> Danny Spooner > Songs > The Maid of Cúil Mór
The Maid of Culmore
[
Roud 2493
; Henry H687
; Ballad Index HHH687
; Mudcat 19653
; trad.]
Sam Henry's Songs of the People
Sheila Stewart of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, learned The Maid of Culmore from her uncle, Donald MacGregor, and sang it in September 1954 to Maurice Fleming. This recording was included in 2011 on the Greentrax anthology Songs and Ballads from Perthshire Field Recordings of the 1950s (Scottish Tradition 24).
Danny Spooner, accompanied by Mick Farrell, sang The Maid of Cúil Mór in 1978 on their album Limbo. He noted:
This song was taught to me by Denny MacKay, a lovely little Melbourne singer, who heard it while she was in Ireland. It is one of the many and plaintive songs of Irish emigration.
Jolly Jack sang Maids of Culmore in 1983 on their Fellside album Rolling Down to Old Maui.
Rhiannon sang The Maid of Coolmore in 1985 on their Fellside album The Birds of Rhiannon.
Kevin Dempsey sang The Maid from Coolmore in 1989 on Whippersnapper's album Fortune.
Jo Freya sang Maids of Coolmore on her and Kathryn Locke's 1993 No Masters CD Lush.
Sheila MacGregor of Rattray, Perth, sang The Maid of Kilmore to Mike Yates in 2005. He included this in his 2006 EFDSS book and CD of songs of English and Scottish Travellers and Gypsies 1965-2005, Traveller's Joy.
The Willows sang Maid of Culmore, “[a] touching Irish ballad, thought to date from the late 1800s”, on their 2013 EP Bella and on their 2014 CD Amidst Fiery Skies. This video shows them at Cambridge Folk Festival 2015:
Francy Devine sang Maid of Culmore on his 2020 album An Ownerless Corner of Earth. He noted:
In Sam Henry's Songs of the People (University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA & London, 1990, p.302) this song (listed as H687, 23 January 1937) was collected from John Moore of Cloyfin who learned it from James M'Mullan, itinerant farm labourer. Culmore (Cüil Mör) is about two miles north of Derry city where the river Foyle broadens into Lough Foyle and was an emigrants' departure point. The song is thought to date from the late 1800s. Widely recorded, Swedish double bassist Kristin Borgehed brings an interesting interpretation to a song that is a favourite as its echoes my Inishowen ancestry.
Lyrics
Sheila Stewart sings The Maid of Culmore | Danny Spooner sings The Maid of Cúil Mór |
---|---|
From sweet Londonderry to fair London town |
From sweet Londonderry to fair London town |
Noo the first time I met her, oh she passed me by, |
Oh, the first time I saw her she passed me by, |
Noo if I had the power a storm I'd rise, |
Oh if I had the power the storms for to arise, |
Tae the north of America my loveI'll go tae see, |
But now I'm bound to North Americay my love for to see, |
Kevin Dempsey sings The Maid from Coolmore | |
From sweet Londonderry to fair London town The first time I saw her she passed me by, I'll follow my love to North America If I had the power, storms I would rise, (repeat first verse) |
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Garry Gillard for providing Kevin Dempsey's lyrics.