DUNOINE ROAD END

I took a walk one Sunday
Not very far away
Down to where the tent was
Just below the engine brae
Twas there I spied a handsome lass
Her equal ne’er was seen
For she’s the star of Glarryford
And the rose of sweet Kilcreen.

A young man called Sam Rainey
He tried to win her heart but it grieved him sore when fray his love
At last he had to part
When he left her at Dunminning Bridge
The tears swelled in his een
He thought he ne’er would see again
The maid of sweet Kilcreen.

He asked her for to marry him
And said he would prove true
So I hope you’ll pay attention
While the truth I tell to you
She says young man to marry you
I’d never be so green
I’d be better with my mammy
Up there in sweet Kilcreen.

He told her he had farms of land
And lots of gold I store
But this might if you refuse me
You’ll never see me more
But if you say you’ll marry me
You’ll be happy as a Queen
I’ll be better than your mammy
Up there in sweet Kilcreen.

There was another young man
This fair maid tried to win
It was to gain his company
That Rainey she did shun
She thought for to beguile him
With her to big sparkling een
But he left her with her mammy
Up there in sweet Kilcreen.

Now I’ll tell to you the kind of maid
That Rainey did adore
She had rosy cheeks and sparkling een
Like the one he loved before
She had ribbons all around her waist
And flounces on her coat and covers for her shoulders
Like the tap sail o’ a boat.

Now since I have begun my song
I mean to tell you ah
The next place that he seen his love
Was at a dance in John McCaws
She looked at him so lovingly
And in her countenance you’d have seen
That she would love to have him back
With her in sweet Kilcreen.

But when he met her at the dance
Distain to her he showed
He sat down at the gable wall
And never looked her road
And gied aff hame wae anither
When the dance it ore had been
And left her on her own to wonder
Back to her home in sweet Kilcreen.

It’s when she seen he was awa
Her lip she did let fa
But she pickled another big gasson
I think he’s from Drumraw
It’s when she could dae nae ither
Wae him that she’d be seen
But she thought that she might mend him
Up there in sweet Kilcreen.

And when you ask her for to dance
This maid will not say no
It’s go and take another girl
For out I will not go
When she starts to hit the floor
And dancing does begin
You’d think it was the sea shore
When the tide is coming in.

Come all ye rambling wild young men
A warning take from me
And shun the Killymurris girls
When you go on the spree
For when you think you have them won
Away from you they’ll glide
They’ll lead you on a wild goose chase
Along the water side.

But the answer that he gave to her
It cost her to think shame
The lass that falls out yince wi me
I’ll never dae it again
I’ll teach you in the future
How to treat young men
Or I’ll leave you where I found you
Down at the Dunoine Road end.

Nan Anderson March 2000