THE CLIFFS OF MOHER – Dermot Kelly (sung by Dermot Kelly)
Sung by Stewart Hendrickson. Recorded by Curtis & Loretta "Gone Forever". "We learned it from a cassette tape of a woman singing and playing harp. We learned it for a wedding, and the bride had bought this tape from a woman playing and singing harp, on the Cliffs of Moher!" The woman who sings and plays the harp on the Cliffs of Moher is Tina Morrissey. She recorded the song "Cliffs of Moher" by Dermot Kelly under her maiden name of Tina Mulrooney on her first CD "A Memory of Ireland". Dermot Kelly now lives in Liscannor, near the Cliffs. Discussion at Mudcat. The Ballad of Joseph McHugh by Dermot Kelly. SheetMusic(pdf)
I’m sitting on the cliffs of Moher
Looking out to sea
The broad Atlantic swells below me
A bridge love between you and me
The puffins cry above the tide
The seagulls glide through the air
Calling you back from New York City
Back home to the county of Clare
Come back, come back sweet Annie
Come back, for I will be there
We’ll sing and we’ll play
In the old fashioned way
On the hillside of sweet County Clare
I’ll hold your hand
We’ll walk through the burren
With limestone and flowers so rare
The yellows and reds
The gold in their petals
Will match your blue eyes and fair hair
We’ll visit Quinn Abby and Fein Cill Sula
Where holy ones once knelt in prayer
But how can this be if you stay away darling
From your home in the county of Clare
I’m looking across at the great Aran islands
Inis Maan, Inis Mor, Inis Oirr
They’ve nestled there neatly
Caressed by the ocean
Surrounded by water so clear
But you have the smoke
And the dust of the city
Where people pass by and don’t care
There’s love and there’s welcome
As warm as the sunshine
For you in the county of Clare