I Lost My Love - Patrick Rose

Song Information

My 2015 entry for the John Birmingham cup. I distinctly remember starting to write this song in 2010 on the way home from the Raise The Roof singing session, and then it just percolated in the back of my mind for 3 years.

This was my first foray into writing a "mystery song". I felt I couldn't finish the song because I needed to research the Irish Potato Famine so I'd not make a fool of myself. In 2011, Jonathan Coulton released Artificial Heart with the standout track being Nobody loves you like me. After 2 years of that percolating back in my mind I realised that I didn't need to make this a long ballad about the famine - I could just give the hints of what happened and let the audience fill in the gaps.

It was initially debuted at the Crookes Folk Club, where I used a barebones guitar arrangement (I believe I used CGCFCD, capo 4) but I found that the guitar part didn't really add anything, so it remains an acappella piece.

I lost my love to the famined field
I lost my love to the famined field
The wind blows high, and the wind blows cold
And I will ne'er see my love grow old

The famine struck when I was to sea
The famine struck when I was to sea
The wind blows high, and the wind blows cold
And I will ne'er see my love grow old

We hit the rocks on our way back
We hit the rocks on our way back
The wind blows high, and the wind blows cold
And I will ne'er see my love grow old

Half of us starved, and the others near drowned
Half of us starved, and the others near drowned
The wind blows high, and the wind blows cold
And I will ne'er see my love grow old