Rose of Allendale

"The Rose of Allendale" is an English song, with words by Charles Jefferys and music by Sidney Nelson, composed in the 1830s and appearing in Blake's Young Flutist's Magazine in 1833. Because the song has been recorded by Paddy Reilly and Mary Black, many people mistakenly believe the song to be a (traditional) Irish song. Sometimes it is also believed to be a Scottish song.

The English song lyrics are about a maiden from the town of Allendale, Northumberland (in love songs, a rose, regarded as a beautiful and romantic flower, is often the fairest maiden of a region or village).

Even though similarities are striking that the song is a translated version of a much older German folk song that melodywise rooted in an old "altwürttembergische Melodie" from the Rems valley. It is a soldier's farewell song to his beloved and reflects the unstable times of war.

The song was also popularized by the Scottish folk band The Corries, and Irish band The Dubliners (e.g. on their 1987 album 25 Years Celebration) as well as in bagpipe versions, e.g. Grampian Police Pipe Band on their album Pipes and Drums of Scotland, song no. 13.

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