“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
- Words: Patrick Magee?
- Performance and recording: Fionnuala Maxwell, Tom Munnelly, Morty Gilmartin
- Research and contextual notes: Fionnuala Maxwell
- Source: Dúchas Rossinver School’s Collection Manuscript
The Leitrim Larks 