Spancil Hill chords & lyrics

by The Dubliners

Spancill Hill is a traditional Irish Folk song composed by Michael Considine which was originally written as a poem.
This version by The Dubliners is featured on the album - Fifteen Years On.

Music: Key of D Minor in 6/8 time at 160 bpm (♪)
Easy Chords: Dm, C, G

Song Chart
Chord Charts
Tips

Spancil Hill by The Dubliners

         
Intro: 6/8 |   Dm   |    C    |   C   |   Dm   |   Dm   |
            
         Dm             C                               Dm
1. Last night as I lay drea-ming of plea-sant days gone by
       Dm                              C              G
   My mind being bent on ramb-ling to Ire-land I did fly
       Dm                              C                  G 
   I stepped on board a vis-ion and I fol-lowed with the wind
         Dm            C                                 Dm
   Till next I came to an-chor at the cross in Spa-ncil Hill

            Dm               C                                Dm
2. It being on the twen-ty third of June the day be-fore the fair
        Dm                                    C                  G
   When lre-land's sons and daught-ers and friends as-sem-bled there
         Dm                                            C             G
   The young the old the brave and the bold came their du-ty to ful-fil
          Dm                  C                            Dm
   At the par-ish church in Cloo-ney a mile from Span-cil Hill

      Dm              C                                Dm
3. I went to see me neigh-bours to see what they might say
       Dm                                    C                   G
   The old ones were all dead and gone the young one's tur-ning grey
         Dm                                C              G
   But I met the tail-or Qui-gley he's as bold as ev-er still
           Dm               C                                 Dm 
   And he used to make me britch-es when I lived in Span-cil Hill


Instr: |  Dm  |  C  |  C  |  Dm  | Dm  | Dm  |  C  |  G  |
       |  Dm  | Dm  |  C  |   G  | Dm  |  C  |  C  | Dm  |  Dm  |

      Dm             C                            Dm 
4. I paid a fly-ing vis-it to my first and on-ly love
             Dm                   C            G 
   She's as white as an-y lil-ly gent-le as a dove
             Dm                                C                   G
   And she threw her arms a-round me say-ing "John-ny I love you still”
            Dm                 C                                  Dm
   Ah she's Nel the far-mers daugh-ter and the pride of Span-cil Hill

       Dm                C                           Dm
5. I dreamt I held and kissed her as in the days of yore
        Dm                             C                    G
   "Ah John-ny you're on-ly jok-in’ as ma-ny’s the time be-fore"
             Dm                              C                    G
   Then the cock he crew in the mor-ning he crew both loud and  shrill
        Dm            C                                 Dm  | C  | C  | Dm  |
   I a-woke in Cal-i-for-nia ma-ny miles from Span-cil Hill

Free Music Transposition Simply highlight & copy the entire song chart above - then click on the link... more
Key, note & chord transposition chart
Spancill Hill chords and lyrics

D Minor

Fingers 1, 2, 3, 4 : Notes played
A column of 1's: Barre 1st finger over marked strings
Unmarked strings: Play open 
x: Don't play string

Right-Handed Chord Tabs   
           Dm                  C                    G 
    e |-1-|---|---|     e |---|---|---|     e |---|---|-3-| 
    B |---|---|-3-|     B |-1-|---|---|     B |---|---|---|
    G |---|-2-|---|     G |---|---|---|     G |---|---|---|
    D |---|---|---|     D |---|-2-|---|     D |---|---|---|
    A |---|---|---|x    A |---|---|-3-|     A |---|-1-|---|
    E |---|---|---|x    E |---|---|---|x    E |---|---|-2-|
Frets   1   2   3           1   2   3           1   2   3

Left-Handed Chord Tabs 
         Dm                   C                   G
    |---|---|-1-| e     |---|---|---| e     |-3-|---|---| e
    |-3-|---|---| B     |---|---|-1-| B     |---|---|---| B
    |---|-2-|---| G     |---|---|---| G     |---|---|---| G
    |---|---|---| D     |---|-2-|---| D     |---|---|---| D
   x|---|---|---| A     |-3-|---|---| A     |---|-1-|---| A
   x|---|---|---| E    x|---|---|---| E     |-2-|---|---| E
      3   2   1           3   2   1           3   2   1   Frets

Notes

Level Of Ease: Easy - It only uses 4 chords that are part of the beginners chord collection.
Song Key: This version of the song is in the key of Dm which is the relative minor of F major - 1 flat (B♭)
6/8 time: This means 6 eighth-note/quaver beats per bar, therefore the count is:
|1 2 3 4 5 6 | = |♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ | or |♩. ♩. | = | 123 223| etc. etc.
Tempo: approx. 160 bpm. If you find this a little too fast on the metronome, you can set it at approx. 54 bpm where each click falls on every third beat (red notes)
|♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪|