> Folk Music > Songs > Kate of Ballinamore

Kate/Kitty From/of Ballinamore

[ Roud 5172 ; Ballad Index RcKOBall ; trad.]

Paddy Doran from Belfast sang Kate From Ballinamore to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle in August 1952. This BBC recording 18583 was included in 2014 on the Topic anthology of traditional songs, airs and dance music in Ulster, The Flax in Bloom (The Voice of the People Volume 27).

Eddie Butcher of Magilligan sang Katey of Ballinamore to Hugh Shields in July 1968. This recording was included in 2011 on Butcher’s ITMA anthology All the Days of His Life that accompanied Hugh Shields’ Eddie Butcher biography of the same name.

Séamus Ennis sang Kitty From Ballinamore at the King’s Head Folk Club on 15 July 1969. This recording was included in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology of traditional performers at the King’s Head Folk Club, London, in 1968-1970. Rod Stradling noted:

This song was sung by Geordie Hanna, who learnt from John Robinson, a Lough Neagh fisherman of Brockagh, and whose favourite it was. He generally sang Baltimore or sometimes Kate From the Lough Shore following the impulse of singers to localize their songs. Geordie brought the song neatly into Ulster by setting it in the Co Leitrim village of Ballinamore. (Baltimore is in South West Cork). No published version of the song is known, though Hugh Shields had it from Eddie Butcher, Bobbie Hanvey collected it from Harry McCormick of Shrigley, Co Down, and the BBC recorded it from the traveller Winnie Ryan. Séamus was in a position to have got it from any of these singers.

Kate of Ballinamore, sung by Geordie Hanna of Coalisland, Co Tyrone, is the only version available on CD.

George Hanna Kate of Ballinamore to Robin Morton at his sister Sarah Anne O’Neill’s home near Derrytresk, Coalisland, Co. Tyrone, in 1977. This recording was included in the following year on her and George Hanna’s Topic album On the Shores of Lough Neagh, and in 1998 on the Topic anthology of songs of exile and emigration, Tonight I’ll Make You My Bride (The Voice of the People Volume 6). John Moulden noted on the original album:

This song was learned from John Robinson, a Lough Neagh fisherman of Brockagh whose favourite it was. He generally sang Baltimore or sometimes Kate From the Lough Shore following the impulse of singers to localize their songs. Geordie brings the song nearly into Ulster by setting it in the Co. Leitrim village of Ballinamore. (Baltimore is in South West Cork). No published version is known to me though Hugh Shields has it from Eddie Butcher and gives several archive references in his article Irish Folk Song Recordings 1966-1972 in Ulster Folk-life Vol. 17. It has also been collected from the traveller Winnie Ryan and is in the BBC Archive. The song is notable for its contrasting the romance of the idea of enlisting and the heartbreak of its actuality. The air, a variant of that which Packie Byme has for Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore (EFDSS LP 1009), is hexatonic in the Soh mode.

Andy Turner sang Kitty From Ballinamore as the 17 September 2017 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

Jon Doran sang Kitty of Ballinamore on the 2024 album Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly. He noted:

This version comes from a 1978 recording of Geordie Hanna and remains largely unchanged in our recounting. We made one slight alteration to the final verse, as Hanna’s protagonist concludes by blaming all ‘female kind’ for his downfall. We felt this turned him into a slightly dislikeable character.

Lyrics

Séamus Ennis sings Kitty From Ballinamore

Oh when I was young and full of fun
Like many’s a roving blade,
’Twas my delight from morn to night
To court a young fair maid.
With her I’d talk with her I’d walk
As thousands did before,
Oh it’s little I knew she would prove untrue,
Young Kitty from Ballinamore.

Young Kitty was tall and handsome
And gentle as a dove.
Ten times a day to me she would say
With me she was in love.
When she’d say this, we would have a kiss,
And I loved her more and more.
Oh but it’s little I knew she would prove untrue,
Young Kitty from Ballinamore.
The bitch!

I asked her would she marry me
While I crossed o’er the main,
Or would she just prove single
Until I returned again
She said she would prove single
If I would prove in kind
So we kissed, shook hands and parted
And I left young Kitty behind.

One beautiful Saturday evening
I rode to Georgia Square.
I overtook the mailcart
And the postman met me there;
He handed me a letter
I’ll remember ever more,
That young Kitty got wed to a farmer’s son
Near the town of Ballinamore.
The bitch!

And on reading this letter over,
And finding all was true,
I turned around all on me heel
Not knowing what to do.
Hard labour I’ll give over
And … I’ll do no more
And I’ll roam about from pub to pub
For Kitty from Ballinamore.

And come all me handsome sporting blades
A warning take from me,
And never place too much confidence
In any young blonde you see,
For they’ll tell you this and they’ll you that,
And they’ll do what they’ve done before,
They’ll curl your hair and leave you there
Like Kitty from Ballinamore.

Jon Doran sings Kitty of Ballinamore

Oh when I was young and full of fun like many’s a dashing blade.
It was my delight from morn to night to court a comely maid,
well I’d walk with her and talk with her as many have done before,
but it’s little I knew she would prove untrue, oh wee Kitty from Ballinamore.

Well it was cruel her parents, I must blame for such a state
Although I was poor well they couldn’t endure for to court their daughter, Kate
Although I loved her dearly and told them o’er and o’er
For without a lie I would then die for Kitty from Ballinamore.

“Well indeed, my love,” says Kitty, “I would rather be a soldier’s wife,
So dress yourself in man’s attire, go fight for all of my life.”
Well the very next day I sailed away and joined the foreign force,
for without a lie I would then die for Kitty of Ballinamore.

Well I was not very long listed when a letter I did receive,
And when I read the answer well I thought I’d get some ease.
But the very first line that I did read, well it grieved my heart full sore,
for young Kitty was wed to a farmer’s son in the town of Ballinamore.

Well Kitty was tall and handsome and gentle as a dove,
Ten times a day well she used to say with me she was in love.
But she’ll tell you this and she’ll tell you that and she’ll do like she’s done before
Then she’ll curl her hair and leave you there, will Kitty of Ballinamore.