Annotation:Rory the Blacksmith from Ireland

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X:1 % T:Rory the Blacksmith from Ireland M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air S:Joyce – Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion R:Song Air Q:”With spirit, time well marked” K:D F/E/|D>ED DEF|EDD D2F|A>Bc dcB|| AB=c B2A|d>cB BAF|GFG A2A|Gdc BAF|E3 D2||

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RORY THE BLACKSMITH FROM IRELAND. Irish, Air (6/8 time, "with spirit"). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The song is from the pen of collector P.W. Joyce, set to an old air ("which I have selected for its fine swing...") he learned as a youth in Limerick, mid-19th century.

Now who is this sturdy young blacksmith I see,
With his hamm'ring and forging and singing in glee?
"O, I come from a land striving hard to be free,"
Says Rory the Blacksmith from Ireland.

"I come from old Erin of ancient renown,
A land under England, her laws and her crown,
A land where the people are wrong'd and kept down";
Says Rory the Blacksmith from Ireland.

"And here in Chicago I work day by day,
And at night, when I'm thinking, I earnestly pray
That good luck may attend on that land far away":
Says Rory the Blacksmith from Ireland

etc.