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The Blighted Lover

from Some Time I Stood Still by Sean Smith

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Recorded by Paddy Tunney (1921-2002), Northern Ireland's "Man of Songs," for his album "The Flowery Vale." Paddy had quite a few talents, among them writing prose and poetry, and he translated a number of songs from Gaelic to English. There seems to be a possibility that "Blighted Lover" was in fact a poem in Gaelic rather than a traditional song, but in any case, I was struck by the dark yet compelling lyrics, and how they are complemented by the haunting melody.

lyrics

When I rose like a Russian at morning
No cross on my forehead I signed
Oh, the thought that my love had forsook me
It drove me clear out of my mind
I reached for a scythe that hung high in the hawthorn
Flew at it with a file and a blue sharpening stone
And stripped to the waist in the cornfield
I cut half the harvest alone

Too long now my feet wanting leather
And longer my pockets want gold
I envy the old mountain weather
For his love song need never be told
It's a pity that death didn't strike down my father
For he sent me to war with the king's own army
Neath the flagstone at length they will stretch me
Oh, my true love have pity on me

If I was stretched flat with a fever
Or seven feet under the ground
If you came to the boneyard and called me
I would leap from the dead with one bound
By the wanting and wailing of women I'm withered
Oh, death sure must come and set my soul free
Neath the flagstone at last they will stretch me
Oh, the good Lord have pity on me

credits

from Some Time I Stood Still, released July 6, 2020

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Sean T. Smith Boston, Massachusetts

Sean Smith has been playing folk music since his teens, with a focus on the traditions of Ireland, Scotland and England in particular. He's been active in the Greater Boston music scene since the early '80s, and been part of numerous collaborations. He also writes about music for BostonIrish.com, helps organize an annual Celtic music festival, and has been known to drink Ballantine Ale. ... more

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