SEAMUS O'BRIEN('S). AKA and see "By-Gone Days Waltz," "James O'Brien," "Shamus O'Brien." Irish, Slow Air: American, Canadian; Waltz. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody is very popular in the American Mid West as a waltz tune (as "Shamus O'Brien). It is in Francis O'Neill's early 20th century collection as "James O'Brien."
Written by American poet William Shakespeare Hays [1837-1907] in 1866 and published in sheet music form in 1867, as a song in answer to Nora O’Neal.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - Eleanor Townsend (Ontario, Canada) [Hinds].
Printed sources : - Hinds/Hebert (Grumbling Old Woman), 1981; p. 31. Matthiesen (Waltz Book II), 1995; p. 53.
