I recorded David Brennan singing this night visitation song in a pub in Miltown Malbay at the Willie Clancy Week of 1985. It appeals to me partly because the composer structured the narrative so that the ending might be unexpected (if you didn't pick up on the foreshadowing), but also because of the theme that true love is so strong it can transcend not only the barriers of class and those which parents might place in the lovers' path, but also the very bounds of life and death.
According to the Encyclopedia Britanica (c)Jan., 2015, Holland fabric was "fine, plainwoven linen imported from the continent of Europe," and thus a sign of wealth.
The melody has a slightly primitive sound because of the flatted seventh (Mixolydian mode) but, interestingly, throws in a flatted third toward the end (Hypodorian mode).
This is an Irish variant of Child 272, the Suffolk Miracle, a song known throughout the British Isles and North America and recorded by Packie Manus Byrne, and Cathal McConnell, among others. Several versions are on YouTube.
lyrics
10. The Holland Handkerchief
(Roud 246) Traditional
A wealthy squire lived in our town.
He was a man of high renown.
He had but one daughter, and a beauty bright,
And the name he called her was My Heart's Delight.
Now many's the young man to court her came,
But none of them could her favor gain,
Until there came one of low degree,
And above them all, well, she fancied he.
But when her father, he came to know,
That his lovely daughter loved this young man so,
It was fifty miles he sent her away,
All to deprive her of her wedding day.
One night as she was sleeping in her bed room,
Her love appeared from out the gloom.
He took her hand and to her did say,
"My love, arise, and come away."
So with this young man she got on behind,
And they rode swifter than any wind.
They rode on for an hour or more,
Till he said, "My darling, my head feels sore."
So a Holland Handkerchief she then drew out,
And with it wrapped his poor head about.
She kissed his lips and to him did say,
"My love, you're colder than any clay."
Well, they rode till they came to her fathers gate.
"Get down, get down, for the hour is late.
Oh, get down my love and go to bed,
And this noble horse will be groomed and fed."
So she walked till she came to her father's hall.
"Who's there, who's there," her own father did call.
"Oh, 'tis I, dear Father, you sent for me,
By such a messenger," naming he.
"Oh, no, dear daughter, that cannot be.
For your words are false and you lie to me.
For in yonder valley your love was slain,
And on yon green hillside his body lies."
So the truth it dawned on this maiden brave,
And with her friends she exposed the grave,
To find her love, though nine months dead,
With a Holland Handkerchief around his head.
David entertains in the old-fashioned way, with warmth and wit, as if he were sitting with the audience around the turf fire
in an Irish cottage long ago. David has been singing old-style Irish songs for 40 years and is deeply invested in collecting, researching, and performing them authentically and entertainingly....more
