Lyrics:

I Wish My Love Was A Red, Red Rose
© 2015 Traditional arrangement Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius / No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

I wish my love was a red, red rose, growing in yon garden fair
And I to be the gardener, of her I would take care
There’s not a month throughout the year, my love I would renew
I’d garnish her with flowers fine, Sweet William, Thyme and Rue

I wish I was a butterfly, I’d light on my love’s breast
And if I was a blue cuckoo I’d sing my love to rest
And if I was a nightingale I’d sing the daylight clear
I’d sit and sing for you my love, for once I loved you dear

I wish I was in Dublin town, seated on the grass
In my right hand a jug of punch and on my knee a lass
I’d call for liquor freely, I’d pay before I’d go
I’d roll my Janny in my arms, let the wind blow high or low

I wish my love was a red, red rose, growing in yon garden fair
And I to be the gardener, of her I would take care
There’s not a month throughout the year, my love I would renew
I’d garnish her with flowers fine, Sweet William, Thyme and Rue

Credits:

Recorded January 21st, 2015 at the Butcher Shoppe, Nashville
Engineer - David Ferguson
Vocal, bouzouki, guitar, fiddle – Tim O’Brien
Vocal and mandolin – Jan Fabricius

Song Notes:

My love and life partner Jan Fabricius was born in Wakeeny Kansas. She’s a registered nurse but these days she helps me with business chores here at home and on the road. Jan and I have been living together the past two years and we enjoy playing music around the house, but the release of this track marks her recording debut. We learned this song from a recording by our good friend Arty McGlynn, from Omagh, County Tyrone, Ireland.

The traditional song I Wish My Love Was a Red, Red Rose, sometimes called The Irish Girl, was recorded by Shirley Collins (1958), Sarah Makem (1968), and the group Altan (1997). Arty’s 1979 version is one of two selections on McGlynn’s Fancy sung by educator, singer, radio and television host David Hammond. I met Arty in Nashville in 1991 through Maura O’Connell and Jerry Douglas, and in recent years we have toured as a duet in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Arty, born in 1944, grew up playing traditional music, and branched out into rock, jazz, and country before releasing his solo debut McGlynn’s Fancy, a veritable primer on how to play jigs and reels on an acoustic guitar.