Spancil Hill, or in original spelling Spancilhill, is a traditional Irish folk ballad composed by Michael Considine, who was born in Spancil Hill and migrated to the US. It bemoans the plight of the Irish emigrants who so longed for home from their new lives in America. This song is sung by a man who longs for his home in Spancill Hill, County Clare, his friends and the love he left there. All the characters and places in this song are real.
History
Spancil Hill is located in County Clare, Ireland, just outside Ennison the road to Tulla. Spancil Hill Fair is one of the oldest horse fairs in Ireland. It is held annually on 23 June. Spancil refers to the practice of "spancilling," which was to use a short rope to tie an animal's left fore-leg to its right hind leg, thereby hobbling the animal and stopping it from wandering too far. Michael Considine of Spancilhill was born about 1850. In 1851, after the Great Famine, there were fewer than 20 houses, so its population was not recorded separately from the townland, whose total population had fallen from 278 in 46 houses to 174 in 34. Considine emigrated to the United States of America around 1870. He left intending to make enough money to send for his sweetheart so they could be married. Her name was Mary MacNamara, and she is mentioned in the song as ‘Mack the Ranger's daughter’. Considine worked in Boston for two years or so before moving to California. In failing health, he wrote the poem in memory of the hometown he would not live to see again, and posted it to his young nephew in Ireland. Michael Considine died in California in 1873 at the age of twenty-three. The rendition of the late singer/songwriter Robbie McMahon, who died in 2012 at the age of eighty-six, is widely regarded as the definitive version of Spancil Hill. The best known version of the song is that sung by the Dubliners and Christy Moore, which is highly abbreviated and makes a number of changes to the lyrics – for example renaming the protagonist "Johnny" instead of "Mike", and describing his love as daughter of a farmer instead of the local ranger.
Lyrics
The below version is the one sung by Robert McMahon which is considered to be closest to Michael Considine's original poem.
