“Nora O'Neal”
Description
"I'm lonely tonight, love without you... I love you dear Norah O'Neal." The singer's love he can never conceal. The nightingale's song reminds him of her. He says he will see her tomorrow; they will kiss. "I'll never be lonely again"
Notes
Source: Re author -- "The Music of William Shakespeare Hays 1837-1907" on PD Music site. - BS
William Shakespeare Hays was of course an American (born and died in Kentucky), as songs such as "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" attest, so this song is obviously "stage Irish" -- and yet, it seems to appear almost entirely in Irish collections. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as109760: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Cross references
- cf. "Shamus O'Brien" (sequel to this song)
Broadsides
- Bodleian, Firth c.26(298)[some words illegible], "Norah O'Neal" ("Oh! I'm lonely to night, love, without you"), T. Pearson (Manchester), 1850-1899; also Harding B 11(3772), "Norah O'Neill"
- LOCSinging, as109760, "Nora O'Neal," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
- NLScotland L.C.1269(158a), "Norah O'Neil," Poet's Box (address illegible), 1869
References
- O'Conor, p. 141, "Nora O'Neal" (1 text)
- Hayward-Ulster, pp. 63-64, "Norah O'Neale" (1 text)
- Roud #4976
- BI, OCon141