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A soft wind blowing sweet and warm
From the peaks called Knockmeal Down,
The songbird signs his cheery notes above black water sound;
From my heart all joys depart, no beauty can enthrall,
My Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal.
I met her at the Mallow Fair, where lovers sport and play,
I watched her feet trip lightly as a piper droned her way;
She sang a song so lilting there, her hands beneath her shawl,
Now Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal.
I followed her to Waterford the day the ship set sail,
Her mother let the tears down fall, her father's cheeks were pale;
I kissed her there, I lost her there, now sadly I recall,
My Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal.
And far across the ocean wide a world from Knockmeal Down,
My Kitty shines like silver in some far Canadian town;
She'll charm some French soldier there, I can't blame him at all,
My Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal.
A soft wind blowing sweet and warm
From the peaks called Knockmeal Down,
The songbird signs his cheery notes above black water sound;
From my heart all joys depart, no beauty can enthrall,
My Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal;
My Kitty Bawn O'Brien's gone to far off Montreal.
See more Allister MacGillivray songs.
Set in a small village on the southern tip of Ireland during the l800s, MacGillivray composed this song for a project on Celtic emigration that was being prepared by Denis Ryan. Published on the Barra MacNeils' recording Rock In The Stream (Polygram, 1989).
