Dublin Bay (Roy Neal)

DESCRIPTION: "They sailed away on that gallant ship, Roy Neal and his fair young bride." Despite this happy situation, Roy spends most of his time kissing his wife's tears away. Finally the ship strikes a rock, and Roy and his wife are lost in Dublin Bay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1860 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1015))
KEYWORDS: love death ship sea marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Randolph 691, "Dublin Bay" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 324, "Dublin Bay" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 109, "Dublin Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #113, "Dublin Bay" (1 text)
Dean-FlyingCloud, p. 128, "Dublin Bay" (1 text)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 44, "Dublin Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, p. 156, "Dublin Bay" (1 text)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Mi 561, "Dublin Bay" (1 text)
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 95, "Roy Neil and His Fair Young Bride" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 29, "Dublin Bay" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #537, p. 36, "Dublin Bay, or Roy Neill" (1 reference)
Dime-Song-Book #7/72, p. 54 and #7/64, p. 54, "Roy Neill" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, p. 478, "Dublin Bay" (source notes only)
DT, SWTDUBLN
Roud #785
RECORDINGS:
The McNulty Family, "They Sailed Away From Dublin Bay" (on IRMcNulty-Night1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1015), "Dublin Bay," A. Ryle and Co. (London), 1845-1859; also Firth c.12(369), Harding B 11(1014), "Dublin Bay"; Harding B 11(3363), "Roy Neil" or "Dublin Bay"
LOCSinging, sb10097b, "Dublin Bay," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
SAME TUNE:
Bublin Bay (NLScotland, L.C.1269(173b), "Bublin Bay" ("They sailed away in a gallant barque"), unknown, 1857 -- listed as to the tune of "John Grumlie" but with so many lyrics from "Dublin Bay (Roy Neal)" that it coud almost be considered the same song still -- plus the long introduction asks for the pianist to play "Dublin Bay")
NOTES [93 words]: A pop Irish songbook called The Library of Irish Music (no author listed; published by Amsco) lists this with words by Annie Barry Crawford and music by George Barker. Given the nature of the song, and the relatively fixed form of the lyrics, it seems likely that it is composed. But I need somewhat stronger evidence than that book to credit the song. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10097b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.6
File: R691

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