corranmore.

    The final verse identifies Corranmore as the birthplace of Seán MacDiarmada, the Leitrim-born revolutionary and signatory of the 1916 Proclamation. MacDiarmada inspired numerous songs and poems, but the writer of “Lovely Corranmore” has not yet been identified.

    The song was already in circulation by 1961, when Peggy Gilligan was recorded singing it in Drumshanbo. It was also recorded by the late Fermanagh singer Tommy McDermott and included on his album “In the Shadows of Sliabh Beagh”. The performance featured here was recorded when Tommy was 84 years old at the opening session of the Lisnaskea Traditional Music Weekend. of Aughavas, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Selton Hill Ambush.

    Song Details

    • Songwriter: Unknown
    • Place: Corranmore, near Kiltyclogher, County Leitrim
    • Theme: Emigration, homesickness, place and Seán MacDiarmada
    • Archival source: Leitrim Local Studies – Seán MacDiarmada
    • Singer on this recording: Tommy McDermott, County Fermanagh
    • Recorded by: Martin Donohoe
    • Video: Tommy McDermott singing at the opening session of the Lisnaskea Traditional Music Weekend, aged 84

    Listen to Tommy McDermott

    Lyrics

    Lovely Corranmore

    I sailed away from my cottage home many years ago

    On board a liner from Sligo Bay as the sun was sinking low

    I was shedding tears for the friends I knew as we sailed out from the shore

    I had said farewell to my parents dear in lovely Corranmore

    I was forced to go from my Leitrim home a living to obtain

    And far away I had to stray, all to America

    New York they say is very gay I’ve traversed it o’er and o’er

    It cannot compare to the Leitrim air, we scent round Corranmore

    I worked hard both day and night in a dreary factory

    The conditions there appeared to me to be almost slavery

    After prayers I’d descend the stairs, in the morning to the door

    To be greeted by a letter from my home in Corranmore

    These letters from my mother concerning all the news

    And postcards from my neighbours with all the local views

    To be here three thousand miles away, sure It grieves me to the core

    I long to see the friends I knew and loved round Corranmore

    Now all the lights In Brooklyn or night clubs on Broadway

    Cannot compare to the hills of Dubh or the homes around Killay

    They are living close to nature and I’ll soon return once more

    To Sean McDermott’s birthplace in lovely Corranmore

    Explore more Sean MacDiarmada Material

  • 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