Annotation:Fanaid Grove

Back to 

 FANAID GROVE. Irish, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Herbert Hughes (1909) indicates the tune is from County Donegal. Fanad Head is a nothern penninsula in County Donegal, west of Lough Swilly, an area that was Irish-speaking until the mid-20th century. The song has many variants and titles throughout the Irish diaspora (Laws p. 20, Roud 175). A version was popularized in the 20th century by Sarah Makem, as "It was in the Month of January" which relates the story of a young girl betrayed and abandoned by her wealthy lover, only to be rejected and into the snow by unforgiving parents. It concludes with the caution: Come all you pretty fair maids, A warning take by me, And never try to build your nest On top of a high tree,  For the leaves they will all wither, And the branches all decay,  And the beauties of a false young man, Will all soon fade away.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Hughes (Irish Country Songs, vol. 1), 1909; pp. 55-58. Roche Collection, 1927, vol. 3; No. 47, p. 13.  Recorded sources: Topic 12T182, Sarah Maken - "Ulster Ballad Singer" (1968).

Back to