Annotation:Katy Darling

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KATY DARLING. American, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. A popular song anonymously written around 1851, purportedly set to an Irish air. The first stanza (called "simple and artless" some forty years later) goes:

''Oh they tell me thou art dead, Katy darling,''<br>
''That thy smile I may nevermore behold!''<br>
''Did they tell thee I was false, Katy darling,''<br>
''Or my love for thee had e'er grown cold?''<br>
''Oh, they know not the loving of the hearts of Erin's sons
''Then a love like to thine, Katy darling,''<br>
''Is the goal to the race the he runs.''<br>
''Oh hear me, sweet Katy,''<br>
''For the wild flowers greet me, Katy darling,''<br>
''And the lovebirds are singing on each tree;''<br>
''Wilt thou nevermore hear me, Katy darling,''<br>
''Behold, love, I'm waiting for thee.''<br>

The song was sung in countless parlors and minstrel shows.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: O'Flannagan (The Hibernia Collection), Boston, 1860; p. 16.

Recorded sources:

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