Traditional
I learned this from the singing of Tommy Maken. Tommy gives no credit for it, so I assume it's traditional. We recorded this years ago for Folk Legacy Records in Sharon, Connecticut, and we're grateful to Sandy and Caroline Paton for letting us use it here. (GB)
'Tis pretty to be in
Ballinderry
'Tis pretty to be in
Ahalee
'Tis prettier to be in
bonny Ram's Island
Sitting forever beneath a
tree.
For often I've sailed to
bonny Ram's Island
Arm and arm with Phelimy
Diamond
And he would whistle and I
would sing
And we would make the
whole island ring.
"I'm going," he
said, "from bonny Ram's Island
Out and across the deep
blue sea
And if in your heart you
love me, Mary,
Open your arms at last to
me."
'Twas pretty to be in
Ballinderry
Now it's as sad as sad can
be
For the ship that sailed
with Phelimy Diamond
Is sunk forever beneath
the sea.
Ahone, ahone.
(Having no written source for this, the spelling is all our own.)
Balinderry is recorded on the album Language
of the Heart