> Folk Music > Songs > One Starry Night

One Starry Night

[ Roud 32844 ; Mudcat 46580 ; Davy Spillane, Sean Tyrrell]

Keith Kendrick and Lynne Heraud sang One Starry Night in 2000 on their WildGoose album Stars in My Crown. Keith Kendrick noted:

This is one of the very few newly made songs we do. It comes from the pens of Davy Spillane and Sean Tyrrell and is in our view the most traditional sounding contemporary song ever. It being the first song we worked on when we started singing together and it being such a perfect song for Lynne—it had to be included.

Kate O’Cualain and Ron Kavana sang One Starry Night on Ron Kavana and Friend’s 2011 album 40 Favourite Folk Songs.

Francy Devine sang One Starry Night on his 2020 album An Ownerless Corner of Earth. He noted:

I first heard this sung by Leicester singer Ed Butler at a session in Shepshed Water Mill. Initially, I disliked the song, seeing it as borrowing elements from elsewhere, most notably Carrickfergus. Nellie Weldon told me that Liam Weldon collected it from Travellers in Cherry Orchard, Dublin, and that it was a favourite. I have seen it accredited to Larry Kirwan. It is widely recorded but I have resisted listening to other versions, still drawing inspiration from Ed’s impacting delivery. Recording provided another opportunity to sing with Graham Dunne and to involve some favourite singers—Caoimhe Hogarty, Niamh Parsons, Pádraig Ó Nualláin—and Howth Singing Circle’s Young Singer in Residence, fiddle player and singer Cathal Caulfield.

Daoirí Farrell sang One Starry Night on his 2023 album The Wedding Above in Glencree. He noted:

I first heard a recording of this song many years ago by the great Sean Tyrell. I was reminded of the song again, while touring in Germany in 2019, by Frank McLynn of the Munich Folk Club. We were chatting after my show there and Frank mentioned a recording of it by Liam Weldon, which he kindly sent to me after the tour. Listening to that recording inspired me to come up with this particular arrangement.

Macdara Yeates sang One Starry Night on his 2024 album Traditional Singing From Dublin. He noted:

From the traditional repertoire of Liam Weldon from the Liberties, who cited two main inspirations for his singing: the street singers of Dublin and the Travellers who camped in his grandmother’s back garden in Hanbury Lane. Liam attributed this song to a Travelling woman named Mary Duke.

Lyrics

Francy Devine sings One Starry Night

One starry night as I lay sleeping
One starry night as I lay in bed
I dreamed I heard wagon wheels a-creakin
When I awoke my own love had fled

I’ll search the highways likewise the byways
I’ll search the botharíns, camping places too
I will enquire of all our people
Have they tide or tidings or a sight of you

Chorus (after each verse):
For it’s many a mile with you I’ve travelled
Many’s the hour love with you I have spent
I dreamed you were my love for ever
But now I find love that you were only lent

I’ll go across the seas to England
To London or to Birmingham
And in some public house I’ll find you
Lamenting for your love back home

Well, I am drunk today, love, I am seldom sober
A constant rover from town to town
And when I’m dead and my travelling’s over
Molly Bán a-stóirín come lay me down

(repeat first verse)

Daoirí Farrell sings One Starry Night

One starry night as I lay dreaming
One starry night as I lay in my bed
I dreamed I heard carriage wheels creaking
And when I awoke love I’d found you’d fled

I searched the highways likewise the byways
I searched the boreens the camping places too
And I’ll enquire at every station
Have they tide or tidings my love of you

For its many’s the mile love with you I travelled
Oh many’s the hour love with you I spent
I dreamed you were my true love forever
Ah now I find love you were only lent

For I’m drunk today and I’m seldom sober
A constant rover from town to town
And when I’m dead and my story’s over
O Molly Bán a-stóirín come lay me down

O one starry night as I lay dreaming
One starry night as I lay in my bed
I dreamed I heard carriage wheels a-creaking
And when I awoke love I found you fled

I searched the highways likewise the byways
I searched the boreens the camping places too
And I’ll inquire at every station
Have they tide or tidings my love of you.