Annotation:Shule Aroon (2)
X:1 T:Shule Aroon [2] T:I wish I was on yonder hill M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Larghetto Deloroso" B:P.M. Haverty – One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 2 (1858, No. 194, p. 88) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amin E2|c3c B3B|A2 (AG) E3 E|G3E (GAc>B)|{A}(G3E) [B,2D2] (CD)| (E3D) (C>DEF)|(G>AGE) c3B|(A>BAG) (E>DEG)|A6 E2| [E4A4c4][E4G4B4]|A2 {B}AG E4|(G2 FE) [E2c2]B2|(G2 {A}GE D2) (CD| E2) {F}(ED) C2D2|{E}(A3Bc2) ~ed|(c2 {dc}B>)(A {B}e2) ^G2|A6||
SHULE AROON [2] (Siubal a Run). AKA and see "Shule Agra," “Siúl a ghrá.” Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time, "palintively"). A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "This simple and pathetic little ballad is a favourite all over Ireland. The words have been printed in many collections for more than a century, including Duffy's 'Ballad Poetry of Ireland': and I have copies on sheets issued by 'Haly, Printer, North Main Street, Cork.' I have known both words and air from my earliest days. I give the air, partly from memory, and partly from Forde, who has half a dozen settings in his collection. It is sometimes written in 3/4 time, and indeed the version in my memory inclines to that. A version of the song was published, with the air harmonised, by a well known Dublin musician, the late Joseph Robinson. The ballad belongs to the time of the 'Wild Geese' or Irish Brigade (between 1691 and 1745), when thousands of young Irishmen went to the Continent to enlist in the armies there, chiefly French. For Mr. A.P. Graves's adaption of this old song, see his Irish Song Book, pg. 6. Gerald Griffin has a song to the air also, 'My Mary of the Curling Hair,' with the old chorus altered and adapted" (Joyce).
I wish I were on yonder hill, 'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill, Till every tear would turn a mill, 'Is go dee tu mavourneen slaun'. Shule, shule, shule, aroon, Shule go suckir agus shule go cune, Shule go deen durrus agus eilig lume, Is go dee tu mavourneen slaun. (Joyce)
Folksingers Peter, Paul and Mary recorded an American version based on the song “Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier,” stemming from Revolutionary War times. Their lyric goes:
Here I sit on Buttermilk Hill who could blame me, cry my fill Every tear would turn a mill, Johnny's gone for a soldier.
Chorus: Shule, shule, shule-a-roo, Shule-a-rak-shak, shule-a-ba-ba-coo. When I saw my Sally Babby Beal, come bibble in the boo shy Lorey.
I sold my flax, I sold my wheel, to buy my love a sword of steel So it in battle he might wield, Johnny's gone for a soldier.
Oh my baby, oh, my love, gone the rainbow, gone the dove. Your father was my only love, Johnny's gone for a soldier.
Folksinger Sara Grey sang this version, collected in the early 20th century in the Midwestern United States:
I'll sell my hat, I'll sell my coat, to buy my Love a little flat boat. Down the river we will float, come bibble in a bush aye lorie
I'll sell my (hat?), I'll sell my vest, to get enough money to go out West. There I think I can do the best, come bibble in a bush aye lorie