This Irish lullaby is about a mother comforting her child to sleep singing ‘hush-a-bye-loo’ - there may be hazards outside but there is peace and safety within the castle walls. The melody appears in Hoffman’s collection of Petrie’s tunes (1877) and in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland (1903). The lyrics were written by Sir Harold Boulton and published in 1892.

Lyrics

The October winds lament
Around the castle of Dromore
Yet peace is in her lofty halls,
A pháiste gheal a stóir.

Though autumn leaves may droop and die
A bud of spring are you.
Sing hush-a-by loo, la loo, lo lan,
Hush-a-by loo, lo lan.

Bring no ill will to hinder us
My loving babe and me
Dread spirit of the Blackwater,
Clan Eoen’s wild banshee

And Holy Mary pity us
In Heaven for grace doth sue.
Sing hush-a-by loo, la loo, lo lan,
Hush-a-by loo, lo lan.

Take time to thrive my rose of hope
In the garden of Dromore
Take heed young eaglet till thy wings
Are feathered fit to soar

A little time and then our land
Is full of things to do.
Sing hush-a-by loo, la loo, lo lan,
Hush-a-by loo, lo lan.