Foggy, Foggy Dew

The first song of this title was of English origin, sometimes called “Foggy, Foggy Dew”, and is a lamentful ballad of a young lover. It was published on a broadside

Broadside (music)

A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...

 around 1815, though there are very many versions: Cecil Sharp

Cecil Sharp

Cecil James Sharp was the founding father of the folklore revival in England in the early 20th century, and many of England's traditional dances and music owe their continuing existence to his work in recording and publishing them.-Early life:Sharp was born in Camberwell, London, the eldest son of...

 collected eight versions. Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....

, who popularized the song in the United States in the 1940s, claimed that a version dated to colonial America. Ives was once jailed in Mona, Utah

Mona, Utah

Mona is a city in Juab County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 850 at the 2000 census. At the time this was sufficient under Utah state law for Mona to become a city, which it did at the end of 2000...

, for singing it in public, when authorities deemed it a bawdy song. BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 likewise restricted broadcast of the song to programmes covering folk tunes or the works of Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

. The tune is a late 18th or early 19th century revision of "When I First Came To Court", licensed in 1689.

When I was a bachelor, I liv'd all alone

I worked at the weaver's trade

And the only, only thing that I ever did wrong

Was to woo a fair young maid.

I wooed her in the wintertime

And in the summer, too

And the only, only thing that I did that was wrong

Was to keep her from the foggy, foggy dew.

One night she came to my bedside

When I was fast asleep.

She laid her head upon my bed

And she began to weep.

She sighed, she cried, she damn near died

She said what shall I do?

So I hauled her into bed and covered up her head

Just to keep her from the foggy foggy dew.

So, I am a bachelor, I live with my son

and we work at the weaver's trade.

And every single time that I look into his eyes

He reminds me of that fair young maid.

He reminds me of the wintertime

And of the summer, too,

And of the many, many times that I held her in my arms

Just to keep her from the foggy, foggy, dew.

An Irish version of the same song starts :

When I was a bachelor, airy and young, I followed the roving trade,

And the only harm that ever I did was courting a servant maid.

I courted her all summer long, and part of the winter, too

And many's the time I rolled my love all over the foggy dew.'

There are several other versions of the song as well, some of which differ in minor ways. The implication of this version is that the woman is pregnant, but this is unclear, as is the reason why, by the time of the last verse, she no longer lives with the narrator and their son. In the most popular versions of the song, however, the story is fragmented.

The song has some of the elements of the common rake

Rake (character)

A rake, short for rakehell, is a historic term applied to a man who is habituated to immoral conduct, frequently a heartless womanizer. Often a rake was a man who wasted his fortune on gambling, wine, women and song, incurring lavish debts in the process...

 archetype that is repeated throughout many English and Irish folk songs, in which a young man (often a soldier) comes to a young maid in the middle of the night, leaving her “in the family way”, and, in fact, leaving her for good. A significantly different version of the same song treats the encounter as a successful seduction by the young man of the maid, and does not mention the child. This dates from a broadside of 1689: A fright'ned Yorkshire damosel, or Fears dispers'd by pleasure set to the tune of, 'I met with a country lass', &c. [...]. A modern version was sung by The Spinners

The Spinners (UK band)

The Spinners were a 1960s folk group from Liverpool, England formed in September 1958. They consisted of:* Hughie Jones...

. Various explanations have been put forward for the thing frightening the maid: foggy, foggy dew as a symbol of chastity, it really means bugaboo (an explanation favoured by Ewan MacColl

Ewan MacColl

Ewan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...

, who recorded this song), or Robert Graves

Robert Graves

Robert von Ranke Graves 24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985 was an English poet, translator and novelist. During his long life he produced more than 140 works...

 proposed that it might be a transliteration of an Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 word for Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

.

Popular conceptions of the meaning of this song are that the gentleman bachelor talked his servant, a fair young maid, into staying overnight rather than walk home in order to protect her from "the foggy, foggy dew." This ultimately resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. After giving birth, the woman either died or went away. The gentleman raised his illegitimate son on his own and did not marry, since he is still a bachelor at the end of the song.

Axel Schiøtz, tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 Herman D. Koppel piano acc. recorded it in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 on May 7, 1951. The song was released on the 78 rpm record His Master's Voice X 8009. It was arranged by Benjamin Britten.

A recording of the song by A. L. Lloyd

A. L. Lloyd

Albert Lancaster Lloyd , usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s....

 can be found on 'English Drinking Songs' (Riverside Records (USA) LP, 1961. CD Reissue: Topic records)
In 1958 a recording of the song was made by countertenor Alfred Deller, to be found on his album 'Western Wind'.

Irish Lament

This tune and the lyrics are from the second edition of The Home and Community Songbook (1931).

Oh, a wan cloud was drawn o'er the dim weeping dawn

As to Shannon's side I return'd at last,

And the heart in my breast for the girl I lov'd best

Was beating, ah, beating, how loud and fast!

While the doubts and the fears of the long aching years

Seem'd mingling their voices with the moaning flood:

Till full in my path, like a wild water wraith,

My true love's shadow lamenting stood.

But the sudden sun kiss'd the cold, cruel mist

Into dancing show'rs of diamond dew,

And the dark flowing stream laugh'd back to his beam,

And the lark soared aloft in the blue;

While no phantom of night but a form of delight

Ran with arms outspread to her darling boy,

And the girl I love best on my wild throbbing breast

Hid her thousand treasures with cry of joy.

A version of this with different lyrics (by L.F. Milligan) was recorded by John McCormack for RCA Victor records 3 January 1913 in their Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey

The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...

 facility. He was accompanied by pianist Spenser Clay.

Easter Rising

Another song called “Foggy Dew” was written by Canon Charles O’Neill, a parish priest of Kilcoo

Kilcoo, County Down

Kilcoo is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies between Rathfriland and Castlewellan, within the Down District Council area. Kilcoo had a population 1415 people in the 2001 Census.-Places of interest:...

 and later Newcastle, County Down

Newcastle, County Down

Newcastle is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 7,444 people recorded in the 2001 Census. The seaside resort lies on the Irish Sea coast at the base of Slieve Donard, one of the Mourne Mountains, and is known for its sandy beach and the Royal County Down Golf Club...

, in 1919.

The music is from a manuscript that was in possession of Kathleen Dallat of Ballycastle

Ballycastle

Ballycastle can refer to:*Ballycastle, County Antrim, a small town in Northern Ireland*Ballycastle, County Mayo, a village in the Republic of Ireland...

. That manuscript gives Carl Hardebeck

Carl Hardebeck

-Origins:Hardebeck, whose father was German and mother was Welsh, was born in Clerkenwell, London in 1869. He lost his sight when he was a baby. He was educated in London and showed a marked aptitude for music.-Move to Ireland:...

 as the arranger.

This song chronicles the Easter Uprising of 1916, and encourages Irishmen to fight for the cause of Ireland, rather than for the British, as so many young men were doing in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

The Foggy Dew needs to be seen against the political background in Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising and World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

As Keith Jeffery, Professor of Modern History at the University of Ulster, pointed out, approximately 210,000 Irishmen joined up and served in the British forces during the war.

This created mixed feelings for many Irish people, particularly for those with nationalist sympathies. While they broadly supported the British war effort, they also felt that one of the moral justifications for the war, "the freedom of small nations" like Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, should also be applied to Ireland, which at that time was under British rule.

In 1916, a radical group of Irish separatists led by James Connolly

James Connolly

James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of...

 and Patrick Pearse

Patrick Pearse

Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916...

 decided to take advantage of the fact that Britain was pre-occupied by the war and stage a rebellion. In what became known as the Easter Rising, the rebels seized some of the major buildings in Dublin including the General Post Office.

The rebellion was quickly put down by British forces but the rebellion and, perhaps more importantly, the execution of the leaders that followed, marked a turning point for many Irish people.

Some had opposed the action of the rebels but, as Prof Jeffery points out, the public revulsion at the executions added to the growing sense of alienation from the British Government.

Canon O'Neill was reflecting this sense of alienation when he wrote The Foggy Dew. In 1919, he attended the first sitting of the new Irish Parliament, known as the Dail. The names of the elected members were called out, but many were absent. Their names were answered by the reply "faoi ghlas ag na Gaill" which means "locked up by the foreigner".

It had a profound effect on O'Neill and he went home and wrote the Foggy Dew. The song tells the story of the Easter Rising but more importantly, it tries to reflect the thoughts of many Irish nationalists at the time who had come to believe that the Irishmen who fought for Britain during the war should have stayed home and fought for Irish independence instead.

O'Neill sums up this feeling in the lines: ‘Twas far better to die ‘neath an Irish sky,Than at Suvla or Sud el Bar."

Lyrics

As down the glen one Easter morn to a city fair rode I

There Armed lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by

No pipe did hum, no battle drum did sound its dread tattoo

But the Angelus Bell o'er the Liffey

River Liffey

The Liffey is a river in Ireland, which flows through the centre of Dublin. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The river supplies much of Dublin's water, and a range of recreational opportunities.-Name:The river was previously named An Ruirthech,...

's swell rang out through the foggy dew

Right proudly high over Dublin Town they hung out the flag of war

Twas better to die 'neath an Irish sky than at Suvla

Suvla

Suvla is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros.On 6 August 1915 it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as part of the August Offensive during the Battle of Gallipoli...

 or Sud-El-Bar

Sedd el Bahr

Sedd el Bahr is a village at Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. The village lies east of the cape, on the shore of the Dardanelles...

And from the plains of Royal Meath

County Meath

County Meath is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Mide . Meath County Council is the local authority for the county...

 strong men came hurrying through

While Britannia's Huns, with their long range guns sailed in through the foggy dew

Oh the night fell black, and the rifles' crack made perfidious Albion

Perfidious Albion

'Perfidious Albion' is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations and diplomacy to refer to acts of duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity by monarchs or governments of Britain in their pursuit of self-interest and the requirements of...

 reel

In the leaden rain, seven tongues of flame did shine o'er the lines of steel

By each shining blade a prayer was said, that to Ireland her sons be true

But when morning broke, still the war flag shook out its folds in the foggy dew

Twas England bade our wild geese

Flight of the Wild Geese

The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...

 go, that "small nations might be free";

Their lonely graves are by Suvla

Suvla

Suvla is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros.On 6 August 1915 it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as part of the August Offensive during the Battle of Gallipoli...

's waves or the fringe of the great North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

.

Oh, had they died by Pearse's

Patrick Pearse

Patrick Henry Pearse was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916...

 side or fought with Cathal Brugha

Cathal Brugha

Cathal Brugha was an Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War and was the first Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.-Background:...

*

Their graves we'd keep where the Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

s sleep, 'neath the shroud of the foggy dew.

Oh the bravest fell, and the Requiem bell

Requiem

A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...

 rang mournfully and clear

For those who died that Eastertide in the spring time of the year

And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but few,

Who bore the fight that freedom's light might shine through the foggy dew

As back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore

For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall see more

But to and fro in my dreams I go and I kneel and pray for you,

For slavery fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew.

*One version mentions "Valera

Éamon de Valera

Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...

 true", another leader in 1916 and later Taoiseach

Taoiseach

The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

 and, subsequently, President of Ireland.

The song (also sometimes known as “Down the Glen”) has been performed and recorded by most well-known Irish folk groups, including The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Dubliners

The Dubliners

The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

, The Chieftains

The Chieftains

The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

 with Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

, Shane MacGowan

Shane MacGowan

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

, and the Wolfe Tones

Wolfe Tones

The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band who incorporate elements of Irish traditional music in their songs. They are named after the Irish rebel and patriot Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double entendre that a wolf tone is a spurious sound...

. The song is also played before every set by the Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....

 and an Irish rock band known as the Young Dubliners

Young Dubliners

The Young Dubliners is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1988. Their style of music has come to be called Celtic Rock, for the fusion of Irish traditional instruments and music with modern rock...

 have also done a cover. Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

 provided the vocals for a mournful version of the song on the Chieftains

The Chieftains

The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

' 1995 collaboration album The Long Black Veil.

It was also performed by the Italian Epic Metal band Wotan in their second studio album Epos.

Another famous version of Foggy Dew has been recorded in Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell

Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...

 best-seller "Olympia" live album (1972), and his 1993 "Again" album (including Shane MacGowan

Shane MacGowan

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...

's backing vocals).

The song "Livin' in America" by the Celtic rock

Celtic rock

Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock and a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context...

 band Black 47

Black 47

Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...

 is played and sung to the tune of the Foggy Dew.

The Chieftains

The Chieftains

The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...

 and Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

 version of "The Foggy Dew" was voted "Best Duet" by BBC 6 Music, largely due to an organized effort by fans.

Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

n band Orthodox Celts

Orthodox Celts

Orthodox Celts is a Serbian band which plays Irish folk music combined with rock elements. Despite their unusual sound the band is one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene and has influenced several younger bands, most notably Tir na n'Og and Irish Stew of Sindidun.The band started their...

 recorded their version of the song, and released it on their second album The Celts Strike Again

The Celts Strike Again

The Celts Strike Again is the second studio album by the Serbian Irish folk/Celtic rock band Orthodox Celts released in 1997. Besides covers of traditional Irish songs, the album features two songs written by the members of the band, "Drinking Song" and "Blue"....

.

Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n band Belfast Food

Belfast Food

Belfast Food is a music band from Rijeka, Croatia, performing Irish folk and rock music under their current name since 1996.They have been featured on national charts at least once....

 have put their version of the song on the album Live in Rijeka.

German Celtic metal

Celtic metal

Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal music and Celtic music. The early pioneers of the genre were the three Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander...

 band Suidakra

Suidakra

SuidAkrA is a melodic death metal band from Germany with Celtic folk influences. During their fourteen-year career, they have performed over 200 live shows for several European and Russian tours, as well as a North American tour...

have put their version of the song on the album "Lays From Afar" (1999) as the album closer. It features only the first verse.

External links

• http://unitedireland.tripod.com/the_foggy_dew_lyrics_chords.html Lyrics guitar chords and video of The Foggy Dew
• A page containing a 1913 MP3 file of The Foggy Dew by John McCormack and Spencer Clay http://visitnewfoundland.ca/music.html
• http://www.irishmusicforever.com/foggy-dew