The Parting Glass
Traditional Irish/Scottish Folk Song
Arranged by Ollie Lambert
8-parts - SSAATTBB
The Parting Glass is one of the most well-known and popular folk songs, telling of a bittersweet goodbye. The lyricscan be traced back to Scotland in 1605, where the lost original tune was said to be the country’s most popular partingsong. The title comes from the tradition of presenting one final drink to visitors after they had mounted their horse tofortify them on their travels - this was called either the parting glass, or stirrup cup. The melody that we now associatewith the song was a repurposed Irish fiddle tune originally called The Peacock. It was only in 1936 that the modernversion of The Parting Glass was printed for the very first time in Colm O Lochlainn's Irish Street Ballads. This hassince been considered the definitive version and was cemented in Irish culture by the Clancy Brothers’ 1959 recording.
