Lovely Willie
Track 9 and Track 41
Notes on the Track (9) and (41)
Recorded: 1991Recorded: 2025Notes on the Song
Songs telling the gruesome story of the murder of a lover or suitor seem to have had a fascination for former generations of traditional singers as such songs are to be found wherever folksongs have been collected. The Constant Farmer's Son, The Old Oak Tree, Young Edward Who Ploughed the Lowlands Low and The Waves of the Silvery Tide are examples we have heard in recent years. (Strangely enough, such songs are not common in the Irish language tradition; laments for a loved one who has been hanged or even drowned are more the norm.)
Lovely Willie tells the story of a girl whose loved one has been slain by her father. The words are to be found, but to a different tune, in the Sam Henry Collection under the title Sweet William.
Paddy tells in The Stone Fiddle that he learned his version from Liam Andrews. That would have been in the early 1950s. (JT)
The Singers
Sr Brigid Tunney
Rec. 1991
Brigid Gosling (nee Tunney)
Rec. 2025
The Song Texts
The Tunney Song Tradition Trust’s Archive of Song Texts preserves the words of traditional songs, offering a valuable resource for singers and anyone interested in the living song tradition.
Where the Linnets Sing 2026, developed by the Tunney Song Tradition Trust with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, celebrates 75 Bliain ag Fás by bringing the original collection to a new online audience, enriched with fifteen additional tracks, eleven more voices and two further generations of the tradition.
