I fell in love with this song back in the mid-90′s when I traveled from Champaign, IL to the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago to see The Makem Brothers perform. I was in the “market” for a new ballad and this one hit the spot. The only problem was that everyone else started playing it as well. I tucked it away and went back to it now and again. It’s a great song and fun and easy to play on frailing / clawhammer banjo.

Rose Of Allendale MP3

Rose Of Allendale (PDF)

The Rose of Allendale

The[G] morning was fair,the[C] sky’s were[G] clear
No breath came o;re the[D] sea
When[G] Mary left her[C] highland[G] home
And[C] wandered[D] forth with[G] me
Though[D] flowers decked the[G] mountain side
And[C] fragrance[G] filled the[D] vale
By[G] far the sweetest[C] flower[G] there
Was the[C] rose of[D] Allen[G]dale

[Chorus]
Was[G] the rose of Allen[C]dale,was the[Am] rose of Allen[D]dale
By[C] far the sweetest[G] flower there,was the[C] rose of [D7]Allen[G]dale

Where’er I wandered east or west,
Tho’faith began to lour
A solace still she was to me
In sorrow’s lonely hour
When tempest lashed our lonely barque
And rent her shivring sail
One maiden form withstood the storm
‘Twas the rose of Allendale

And when my fever’d lips were parched
On Afrie’s burning sands
She whispered hopes of happiness
And tales of distant lands
My life has been a wilderness
Unbiest by fortune’s gale
Had faith not linked my lot to hers
The rose of Allendale