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‘Shamrock, Rose and Thistle’ is an appropriate metaphor for the mixed Irish, English and Scottish strands that make up the English-language song tradition of the north of Ireland, and it is also the title of an important collection-study made of this tradition by Hugh Shields: the book Shamrock, Rose and Thistle: Folk Singing in North Derry, which was first published in Belfast in 1981 and is long out of print.
It contains lyrics and meticulously detailed musical transcriptions for seventy-four English-language songs, several in multiple versions, collected in the field from 1961 to 1975 in the coastal area of Magilligan in north Co Derry, and presented with extensive musical, linguistic, social and bibliographic documentation. The physical region is described, its history outlined, and an account given of its singers – chief among them being Eddie Butcher – and of their singing practices and songs.
Courtesy of the Shields family, this classic volume is now made available once again on this site of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, greatly expanded by multimedia enhancements made possible by online technology.
Adam in Paradise, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Alexander, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Another man’s wedding, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The Arranmore disaster, song / John Butcher junior, singing in English
The banks of Kilrea, song / Jimmy Butcher, singing in English
The banks of Newfoundland, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The banks of the Bann, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Barbro Allen, song / Charlie Somers, singing in English
The blazing star of Drung, song / Robert Butcher senior, singing in English
The bonny Irish boy, song / Lizzie O’Hagan, singing in English
The bonny moorhen, song / Hugh Somers, singing in English
The braes of Strathblane, song / Annie Sweeney, singing in English
Carrowclare, song / Robert Butcher junior, singing in English
The close of an Irish day, song / Charlie Begley, singing in English
The cocks is crowing, song / John Butcher senior, singing in English
Come all you rakish fine young men, song / John Butcher senior, singing in English
Copper John, song / Eddie Butcher ; Michael O’Hara ; Tom Anderson, singing in English
Craiganee, song / Bill Quigley, singing in English
The crockery ware, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The dark-eyed gipsy, song / Tilly Quigley, singing in English
David’s flowery vale, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The daysman, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Don’t come again, song / Eddie and Gracie Butcher, singing in English
Down by the canal, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Erin’s lovely home, song / Mary Ellen Butcher, singing in English
The fan, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The farmer’s daughter, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The Faughan side, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Finvola, the gem of the Roe, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Free and easy to jog along, song / Tom Anderson, singing in English
The good ship Cambria, song / Charlie Somers, singing in English
The green fields of America, song / Tom Anderson, singing in English
Greencastle shore, song / John Fleming, singing in English
Here’s a health to the company, song / Lizzie O’Hara, singing in English
The hillman, song / John Fleming, singing in English
I long for to get married, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
India’s burning sands, song / Bill Quigley, singing in English
The Inniskilling dragoon, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
It’s just about ten years ago, song / John Butcher senior, singing in English
It’s of a young gentleman, song / Charlie Somers, singing in English
It was in the Queen’s County, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
James McKee, song / Jimmy Butcher, singing in English
Johnny Doyle, song / Charlie Somers, singing in English
The journeyman tailor, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
A lady walked in her father’s garden, song / Bill Quigley, singing in English
Laurel Hill, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The maid of Culmore, song / John Butcher senior, singing in English
The maid of seventeen, song / Robert Butcher senior, singing in English
The Mason’s Word, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Minnie Picken, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Molly, lovely Molly, song / Charlie Somers, singing in English
The Moorlough shore, song / Bill and Tilly Quigley ; and others, singing in English
The mountain streams where the moor-cock crows, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Moville along the Foyle, song / Maria Butcher, singing in English
The new tractor, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The parish of Dunboe, song / John Butcher senior and Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Pat Reilly, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The ploughboy, song / Robert Butcher senior, singing in English
The rakes of poverty, song / Tom Anderson, singing in English
Saturday night is Hallowe’en night, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The ship carpenter’s wife, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The shores of sweet Benone, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The strands of Magilligan, song / Mary Osborne, singing in English
Three gipsies riding, song / Aughil children, singing in English
Todd’s sweet rural shade, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Tossing the hay, song / John Butcher senior, singing in English
The Trader, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The true lovers’ discourse, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
The wheel of Fortune, song / Tom Anderson, singing in English
When a man’s in love, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
When I was in Ireland, song / Mary Harte, singing in English
The widow’s daughter, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Youghal Harbour, song / Eddie Butcher, singing in English
Another man’s wedding, song / Hugh Shields, singing in English
