She Moved Through the Fair
This is a hauntingly beautiful song, with a theme that has been reflected in several songs through time:  the lover that dies and returns from the grave.  Michael Murphy did one called "Wildfire" that was along those lines.  Most recordings leave out the word "dead" in the last verse, but I have always liked it.  You can hear the alternate version "Our Wedding Day" on Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance" CD.  As far as playing goes, it is easy, with only two chords, maintaining the same pattern throughout the song..  It can be easlly transposed, too, requiring only that the two major chords be next to each other on the scale, like C & D or A & B.  The melody is traditional and the words are by Padraic Collum. I used this melody to do the filk called "HFS War Widow's Lament."

         F                            G              F                   G
My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind
               F                    G                  F                  G
And my father won't slight you for your lack of kind"
                 F                                G          F                   G
And she stepped away from me and this she did say:
    F                G                   F                    G
It will not be long, love, till our wedding day"

            F                            G                      F                           G
She stepped away from me and she moved through the fair
          F               G                          F                       G
And fondly I watched her move here and move there
           F                         G                       F                G
And then she turned homeward with one star awake
                 F               G                        F             G
As  the swan in the evening moves over the lake

          F                  G           F                     G
The people they say, no two e'er were wed
          F              G                   F               G
But one had a sorrow that never was said
               F                       G                              F                      G
And I smiled as she passed me with her goods and her gear,
           F                 G               F               G
And that was the last that I saw of my dear.

             F                         G              F                      G
Last night she came to me, my dead love came in
         F               G                    F                    G
So softly she came that her feet made no din
                  F                   G                F                   G
And she laid her hand on me and this she did say
     F                 G                   F                    G
"It will not be long, love, 'til our wedding day"
 

Alternate Version:  Our Wedding Day

l once had a wee lass and I loved her too well,
I loved her far better than my tongue can tell,
Her parents disliked me for my want of years,
So adieu to all pleasure since I lost my dear.

Then I dreamt it last night that my love came in ,
And she walked up so soft that her feet made no din.
I thought that she spoke and those words she did say,
"It won't be long now, love, till our wedding day."

Then according to promise at midnight I rose
And found nothing there but the down-folded clothes,
The sheets they were empty, as plain as you see,
And out of the window with another went she.

Oh, it's Molly, lovely Molly, what's this that you have done?
You have pulled the thistle, left the red rose behind;
The thistle will wither and decay away soon,
But the red rose will flourish in the merry month of June.

Then if l was a fisherman down by the seaside
And Molly a salmon, coming in with the tide,
I would cast out my net and catch her in a snare,
I would have lovely Molly, I vow and declare.

Or if I was an eagle and had two wings to fly,
I would fly to my love's castle and it's there I would lie,
ln a bed of green ivy l would leave myself down,
With my two folded wings I would my love surround.

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