Woman at the Churchyard Gate

Woman at the churchyard gate, song / Kitty Shields, singing in English

Woman at the churchyard gate, song / Kitty Shields, singing in English

ITMA Reference	55152
Creator	Shields, Kitty, singing in English
Contributor	Shields, Hugh, collector
Date	22 March 1975
Location	Hugh Shields’s house, Dublin
Type	Sound
Extent	1 computer file (MP3 file, 1 min., 15 sec.) : digital, stereo
Collection	Hugh Shields Collection
Subject	Ireland: Singing in English
Language	English
Publisher	Irish Traditional Music Archive
Copyright	Performers, Hugh Shields
Source	1106-ITMA-REEL [HS 7506]
Roud Number	501
View in ITMA catalogue:	Go to catalogue

Notes

Riddle answer

Woman at the churchyard gate
Oo - oo - ooh, aa - aa - aa - aah
Very dark and very late
Oo - oo - ooh, aa - aa - aa - aah

All verses similarly

Corpses three were carried in
Very tall and very thin

Woman to the corpses said
‘Will I be like that when I’m dead?’

Corpses to the woman said
‘Aa - aa - aa - aargh!’

Notes from Hugh Shields

Widely known in Britain and America, often as the “Skin-and bone lady.” For other references see Opie and Opie’s The lore and language of schoolchildren (1967:37); Cox’s Folk songs of the South (1967:482–83); Halliwell’s The nursery rhymes of England (1842:64–65). The lugubrious broadside “Death and the lady” was probably a source of inspiration.