Kathleen Mavourneen

DESCRIPTION: "Kathleen Mavourneen! The gray dawn is breaking, The horn of the hunter is heard on the hill." The singer bids Kathleen to awake, as they must soon part. "It may be for years and it may be forever" before he can return to her and Ireland
AUTHOR: Words: "Crawford" (see notes) / Music: Frederick William Nicholls Crouch (1808-1896)
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (British publication, according to Williams; published 1840 in the United States)
KEYWORDS: love separation parting exile
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 252-253, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 253, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #2/72, p. 26 and #2/64, p. 26, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
Heart-Songs, pp. 376-378, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #90, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 36, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1177, p. 81, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 reference)
Ford-SongHistories, pp. 192-197, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
DT, KMAVOURN*
ADDITIONAL: Manus O'Conor, Irish Com-All-Ye's (New York, 1901 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 86, "Kathleen Mavourneen" (1 text)
ST FSWB253C (Full)
Roud #13858
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:069, "Kathleen Mavourneen," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.1269(178a), "Kathleen Mavourneen," Robert M'Intosh (Glasgow), 1849
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dermot Astore" (characters)
SAME TUNE:
The birth-place of wit, and the home of hospitality, Ireland (per broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:069)
Wife of My Bosom ("Wife of my bosom, the midnight hangs o'er me") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, p. 179)
NOTES [243 words]: According to Williams p. 34, "Mavourneen" is a popular word in Irish song because it comes from Irish Gaelic "mo mhuirnín," "my sweetheart."
Although most sources credit the words of this to Anne Barry Crawford, a fairly well-known poet, apparently the original reference was only to "(Mrs.) Crawford," and Williams, p. 41, says that it is not clear whether that was Annie Barry Crawford or to Frederick Crouch's wife, formerly Julie Crawford. Ford-SongHistories, p. 192, states unequivocally that it was Julia Crawford, who, he says, contributed a great deal to the Metropolitan Magazine.
According to Williams, p. 41, composer "Crouch did not prosper in England, and in 1849 he came to America, where he fared even worse, his best songs having already been pirated by American publishers [there was no copyright agreement between the U. S. and Britain at this time]. After serving as a trumpeter in the Confederate Army, he was virtually forgotten. Born in Wiltshire in 1808, the son of a cellist and music tutor to William IV, Crouch died in Portland, Maine, in 1896."
The song's name has become proverbial. NewZealandDictionary, p. 141, offers this definition:
Kathleen Mavourneen
1. Obs[olete]. Formerly, an indefinite prison sentence (especially under the 'habitual criminal' legislation); occasionally, prisoners undergoing such a sentence.
2. In transferred use, anything which may extend into the undefined future; occasionally, a long delay. - RBW
Bibliography

NewZealandDictionary: Elizabeth and Harry Orsman, The New Zealand Dictionary, 1994; second edition 1995 (I use the 2003 New House Publishers paperback)
Williams: William H. A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, University of Illinois Press, 1996

Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSWB253C

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