Irish Boy- Annie Shirer (Aber) 1908 Greig J
[My title- none given. From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8 - page 261; by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002.
This is a variant of the Foolish Young Girl, or, Irish Boy as established by the chorus.
R. Matteson 2017]
J. Irish Boy- sung by Annie Shirer (b. 1873) of Kininmonth who got her ballads from her father and Uncle Kenneth Shirer. Collected by Gavin Grieg, c. 1908.
1. There is a Nell in this town
My love gangs there and sits hims down,
He takes another strange girlie on his knee,
Because she has more gold than me.
CHORUS: What a foolish Young girl was I, I, I,
To fall in love wi' an Irish boy;
An Irish boy O gin he be,
He spoke braid Scotch when he courted me.
2. I wish, I wish but I wish in vain,
I wish I were but a maid again,
But a maid again I'll never be
Unless the orange grows on an apple tree.
4. I wish my baby it was born,
Smiling on some nurse's knee,
And I mysel in the kirkyard lyin'
And the green sod coverin' me.
5. You'll dig my grave both lang and deep
put a tombstone at my head and feet,
And in the middle put a turtle dove,
To let me know that I died for love.