Here is another from the exile song tradition, and it shares much in common with the other “Erin’s Green Shore” songs. Here the young woman in the vision is given the name “Eileen McManus,” but you can find other versions under the name “Eileen McMahon” such as Patricia Herald sings in a recording from 1991 as a part of the Inishowen Song Project at the Irish Traditional Music Archive.
The video below is of Jimmy Spruhan in Sacred Heart Chapel in Borris, Co Carlow.
Eileen McManus
Last night as I lay on my pillow
A vision came into my view
Of a ship sailing out on the ocean
And the wind it tremendously blew.
On the deck stood a handsome young maiden
Her features I ne’er saw before
As she sighed for the rights of her country
Saying I’m banished from Erin’s green shore.
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