The Spanish Lady

Notes

1. I find the overall rhythmic structure fascinating: (3+4)+(3+4)+(4+3+4) (=25). Beautiful; it just simply works! I think you could call this a crooked tune.
   
2. There are full details about the recording this is based on at the two following links:
   a. itmacatalogues.ie
   b. www.itma.ie/playlists/josephine-keegan
   Anyway the recording is highly recommended, with lovely instrumentals by:
   McKenna, Seán Óg, banjo; Gairbhí, Ide, concertina; Dunne, Brian, guitar
   All the above information is from itma.ie.
3. The lyrics are very close to those given here:
    http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/domhnaill/spanish.htm
   It seems to be more or less based on the version on the album
    Idir an Dá Sholas (1999) by Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and Dónal Lunny.
4. There’s a lot of other information about this song and its variants here:
   https://mainlynorfolk.info/nic.jones/songs/thespanishlady.html
   It has two different explanations for the unusual “numerical” chorus.
   
5. Interesting things are happening for the chord/harmony backing in bar #6. There’s a sort of walking bass feel going downwards stepwise: D C# B A. I’m not 100% sure about the chords I put down there; there may well be good alternatives.
   
6. I decided not to attempt to give any rhythmic details for how the song was actually sung. There’s an enormous amount of rhythmical variation in there, sometimes it’s ahead of the beat, sometimes not… I think a precise transcription would be fearsomely complicated and far beyond anything I can reasonably attempt.
   
7. Here are the rest of the lyrics:

   Well I stopped to look but the watchman passed
   Says he, “Young fella, now the hour is late
   And off wit’ you now or I will wrestle you
   Straight to the Bridewell gate”
   But I got a look from the Spanish lady
   Hot as a fire of amb’ry coal
   And in all me life I ne’er did see
   A maid so neat about the sole
   (Chorus)
   As I was walking through Dublin City
   As the dawn of day was o’er
   Well who should we see but the Spanish lady
   When I was weary and footsore
   But she had a heart so full of loving
   And all her love she longed to share
   And in all me life I ne’er did see
   A maid who had so much to spare
   (Chorus)
   Well I’ve wandered north and I’ve wandered south
   By Stoneybatter and Patrick’s Close
   And up around by the Gloucester Diamond
   Back by Sally Napper Tandy’s house
   But old age put her hand upon me
   Cold as a fire of ashey coals
   And gone is the lovely Spanish lady
   Neat and sweet about the soles
   (Chorus)
   Well around and around goes the wheel of fortune
   And where it goes it wearies me
   Oh fair young maids are so deceiving
   Sad experience teaches me
   (Chorus)

8. I did a little research and it seems Bridewell Gate, Stoneybatter, Patrick’s Close and the Gloucester Diamond are places in Dublin. No idea about Sally Napper Tandy’s house though.
   
9. Click here to download the ABC code in text format (in a file called “The Spanish Lady.txt”). The ABC code has the score and all the comments above.
10. I used abcjs to render this score.
11. I’d be interested if anyone has any background details about the singer, Brian Dunne. I couldn’t find anything after a quick search.
    

Revisions
2024-08-07: Changed chords for bar #6; put A rather than C in bar #7; revised comments #1, #5 and added comments #7 and #11.
2024-08-07 (2): Moved the A in bar #7 down an octave. Duh!