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On Fri, 24 Sep 1999, John Davis wrote: > 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. Then I think he was shooting you the blarney, at least to some extent. First, he recorded it for Peter Kennedy in 1953, not 1960, or so Kennedy's book says. And Margaret Barry recorded it sometime before that (two verses appear on the Lomax-edited "Columbia World Library of Folk & Primitive Music - Ireland" recording, just reissued (sans "Columbia") on Rounder. Both Kennedy & Lomax cite Herbert Hughes' "Irish Country Songs", vol. 1, pub. 1909 as containing the melody (originally collected as an instrumental piece) and three verses. According to Kennedy, "The published words were said to be adapted by Padraig Colum from the old ballad, but they in fact depart very little from other recorded versions." (Peter Kennedy, "Folksongs of Britain and Ireland", p. 384.) There are also five versions in Sam Henry (1924). So this is beginning to look very much like a genuine folksong -- adequately long pedigree, textual variations all over the place, and one of its recent adaptors claims full credit. Peace. Paul %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%