According to Daniel O'Keeffe's First Book of Irish Ballads (1955), She
Moved Thro the Fair was "adapted by Padraig Colum from an old ballad. The
generally used  musical version is an adaptation by Herbert Hughes" (p.
61). See also Hugh Shields, Narrative Singing in Ireland (1993). The
McPeakes recorded it for The Folksongs of Britain first issued by Caedmon
between 1961 and c1968.

It seems to me rather too easy to pronounce it non-traditional since it is
a complex case of a printed "adaptation" reentering oral tradition, albeit
with minor variations.>She moved through the fair was written by Mcpeake
not that long ago. I
>cannot consider it traditional. He told me he wrote it (in about 1960) when
>I met him.
>
>To be traditional it has to go through the process of acceptance, variation
>and transmission
>
>John Davis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 23 September 1999 14:26
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The concluding ghost stanza theory
>
>
>>> Incidentally, I have a theory that any song which has a ghost in the
>last
>>> verse like this is a fake-traditional song. I can't think of any real
>>> traditional songs which have this lame ending. Can anyone else?
>>> Steve Roud
>
>> This theory makes sense to me. Buerger's 'Vicar's Daughter of
>> Taubenhain' - one of the most popular of his long sentimental
>> ballads, written in the 1770s/80s - ends with a creepy (not *too*
>> lame) stanza about the 'spook you can still catch a glimpse of and
>> hear moaning today, down by the old pond ...' (that's a summary, not
>> a 'translation'). I don't know of anything like it in earlier
>> German ballads, or ones which were actually taken into or created in
>> non-literary/non-print traditions. But let's hear from some other
>> (non)experts. And if it is a literary tradition, where does it come
>> from?
>
>I can think of a few of songs in English language tradition for which
>this holds true, "She Moved through the Fair" being perhaps the most
>obvious example.  I've often thought that the ghost sequence in Molly
>Bawn (The Shooting of his Dear -- Laws 036) was more than a little
>contrived, a sign that it too is a fairly recent item and not a ballad
>that should have been included by Child.
>
>Cheers
>Jamie




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