Annotation:Lovely Sweet Banks of the Suir (The)
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LOVELY SWEET BANKS OF THE SUIR, THE. Irish, Air (3/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Stanford/Petrie): AAB (Joyce). P. W. Joyce (1890) notes: "The song which has given name to this air--beginning 'The very first day I left Carrick,' is still printed on sheets, and sung by ballad-singers in the southern counties." "Banks of the Suir (1)" is a similar title. O'Neill (1913) classifies this melody in a group with "Willy Reilly" et al (see note for "Annotation:Willy Reilly"). Howe's and Joyce's versions are identical.
In 1859 in Transactions of the Ossianic Society "Lovely Sweet Bands of the Suir" is labelled a 'street ballad', "very popular in Munster, commencing thus:--
The very first day I left Carrick,
Was the twenty-ninth day of last June.
Source for notated version: "From P. Conneely" (Coneely was a popular piper from Galway who died in 1850) [Stanford/Petrie].
Printed sources: Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 24. Joyce (Ancient Irish Music), 1890; No. 39, p. 41. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 801, p. 200.
Recorded sources: