Seán O Boyle wrote in the liner notes to Paddy’s 1965 LP A Wild Bees Nest: ‘This is a very good example of the night visit type of folksong. The form dates back in history to the days of the troubadours in Provence. Two young people meet secretly at night because the girl’s parents disapprove of their love for each other. The two eventually free themselves from “courtship's cares” by eloping to far Columbia’s shore (see also Sam Henry Collection Vol. I, No. 211). A version of the tune is also printed in O'Neill's Music of Ireland.’ 

More recently John Moulden has shown that When a Man's in Love He Feels No Cold was written by the poet Hugh McWilliams of Glenavy, Co. Antrim (Songs of Hugh McWilliams, Schoolmaster, 1831). Predictably, the words sung by Michael Gallagher have evolved somewhat from what McWilliams wrote. 

Paddy loved the singing of his uncle Michael and learned many songs from him. In The Stone Fiddle Paddy wrote: ‘When Uncle Mick spat out the mouthful of tacks with which cobblers and shoemakers are wont to clutter that area between tongue and palate, he could declaim a love-song with any other swain who fell victim to Cupid’s bow. He revelled in the range and drama of a song like When a Man's in Love He Feels No Cold, and indeed he was the first man or woman I ever heard sing it.’ 

It is one of the songs that the ‘Old Colonel’ learned from his cousin Willie Meehan of Teamhair.

*The notes for songs 28-42, if not covered by earlier entries, have been compiled by John Tunney.