Seimidh Eoghainin Duibh (Dark-Haired Jimmy Owen)

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the fine clothing she would place on Jimmy Owen. She says how the girls would fight over him. She wishes he had been in battle with O'Donnell. She looks back on the days of a united Ireland, and thinks that Jimmy would have been king
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love clothes beauty royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1598 - The Tyrone/O'Donnell Rebellion
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 46, "Seimidh Eoghainin Duibh (Dark-Haired Jimmy Owen)" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES [88 words]: Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland describes this as "an entirely local song from west Donegal" (though the tune is known in Scotland). He is probably right; I've never seen any other versions. But the band Scartaglen (the group in which Connie Dover got her start) recorded a version, apparently derived from Kennedy, so I thought we should include the song just because people might look it up.
For the background on the rebellion referred to in this song, see the notes to "O'Donnell Aboo (The Clanconnell War Song)." - RBW
File: K046

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