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Down By the Tanyard Side
See also: The Slaney Side (Collected By Leach)
And also: The Slaney Side (Collected by Peacock)

I am a rambling hero, by love I am ensnared,
Reared near the town of Countydown, there dwells a comely maid;
She is fairer than Diana bright, she is free from all earthly pride,
She is the lonely queen, her dwelling place lies near the Tanyard side.

I stood in meditation, I viewed her o'er and o'er,
I thought she was Aurora bright, descending down so low;
"Oh, no, kind sir, I'm a country girl," she modestly replied,
"I labour daily for my bread down by the Tanyard side."

Her golden hair in ringlets rare hung o'er her snow-white neck,
The kindling glances from her eyes t'would save a ship from wreck;
Her two brown sparkling eyes and her teeth like the ivory white,
They would make a man become her slave down by the Tanyard side.

For twelve long months we courted till at length we did agree,
For to acquaint her parents and it's married we would be;
Till at length her cruel father to me he proved unkind,
Which makes me sail across the seas and leave my love behind.

Farewell, my honest sweetheart, I now must bid adieu,
I am crossing the mid-ocean all for the love of you;
And if ever I'll return again if God spares me my life,
I will roll you in my arrums down by the Tanyard side.

####.... Author unknown. Variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad, The Tan-Yard Side [Laws M28] American Balladry From British Broadsides (G. Malcolm Laws, 1957). Also a variant of a 19th century British broadside ballad, The Tan-Yard Side, published by H. Disley (London) sometime between 1860 and 1883, and archived at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, shelfmark: Harding B 11(3956) ....####

Sung by Peter Molloy of St. Shott's, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA). A variant was also sung by Mrs. Bride Duggan (1900-1993) of Cape Broyle, NL, and published as The Slaney Side in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA). A variant was also collected in 1952 from Mrs. Phillip Foley of Tilting, NL, as The Slaney Side and in 1961 from Patrick W. Nash of Branch, NL, as The Tanyard Side by Ken Peacock and published in Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 2, pp.592-593, by the National Museum of Canada (1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.

From the Free Dictionary:
Tanyard - an enclosure where the tannng of leather is carried on; a tannery.

Note: The River Slaney diagonally divides Ireland's County Wexford in two.

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