Untitled - Memorial University's Digital Archives - Memorial ...

244
and the faithful widow "married" beyond the grave. this one, failing the lest of adult
maturity, turns 10 her malher in evocation of "narcissistic regression."
I recorded the following song from a woman in her thirties in Tilting after hearing her
singing it unaccompanied in two local concens. Being left the choice of what she would
sing in a private interview at her home, she chose it again. Asked about the reason for her
choice, she answered that she had been caught by the melody, and that it was one of her
favourite songs. Laughingly, she also commented that "she could feel what this woman
W:'lS going through, at least while she sang if'; her slightly embarrassed laugh could be due
to her telling me jusl before of her husband's frequent and long absences from home while
working on a trailer or "being at the ice":
In Connemara by the Lake 1
I. I slill recall the day in July
When you said 10 me your last goodbye
And thai same nighl you sailed away
To distant lands across lIle sea.
choms: In Connemara by lIle lake
Two young heans had 10 break
In county Galway by the sea
Where I loved you and you loved me.
2. For five long years I've had to wait
And now you come at last tOO late
For I was lold (hat you were dead
And yeslerday at noon I was wed.
French·Newfoundlanders have preserved their own stamp on the sad subjeci of
un hoped for return. The song's dramatic lOne, in true ballad vein, likewise voices the
domestic tragedy of mistaken deathnews received from afar. In common with the
preceding Brilish or Anglo·lrish texts, the plOI has the recognilion effected through the
man's singing a song. The revelation of lhe falal mistake responsible for the couple's
demise speaks for the woman's good faith, but lakes nOlhing from the man's loss of his
home and family:
IMUNFLA ms 87-159/CI0635.