{title: She's Like the Swallow}
{artist: Traditional Newfoundland}
{album: First collected by Maud Karpeles in 1930; arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1934; included in Fowke & Johnston's 'Folk Songs of Canada' (1954)}
{key: Dm}
{tempo: 75}
{difficulty: intermediate}
{phase: 3}
{tags: canadiana,newfoundland,duet,traditional,public-domain,modal,lament,shanty,campfire}
{video: youtube:MT1_WJ_35eQ}
{credit: Traditional Newfoundland folk song. Public domain. Recording: Cara Dillon - 'She's Like the Swallow' (YouTube Music Topic channel). The most-acclaimed modern recording; Dillon is an Irish singer with a particularly pure interpretation.}

{c: One of the most beautiful, mournful folk songs in the Newfoundland tradition. A young woman picks flowers to give to her lover, only to discover his affections are not solely hers. The song is modal (Dorian/minor), giving it the haunted feel that's earned it covers by Loreena McKennitt, June Tabor, Cara Dillon, and many others.}
{c: First collected by Maud Karpeles in 1930; arranged for voice and piano by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1934. Public domain. Lyrics below.}

{start_of_verse}
[Dm]She's like the swallow that flies so [Am]high
[Am]She's like the [F]river that never runs [Dm]dry
[Dm]She's like the sunshine on the lee [Am]shore
[F]I love my [Dm]love and [C]love is no [Dm]more
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_verse}
'Twas [Dm]down in the meadow this fair maid [Am]bent
[Am]A-picking the [F]primrose just as she [Dm]went
[Dm]The more she picked, the more she [Am]pulled
[F]Until she gathered her [C]apron [Dm]full
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_verse}
'Tis [Dm]out of those primroses she made a [Am]bed
[Am]A stony [F]pillow for her [Dm]head
[Dm]She laid her down, no word did [Am]say
[F]Until this fair [C]maid's heart did [Dm]break
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_verse}
[Dm]She's like the swallow that flies so [Am]high
[Am]She's like the [F]river that never runs [Dm]dry
[Dm]She's like the sunshine on the lee [Am]shore
[F]I love my [Dm]love and [C]love is no [Dm]more
{end_of_verse}

{c: ===== ENGLISH NOTES =====}
{c: 'Lee shore' is the shore toward which the wind is blowing - the dangerous shore for sailors. The image: she's bright and warm but to approach her is to wreck on rocks.}
{c: The story is told in elliptical pieces - the listener has to fill in the gap: she's been jilted by a lover, has gone to pick flowers in grief, lay down, and died of a broken heart. Newfoundland and English ballad tradition often treats death-by-heartbreak as literal.}

{c: ===== HOW IT'S PERFORMED =====}
{c: VERY slow. Tempo: ~70-80 BPM. Hold every syllable.}
{c: Modal key (D Dorian / D minor with raised 6th). The minor feel comes from the chord progression cycling through Am and F rather than resolving to a major chord.}
{c: Best performed a cappella OR with the simplest possible accompaniment - one guitar fingerpicking, or one fiddle holding sustained notes.}

{c: ===== AS A DUET =====}
{c: This song is built for two voices in close harmony - particularly two female voices, but M/F also works beautifully.}
{c: Verse 1: lead voice alone (the higher voice).}
{c: Verse 2: second voice enters on the third below, parallel motion.}
{c: Verse 3: both voices throughout, full harmony.}
{c: Final verse (repeated first): pull back to one voice for the last 'love is no more' - whisper, almost.}
{c: For practice: listen to Cara Dillon's recording on repeat. Her phrasing is the gold standard.}

{c: ===== FIDDLE PART (sparingly, this is a vocal song) =====}
{c: Fiddle is optional. Many traditional recordings are voice-only. If used, the role is sustained drone, not melody.}
{c: Key: D Dorian.}
{c: Approach: hold open D string and open A string drones throughout the song. Add the F natural (the modal 'flavor note') sustained over the F chord. No fast notes, no ornaments.}
{c: For an instrumental verse (between verses 2 and 3), fiddle plays the melody slowly (ABC notation, key D Dorian, 4/4):}
{c:   |: d2 f2 a2 d'2 | c'2 a2 f2 d2 | g2 a2 g2 f2 | e2 d2 d4 :|}
{c: Concertina or harmonium: drone D throughout. Adds the church-music quality the song wants.}
{c: Mandolin: don't. Too bright. Or if absolutely used, sustained tremolo on D - the kind of texture you'd hear in a Renaissance lute setting.}

{c: ===== WHY THIS SONG =====}
{c: One of the most-loved Canadian folk songs - period. Vaughan Williams's 1934 arrangement gave it classical-music respectability; Fowke & Johnston's 1954 inclusion put it in every Canadian elementary-school music book. Cara Dillon, Loreena McKennitt, June Tabor, and dozens of others have recorded it.}
{c: For a two-voice arrangement: this is the song to learn when you're ready for something difficult. The melody is exposed, the modal harmony is unforgiving, the lyric is sad. If the band can sing this clean with one harmony part, you've earned every other song in the book.}