Norah Magee

DESCRIPTION: "Oh Norah, dear Norah, I can't live without you... Come back to old Ireland, the land of our childhood...." The singer laments the absence of Norah, gone over the sea, and hopes she will return someday to Ireland.
AUTHOR: possibly Harry Linn (source: FolkSongAndMusicHall)
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (Harry Linn's Fire Side Song Book); Harry Linn was probably performing it by 1875
KEYWORDS: love separation Ireland emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H778, p. 387, "Norah Magee" (1 text, 1 tune)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "Nora Magee"
Roud #4718
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(86b), "Norah Magee," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
NOTES [132 words]: Sam Henry observed that this song was "in great vogue" around 1870, but I know of no other field collections. I do find myself strongly reminded of "Barney McCoy" -- but the similarity is at a level far removed from the details of the songs.
There was another pop song called Norah Magee which began "Dark eyes softly beaming, and pearly teeth gleaming, And black, rippling tresses, loose, flowing, and free"; it is found, e,g., in PaddysTheBoySongster, p. 55. I wonder if this might be the song Sam Henry was referring to as being popular around 1870.
Poverty, of course, forced many Irish to migrate to America, and not just in the nineteenth century. It's not usual for the girl to go without the boy, but it's not unknown, either. And men need the chance to sing lost love songs, too. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: HHH778

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