Comparing The Song He Moved Through The Fair And Molly Bawn

The most compelling evidence of the clash between mythology, folklore and music is shown in ballads, specifically in two ballads that have common themes. These are, “(S)he Moved Through The Fair” and “Molly Bawn”. Both of these songs have been sang and made popular in current media outlets by women in the 21st century, but would have been sang by men before them. Much like storytelling, Ballads have a clear beginning, middle, and end/cut off point. They also serve to tell functional tales, with morals. These songs are bittersweet, in that they make beautiful tunes but most have lamenting and tragic ends, usually relating to love of country or partner. Molly Bawn is a narrative song was composed in Ireland and is about a situation rather than

“Come all you young fowlers” entices people to approach and listen to a tale that holds moral significance to the listener. The story warns the listener to be wary while they go hunt. Automatically one becomes aware of the fact that the song is directed for fellow men because they are the hunters. Here, is where the singer becomes the character in the story, as project the original brave young fowler, and in turn not imposing themselves between the story and the audience. After he confesses, telling those around him about how he shot his true love because he confused her for a swan. Then in the third verse, “And when he came to her, and found it was

Yet within the second verse a foreshadowing of one something that could hinder the couple’s marriage, the fact that the lover is dead. This becomes clear, as the image of the swan that is common in all three of these mythological love stories, the swan represents an everlasting love. Yet, this love is only made everlasting if one of the lovers is dead. Despite the fact that this song was originally written by a man about a woman becomes an important aspect of the song, not only because of the aforementioned tradition to delineate woman as figures rather than personalities, but because the lyrics of this song are changed in Sinead O’Connor’s rendition. And though, the lyrics are very important to the storyline, much of the importance of the story is how it is told. Sinead O’Connor approached preforming this song in a very unusual manner. Beyond changing the gender pronoun, she sang it as if it were in ‘sean-nos’ manner. With one instrument in the background to fill the space, her single voice relays the entire melody. She also stands looking down and away from the crowd, as is done in sean-nos, because it is a manner of calling for appreciation of the bittersweet sorrow of fighting for love or land. It is also meant to call for audience introspection. In doing so, Sinead O’Connor made a statement by making a