The Curragh of Kildare, also known as The Winter it is Past, is a

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

particularly associated with the Irish tradition. Elements of some versions of the song suggest that it dates from at least the mid 18th century. The Curragh of Kildare speaks of the actual

Curragh The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...

, which is a large area of

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional cen ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, used to rally the Irish Army.

Textual history

The history of the text is rather complicated. Versions were taken down at different times in Ireland by collectors like George Petrie and

P. W. Joyce Patrick Weston Joyce, commonly known as P. W. Joyce (1827 – 7 January 1914) was an Irish historian, writer and music collector, known particularly for his research in Irish etymology and local place names of Ireland. Biography He was born i ...

. The song has also been collected in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and even in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

; the singer Frank Purslow collected a version (''The Winter's Gone and Past'') in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

.Purslow, F. ''The Foggy Dew'', EFDS, 1974, p.96 Petrie was of the opinion that it was an "old

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

song" and argued that the Scottish versions were most likely developed from it.Petrie, G. ''The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland'', Cork UP, 2002, p.193 Several printed ballad versions exist, under titles such as ''The Lamenting Maid''. The most well known version of the text, usually referred to by the title ''The Winter it is Past'', is attributed to Robert Burns. Burns appears to have developed it from a popular stall-ballad, ''The Lovesick Maid'', which referred to a

highwayman A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footp ...

called Johnson, who was hanged in 1750 for robbery in the Curragh.Low, D. (ed) ''The Songs of Robert Burns'', Routledge, 1993, p.311 Burns polished the original text considerably and removed two stanzas referring directly to Johnson. The resulting ballad was published in the collection the

Scots Musical Museum The ''Scots Musical Museum'' was an influential collection of traditional folk music of Scotland published from 1787 to 1803. While it was not the first collection of Scottish folk songs and music, the six volumes with 100 songs in each collected ...

. Different airs have been used for the song.Folk Songs and Ballads Popular in Ireland Vol. 2, edited by John Loesberg. Ossian Publications. Petrie suspected that one had been composed expressly for the stall-ballad, probably in Scotland around 1750, but expressed an opinion that "the same song united to a melody unquestionably Irish has been ..known in Ireland ..for an equal or much longer period". The tune used for Burns' version has been identified as a (distant) relative of that used for the American ballad '' Fare You Well, My Own True Love''.Cazden, N. ''Notes and Sources for "Folk Songs of the Catskills"'', SUNY, 1982, p.35 The song as currently performed was popularised by

The Johnstons The Johnstons were an Irish close-harmony folk band, founded in Slane, County Meath, Ireland, consisting of siblings Adrienne, Luci and Michael Johnston. Career The Johnstons began performing in the early 1960s in Slane. They signed to Pye Reco ...

, and later by

Christy Moore Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...

, while versions also exist by Paddy Reilly,

The Fureys The Fureys are an Irish folk band originally formed in 1974. The group consisted initially of four brothers who grew up in Ballyfermot, Dublin. Brothers Eddie, Finbar, Paul and George Furey are of Irish Traveller heritage. Two of the band's s ...

, Bert Jansch and others. Modern renditions have tended to use a text where the singer is male, and the "true love" female, whereas in the early ballads such as ''The Lamenting Maid'' the opposite was the case.

References

External links

The sheet music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curragh Of Kildare Irish folk songs