Annotation:Lovely Sweet Banks of the Suir (The)
X:1 T:Lovely Sweet Banks of the Suir, The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air S:Joyce - Ancient Irish Music (1890) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F FG | A2d2d2 | c2 AG FD | D2 CD FG | A2c2 A>F | G2F2F2 | F4 :||FG | A2c2 de | f2 df e>c | d>c A2 (3cde | f2e2 dc | A2c2c2 | d4 (3cde | F2g2 fd | c2 AG FD | D2 CD FG | A2c2 AF | G2F2F2 | F4 ||
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 1853 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.
