Annotation:Pride of Petravore (The)

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PRIDE OF PETRAVORE, THE. AKA and see "Eileen Oge/Eileen Óg." Irish, Air or Hornpipe. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’BB. The air is that set to William Percy French (1854-1924) and Houston Collisson’s song "Eileen Oge, the Pride of Petravore." French was also the composer of such well known songs as “Darlin' Girl from Clare,” "Mountains of Mourne", "Phil the Fluther's Ball", "Abdul Abulbul Ameer" and "Come Back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff".

Eileen Og for that the darlin's name is
Through the barony her features they were famous
And if we loved her who could ever blame us
For wasn't she the pride of Petrovor.
But her beauty made us all so shy,
Not a man among us could look her in the eye
Boys, oh boys, that's now the reason why
We're lamenting for the pride of Petrovor.

Chorus:
Eileen Og, me heart is turning grey
Ever since the day you wandered far away
Eileen Og, there's good fish in the sea
But there's no one like the pride of Petrovor.

Friday night at the fair of Balatober
Eileen met McGrath, the cattle jobber
I'd like to set me mark upon that robber
For he stole away the pride of Petrovar.
He didn't seem to notice her at all
Even when she ogled him underneath her shawl
Lookin' big and masterful while she was lookin small
Most provoking for pride of Petrovar.

So it went as it had in the beginning,
Eileen Og was big upon the winnin'
While big McGrath contentedly was grinnin'
At being courted by the pride of Petrovar.
Said he, "I know a girl who could knock you into fits."
At that lovely Eileen nearly lost her wits.
But the upshot of the ruction is that now the robber sits
With his arm around the pride of Petrovor.

So, me boys with fate it's hard to grapple
Of me eye, sure Eileen was the apple
And now to see her going to the chapel
with the hardest featured man in Petrovor.
So me boys, here's all I have to say
When you do your courtin', make no display
And if you want them to run after you,
Walk the other way
For they're mostly like the pride of Petrovor.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF3040, De Dannan - "Ballroom" (1987). De Dannan – “Greatest Hits."

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]

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