Annotation:O! The Shamrock
X:1 T:O! The Shamrock M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Air S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 398 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G d|B>GGG G>GGG|AGFG A>Bcd|BGGG GGGG|AGFG A>B c||c| B>ddd dddd|edcB A>Bcc|ccc>c cccc|dcBA G>A Bz| G3G F F2F|E>EEE D2D2|cccc BBBA|BGcA F2G2||
O! THE SHAMROCK (O! an t-Seamrog). AKA and see "Allie Croker," "Through Erin's Isle." Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The air is the melody "Allie Croker" (attributed to uilleann piper Lawrence Grogan) to which Thomas Moore set his song "O! the Shamrock." Moore's lyric begins:
Through Erin's Isle,
To sport awhile,
As love and valor wander'd,
with wit, the sprite,
whose quiver bright
A thousand arrows squander'd;
where'er they pass,
A triple grass
Shoots up, with dew-drops streaming,
As softly green
As emerald seem
Through purest crystal gleaming.
O the shamrock, the green, immortal Shamrock!
Chosen leaf
of Bard and Chief,
Old Erin's native shamrock!
County Leitrim fiddler and piper biography:Stephen Grier entered the melody as an untitled tune (No. 242) in Book 3 of his large c. 1883 music manuscript collection.
