She Moved Through the Fair

She Moved Through the Fair is a traditional Irish folk song, with a number of iterations, that has been performed and recorded by many artists from around the World.

This haunting, emotive song tells the story of a young man who meets his lover at a fair, where she tells him that her family has approved of him and that, therefore, “It will not be long, love, ’til our wedding day”. He then watches her admiringly as she moves away from him, through the fair, not realising that it would be for the last time. Some time later, she appears to him at night, as a ghostly apparition, and repeats her words to him, intimating her own tragic death and their possible reunion in the afterlife.

The melody is a traditional one, beautiful in its simplicity. It is in Mixolydian mode (a major scale with a flattened seventh, fairly common in Irish and Scottish music), which perhaps also suggests that it is quite old. Its slight Eastern feel gives it a dreamy and mysterious air.

There is considerable conjecture as to who wrote the original words and when. As with most folk songs, the lyrics have gone through several iterations. It is believed they were first published in Herbert Hughes’ Irish Country Songs, published by Boosey & Hawkes, in 1909.

The famous Irish tenor John McCormack popularised the song, through his 1941 recording, and it was also recorded earlier, in 1936, by the Scottish tenor Sydney MacEwan. Since then, it has been recorded by a great many Irish and international artists including Pete Seeger, Marianne Faithful, Donovan, Van Morrison, Mike Oldfield, Led Zeppelin, Charlotte Church, Barbara Dixon, Josh Groban; and several leading Irish female singers, including Andrea Corr and Sinead O’Connor – whose extraordinary interpretation was a highlight of Neil Jordan’s award-winning film, Michael Collins.

This arrangement is for SSA voices with a piano accompaniment.