Eileen Aroon
Bob Dylan performed "Eileen Aroon" at 11 shows in 1988 and 1989. Here is one version from St. Louis, 17.6.1988:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jpuh7i
He surely learned this song from the Clancy Brothers, who had recorded it in 1961 on their LP
Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem (a record that includes two more songs with a Dylan connection: "Brennan On The Moor" and "The Maid of Fife-E-O"
. "Eileen Aroon" - "aroon" means something like "my secret love" or "the secret treasure of my heart" - is a real old song of Irish origin. It has been claimed that it is from the 14th or 15th century but in fact it is simply not clear how old it is and the exact origins are not known. According to one legend it was written by Irish minstrel harper Carol O'Daly but this
story is surely a later invention.
In England this song may have been known since the 17th century. A
History of Irish Literature by William H. Grattan Flood claims that Shakespeare used lines from "Eileen Aroon" in some of his plays, but that is not entirely convincing for me. At least - according to a note in Samuel Pepys' diaries - Irish songs were performed on London stages already in that century and in the 18th century "Eileen Aroon" was actually sung during performances of Shakespeare's plays, "in 1731 at the old Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, by Mrs. Sterling, in an opera epilogue to "Richard III.," and again by Mrs. Storer, as an interlude, in Shakespeare's tragedy of "Julius Caesar," at the same theatre, on December 15, 1743" (Flood, dto.).
The first printed evidence of a "tune with title 'Ellen a Roon'" can be found "in Charles Coffey's ballad opera 'The Beggars Wedding', 1729. Coffey's song there is unrelated to 'Eileen Aroon'. This was acted in both Dublin and London, and at least four editions of the play were printed in that year, with additions to each subsequent edition" (Bruce Olson).
Ballad operas since John Gay (1728) were instrumental in reviving older folk and popular melodies. Coffey was of Irish descent and for his six operas he adapted some more of this older songs.
In 1742 it was printed as sheet music with a Gaelic text:
"Ducatu non vanna. Aileen aroon. A Irish Ballad sung by Mrs Clive at ye theater Royal".
Kitty Clive was a very popular actress of that era and a member of David Garrick's famous theater company (source: Bruce Olson, Scarce Songs):
Du ca tu non Vanna tu Aileen aroon
San Duca tu non Vanna tu aileen aroon
Duca tu non Vanna tu
Duca tu non Vanna tu
Duca tu, Duca tu, Duca tu non Vanna tu
O Duca tu non Vanna tu aileen aroon.
Kead mille Faltie rote aileen aroon
Kead mille Faltie rote aileen aroon
Kead mille Faltie rote
Kead mille Faltie rote
Oct mille, nee mille, deh mille Faltie rote
O Faltie gus fine rote aileen aroon.
Tuca me sni anna me sgra ma chree stu
O Tuca me sni anna me sgra ma chree stu
Tuca me sni anna me
Tuca me sni anna me
Tuca me sni anna me sni anna me sgra me chree stu.
A literal translation of very similar version printed in 1776 (source: Bruce Olson, Scarce Songs):
Will you go or will you stay, Aileen Aroon,
And will you go or will you stay, Aileen Aroon,
Will you go or will you stay,
Will you go or will you stay,
Will you, will you, will you,
Will you go or stay,
O will you go or will you stay, Aileen Aroon.
One hundred thousand welcomes to you Aileen Aroon,
One hundred thousand welcomes to you Aileen Aroon,
One hundred thousand welcomes to you,
Seven thousand welcomes to you,
Eight thousand, nine thousand,
Ten thousand welcomes to you,
O welcomes and fine [?] root [?], Aileen Aroon.
I shall go and shall not stay love of my heart,
O I shall go and shall not stay love of my heart,
I shall go and shall not stay,
I shall go and shall not stay,
I shall go, I shall go,
I shall go and shall not stay,
O, I shall go and shall not stay, love of my heart.
Around 1760 a companion piece was written by Lady Caroline Keppel: "Robin Adair", first printed in 1793. This song, the Scottish version of "Eileen Aroon", obviously grew out of her affair with one Robert Adair whom she was not allowed to marry until a couple of years later (source:
broadside (Bodleian Library, Oxford), printed between 1819 and 1844):
What's the dull town to me
Robin Adair
What was't I wish'd to see
What wish'd to hear
Where all the joy and mirth
Made this town heaven on earth
Oh, they're all fled with thee
Robin Adair
What made th' assembly shine
Robin Adair
What made the ball so fine
Robin Adair
What when the play was o'er
What made my heart so sore
Oh, it was parting with
Robin Adair
But now thou'rt cold to me
Robin Adair
But now thou'rt cold to me
Robin Adair
Yet he I lov'd so well
Still in my heart shall dwell
Oh, I can ne'er forget
Robin Adair
Both "Eileen Aroon" and "Robin Adair" were very popular in Britain from the late 18th century all through the 19th to the early 20th century although the latter was printed more often. Obviously these two songs were standards for stage singers, for example here for the young
Elizabeth Linley:
"Thomas Sheridan [Irish actor and educator] moved to Bath at the close of 1770 for the purpose of establishing an Academy of Oratory, and began by giving a series of Attic Entertainments, when his lecturing and declamation was diversified by the singing of Elizabeth Linley, then a beautiful girl of sixteen. In spite of her youth, she had a voice of "angelic" purity; at the first of these entertainments on November 24th she sang such ballads as "Black-Ey'd Susan" and "Eileen Aroon," while he followed with his celebrated recitation of the "Ode Upon St. Cecilia's Day." From that time onward, Elizabeth Linley was known as 'St. Cecilia'." (Rhodes 1933, p. 20)
"Eileen Aroon" was sung not only in the Gaelic version but with different sets of English lyrics. Bruce Olson quotes three more adaptions written between 1770 and 1795. Robert Burns borrowed the melody for his own
Phyllis The Fair although he was not completely satisfied with what he had achieved and Thomas Moore in Vol. 1 of his "Irish Melodies" used a variant of the melody for his
Erin! The Tear and the Smile in Thine Eyes. The lyrics that are used today with that song were written by Irish poet
Gerald Griffin (1803 - 1840), most likely in the 1830s and his poem even found its way into the 1919 edition of the
Oxford Book Of English Verse
British library catalogs refer to many versions of "Eileen Aroon" in different arrangements for instrumentalists and choirs and with different writer's credits, for example:
-Aileen aroon. : A favourite Irish song.. [ca. 1780]
-Aileen Aroon made a Duett. As introduc'd by Miss Catley and Miss Wewitzer in the Beggars Opera. [c. 1780].
-Aileen aroon with Variations for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord. [c. 1790]
-Ducatu non vanna tu. Aileen Aroon. A favourite Irish ballad as sung by Mrs Woodman at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden. [1798?]
-Ducatu non vanatu Aileen aroon. Aileen aroon. A much admir'd Irish song. [c. 1800]
-Duet <No 2>, for two performers on one piano forte. Arranged from the favorite airs Robin Adair or Aileen Aroon and the Copenhagen Waltz ... by N. B. Challoner. / [by Challoner, Neville Butler]. [1816]
-How sweet and how pleasing. Aileen Aroon, a favorite Irish air, adapted to English words ... for the piano forte, flute or violin. [1817]
-Aileen Aroon : popular Irish ballad / composed by Julian Mount. [1880]
-Sweet Eileen aroon / words by Ed. Teschemacher ; music by Oscar Verne. c1903.
-Eileen Aroon. Song, the words by T. Davis, etc. / [by Macmurrough, Dermot]. 1909.
-Soon, soon, Eileen aroon. Song, words and music by L. Magrath. / [by Magrath, Lucia]. 1910.
-[Eileen aroon. Traditional Irish tune. Arranged for chorus of men's voices, T.T.B.B. by Hugh S. Roberton]. / [by Roberton, Hugh Stevenson, Sir]. [1941]
Both "Eileen Aroon" and "Robin Adair" of course traveled to the USA with the Irish immigrants. Young Stephen Foster used some elements of the melody for his song "Sadly To My Heart Appealing". But again "Robin Adair" seemed to be more popular, it was printed more often(here as
sheet music, 1881) and it was even recorded in the early years of the recording industry, for example by cornetist
Jules Levy and by George Schweinfest as a "Piccolo solo with piano accompaniment" (between 1890 and 1902), the latter available from the
Cylinder Preservation And Digitization Project
In 1889 Helen K. Johnson included "Eileen Aroon"in her "Our Familiar Songs" and in 1894 it was published as sheet music, both using Griffin's lyrics.
In 1912 famous Irish singer
John McCormack recorded it:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fu9j8l
Surprisingly I have only found very few references to these two songs in 20th century British and American Folk song collections. And to my knowledge there were no further recordings of "Eileen Aroon" by major artists until the Clancy Brothers revived it in 1961. In 1973 a fine version was recorded by Scottish singer
Jean Redpath on her LP
Frae My Ain Countrie
Credits:
Bruce Olson,
Scarce Songs (indispensable, I couldn't have written that without his research into the early history of "Eileen Aroon"
Helen K. Johnson, Our Familiar Songs, New York 1889, p. 241/2 , online at
traditionalmusic.co.uk
S. J. Adair Fitzgerald, Stories Of Famous Songs Vol. 1, 1901, p. 31ff, online at
traditionalmusic.co.uk [incl. stories of Carol O'Daly and Lady Keppel's affair with Robert Adair]
R. Crompton Rhodes, Harlequin Sheridan. The Man And The Legends, Oxford 1933.
The Works Of Gerald Griffin, New York 1857, p. 153, online at the
Internet Archive [his complete works in 10 vol are available there too]
sheet music image from:
http://odin.indstate.edu/about/units/rbsc/kirk/sheet.html#Eileen
In 2004 esmith from the dylanpool forum put together a compilation including all of Bob's performances of "Eileen Aroon" [see [url=http://nickmanho.blogspot.com/2005/01/far-in-that-valleys-shade-i-knew.html ]review[/url] by Nick Manho]
Message Board 
&id=07582.gif&seq=1&size=1){kind=link}