Star Of The County Down: A Song History
The words of "Star of the County Down" are credited to Cathal Mac Garvey (1866–1927).[1] A Donegal man known for his humor, stories and songs, he is said to have opened An Stad, a tobacconist's and pub on Dublin's North Frederick Street, in the 1890s; its regulars reportedly included writers and Irish nationalists.[2] The song is a love song in which a young man is struck by a beautiful girl he meets near Banbridge in County Down.[1][3] The sources consulted here give no date of composition. According to the Traditional Tune Archive, the song first appears under this title in Herbert Hughes's Irish Country Songs (vol. 4, 1936).[1]
“Newcastle, County Down,” photochrom print, about 1890–1900. Photochrom Print Collection, Library of Congress. No known restrictions.
The melody is older than the words. The Traditional Tune Archive traces it in Irish collections under other names, including "When First I Left Old Ireland" and "Paddy's Return" in George Petrie's collection as edited by Charles Villiers Stanford (1905), and "Mary from Blackwater Side" in P. W. Joyce (1909). The Archive places it in a large "Lazarus" family of tunes that also includes the Scottish "Gilderoy" and the English "We Be Poor Frozen-Out Gardeners."[1] It is also often compared with the English hymn tune KINGSFOLD. That folk melody was printed in English County Songs (1893), and Ralph Vaughan Williams, who heard it at Kingsfold in Sussex, put it in The English Hymnal (1906).[4] Many have noted a kinship between the two tunes.[5] Some writers treat them as versions of the same melody.[3]
The song has lasted well into the recording era. The Chieftains recorded it with Van Morrison on Irish Heartbeat (1988).[5][3] That recording led Rory Cooney to set his "Canticle of the Turning" to the tune in 1990.[5] Hymnary.org now lists the tune in more than two dozen hymnals, paired with Cooney's text and several others.[6]
Find books with Star Of The County Down for sale →