X:1
T:Sweet Colleen Rue
M:C
L:1/8
R:Air
Q:"Mod.: rather slow."
N:Learned from hearing it sung at home in Limerick as a child.
S:Joyce – Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:Dmix
DE|GAGE c2 dc|A>GED D2DE|G>AGE c2 d>c|A2 d>d d2 cd|
edce d2 dB|cBAG E2 GA|c>d e/d/c/B/|A>G E/D/C/D/|E2 D>D D2||
SWEET COLLEEN RUE. AKA - "Sweet Cailín Ruadh." Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part.
One evening fresh and fair as I roved to take the air, Down by the pleasant water my way I did pursue Advancing by its side where the stream did gently glide, ‘Twas there I first espied my sweet Colleen Rue. ...[Joyce]
A very close variant was entered into Book 2 of the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric wikipedia:James_Goodman_(musicologist) (1828-1896), who obtained it from the music manuscript of collector wikipedia:John_Edward_Pigot (1822-1871).
Additional notes Source for notated version : - "I learned this air from hearing it often sung at home when I was a child. I find an almost identical setting in [Irish collector William] Forde's Collection, given to him by Mr. Deasy of Clonakilty Co. Cork" [Joyce].
Printed sources : - Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 12, p. 9.
