Carrickfergus
Traditional
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- [Traditional]
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"Carrickfergus" is an Irish folk song named after the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The origins of the song are unclear and there is no historical lineage. It is most likely a merging of a number of songs. It has been traced to an Irish-language song, "Do bhí bean uasal" ("There Was a Noblewoman"), which is attributed to the poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna, who died in 1745 in County Clare. The song appears on a ballad sheet in Cork City in the mid nineteenth century.
Other sources suggest Carrickfergus may have evolved from at least two separate songs. For example, the “Ancient Music of Ireland” published by George Petrie in 1855 contained a song called "The Young Lady" which featured many but not all of the lyrics used in Carrickfergus. Gogan also refers to a recording of a song called "Sweet Maggie Gordon" published by Mrs Pauline Lieder in New York in 1880. It contains verses which are similar to Carrickfergus but the chorus is closer to another Irish/Scottish folk song called "Peggy Gordon". It has also been claimed that that the song first appeared as a ballad also known as “The Young Sick Lover”, published in 1830 but with perhaps earlier origins. Also closely related is another traditional song, "The Water is Wide", which has a similar tune and very similar lyrics in some lines.
In modern times, legend is that "Carrickfergus" became known to Irish folk singer Dominic Behan after actor Peter O'Toole related it to him. It has since been reported that O’Toole first heard the song in 1946. However the song that he recorded was a hybrid between the song he knew and a longer version relayed to him by his friend Richard Harris in 1957. Behan put it in print and made recordings in the 1960s, under the titles “The Kerry Boat Song” and “The Kerry Boatman”. The middle verse was allegedly written by Behan. - Licensing
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