She Moved Through The Fair

Written by: 
Traditional
1 Oct 1967

My young love said to me
My mother won’t mind
And my father won’t slight you
For your lack of kind

And she laid her hand on me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love
Till our wedding day

She stepped away from me
And she went through the fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here and move there

And then she went homeward
With one star awake
As the swan in the evening
Moves over the lake

Last night she came to me
My true love came in
And so softly she came
That her feet made no din

And she laid her hand on me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love
Till our wedding day

sitenote:
She Moved Through The Fair is based on a traditional Irish folk song first collected in Donegal by Padraic Colum and Herbert Hughes, and published by Boosey & Hawkes in London in a work entitled Irish Country Songs in 1909. Some claim it dates back to medieval times. The tune is in the mixolydian mode. Most modern arrangements of the song can be traced to the recording by Fairport Convention in 1968, who adopted the style of the song from the travelling singer Margaret Barry.