"Carrickfergus" is an Irish folk song, named after the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Most of the story seems to occur in and around Kilkenny; indeed the "Ballygran" referred to in the song may be the local Ballingarry coal mines. "Marble...black as ink" is also mined locally. It was first recorded, under the name "The Kerry Boatman", by Dominic Behan on an LP called The Irish Rover, released in 1965. An almost identical version was recorded afterwards by the Clancy brothers.
Origins
The origins of the song are unclear, but the melody has been traced to an Irish-language song, "Do Bhí Bean Uasal", which is attributed to the poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna, who died in 1756 in County Clare. Music collector George Petrie obtained two settings of this melody from fellow collector Patrick Joyce. Joyce came from Ballyorgan in the Ballyhoura Mountains, on the borders of counties Limerick and Cork. Petrie wrote that he believed "Do Bhí Bean Uasal" came from either County Clare or County Limerick, and was in any case a Munster song. A version of the song appeared on a ballad sheet in Cork City in the mid nineteenth century in macaronic form. The Irish lyrics were about a man being cuckolded, a bawdy and humorous ditty. By contrast, the English lyrics are nostalgic. Robert Gogan suggests Carrickfergus may have evolved from at least two separate songs, which would explain why it does not have a consistent narrative. For example, the Ancient Music of Ireland, published by George Petrie in 1855, contained an Irish-language song called "An Bhean Uasal" which featured many but not all of the sentiments used in Carrickfergus. Gogan also refers to a recording of a song called "Sweet Maggie Gordon" which is kept in the Music for the Nation section of the US Library of Congress. It was published by Mrs Pauline Lieder in New York in 1880. It contains verses which are similar to Carrickfergus, but the chorus is closer to another Irish/Scottish folk song called "Peggy Gordon". In modern times, "Carrickfergus" became known after actor Peter O'Toole related it to Dominic Behan, who put it in print and made a recording in 1965. In his book, "Ireland Sings", Behan gives three verses of which he says, that he obtained two verses from O'Toole and wrote the middle one himself. It is also referenced in the song, "Galway Girl" written and performed by Ed Sheeran on the album "Divide".
Performances
The song has been recorded by many well known performers. It is a popular request at folk festivals and concerts, and was played at the 1999 funeral of John F. Kennedy, Jr. The song was more recently performed by Loudon Wainwright III over the closing credits of an episode of HBO's series Boardwalk Empire. Furthermore, the Russian singer-songwriter Aleksandr Karpov translated the lyrics into Russian, recording a Russian version of "Carrickfergus", also titled italic=no. The song "The Water is Wide" has a similar tune and very similar lyrics in some lines. Recordings have been made by many people including Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, The Seekers and two former members of The Byrds, Roger Mcguinn and Chris Hillman, who both did solo versions. Bryan Ferry also did a version on his 1978 album The Bride Stripped Bare.
