Rea Mcleod and Thora Rognaldson                                                       SA1980.06.1

Rea and Thora probably learned this song from a record and were possibly attracted to it by the particular sentiments expressed in verse 5.  The song was popularised by Mick Foster and Tony Allen, an Irish musical duo who have had great success as singers of ‘country music’ over a long career which is still continuing –  with a tour planned for the UK in April 2015.   But the song is much older: the tune was composed H. R. Stern and the lyrics by Arthur Lamb and it was published in New York in 1904.  A year later it was recorded by the American singer Byron G. Harlan on Victor 4254  (a cylinder recording).    Roud Index no. 25903.

The nightingales were singing in the valley
The stars like shining jewels deck the sky       
And there beside a garden gate they linger
And  whisper of  a love that never dies.

“The summer soon will pass away,” he murmurs,
“And when the fields are ripe with golden grain,
Then I’ll come back to keep my loving promise
And you and I will never part again.”

When the harvest moon is shining on the river
And merry are the songs again we’ll hear,
When as sweethearts we will roam         
Down the path that leads to home,
When the harvest moon is shining, Molly dear.

It’s Autumn now and in the peaceful valley;
The paths are strewn with leaves of red and gold;
And there she waits for some one who’s returning
And dreams about the loving vows he told.

Beneath the ocean’s depths he’s quietly sleeping
And when crimson sky should turn to grey
A woman by a garden gate is weeping
For him who said that he’d return some day.

When the harvest moon is shining on the river
And merry are the songs again we’ll hear,
When as sweethearts we will roam             
Down the path that leads to home,
When the harvest moon is shining, Molly dear.