"Skibbereen" (Roud 2312), also known as "Dear Old Skibbereen", "Farewell to Skibbereen", or "Revenge For Skibbereen", is a traditional Irish folk song. It takes the form of a dialogue wherein a father tells his son about the Irish famine, being evicted from their home in Skibbereen, and the need to flee as a result of the Young Ireland rebellion of 1848.Skibbereen. URL accessed 13 January 2007.
History
The song traces back from at least 1869, in The Wearing Of The Green Songbook, where it was sung with the melody of the music "The Wearing of the Green", and not with the more melancholic melody we know today.The Wearing Of The Green Song Book, Justin M'Carthy, page 208 (p. 220 in the link) Another early publication of the song was in a 19th-century publication, The Irish Singer's Own Book (Noonan, Boston, 1880).The Poets of Ireland, ed. D.J. O'Donoghue. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1912 In both of those early sources, the song is attributed to Patrick Carpenter, a poet native of Skibbereen. It was published in 1915 by Herbert Hughes who wrote that it had been collected in County Tyrone, and that it was a traditional ballad of the famine. It was recorded by John Lomax from Irish immigrants on Beaver Island, Michigan in the 1930s.
The son in the song asks his father why he left the village of Skibbereen, in County Cork, Ireland, to live in another country, to which the father tells him of the hardship he faced in his homeland. It ends on a vengeful note expressed by the son.
Lyrics The lyrics as they appear in Hughes' Irish Country Songs (1909) are as follows:
Recordings
The song has been performed live and recorded by The Dubliners, Wolfe Tones and Sinéad O'Connor as well as by many other contemporary Irish artists. In the film Michael Collins the Collins character, played by Liam Neeson, sings the song. It makes an appearance in the Victoria television series.
Artist Album Year of release The Wolfe Tones Rifles of the I.R.A. 1969 The Dubliners Plain and Simple 1973 Four to the Bar Another Son 1995 Irish Stew of Sindidun So Many Words... 2005
References