The traditional Derry song that inspired Steve Martin and is one of his all-time favourites

What readers may not be familiar with is that one of the ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’, ‘Father of the Bride’ and ‘Only Murders in the Building’ actor’s favourite songs is the traditional Derry ballad ‘The Maid of Coolmore’ or ‘The Maid of Culmore’ as it is also known.

Martin, a maestro banjo player, has spoken and written of being inspired by the poignant love song on several occasions, including in his 2008 memoir ‘Born Standing Up’.

The ballad is believed to have originated in the late 1800s and, according to the bible of traditional songs from Ulster, ‘Sam Henry’s Songs of the People’, it was collected from a Mr. John Moore, of Cloyfin near Coleraine, who in turn is said to have learned it from one James M’Mullan.

“It was taken down from the singing of Mr. John Moore, of Cloyfin, who learnt the song from an old Derry man,” Henry noted.

The song is about a maid from Culmore (‘the big corner’) who sails down the Foyle away from her would-be suitor from the picturesque former fishing village a few miles north of Derry city.

“From sweet Londonderry to fair London town, There’s no better harbour on earth can be found, Where the children each evening do play around the shore And the joy bells were ringing for the maid of Coolmore,” the lyric goes.

Martin has spoken of becoming familiar with Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill’s seminal version of the tune from The Bothy’s Band’s 1976 album ‘Old Hag You Have Killed Me’ when he was touring in the United States in the 1970s.

The song was the inspiration for Martin’s 1991 film ‘LA Story’ which incidentally co-starred Sarah Jessica Parker, a regular visitor to the North West of Ireland, where she has a second home in Kilcar with her husband Matthew Broderick.

In 2021, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times newspaper, he said: “The real effect, the biggest influence, I think on ‘LA Story,’ the story of ‘LA Story,’ was poignant Irish music.

"When I was getting big in stand-up comedy, I was very isolated, driving around. I had a road manager, and I loved Irish music.

"I was a banjo player and I loved Irish music on the banjo, and I loved minor melodies. And I think it’s a part of melancholy. There was one particular song besides all the songs that had this kind of romantic melancholy called ‘The Maid of Coolmore.’”

The ballad’s most famous refrain reads: “The first time that I met her, she passed me by. The next time that I met her, she bade me good-bye.But the last time that I met her, she grieved my heart sore, For she sailed down Lough Foyle and away from Coolmore.”

It was this kernel of ‘romantic melancholy’ that formed the basis of the screenplay for the film, Martin revealed.

"The song tells the story of a man in Ireland, in Coolmore, and he passes a young woman three times. The first time he passes her, he just thinks how lovely she is. They look at each other. The second time, they talk to each other. But the third time he passes her, she says, ‘Goodbye,’ and he says, ‘Why?’

"She says, ‘Because I’m sailing away to America,’ which a lot of Irish people did in the late 19th century. And he says, ‘If I had the power on the day that she is to sail I would turn the winds around.’ Which is what happens in ‘LA Story.’

"The weather and LA conspire to stop her from leaving,” he told the LA Times.

And speaking to Vanity Fair, also in 2021, he said: “I thought it was so beautiful. I tried to incorporate it into ‘LA Story’. Where LA, the signs, and the weather conspire to save a romance.”

Fascinating open day for history buffs at historic Culmore

Martin told Far Out Magazine last month that The Bothy Band’s version of ‘The Maid of Coolmore’ was one of his favourite songs of all time.

Planxty’s ‘P Stands for Paddy, I Suppose’ was another classic from the Irish traditional canon that made the list.

‘The Maid of Coolmore’ neatly captures the heartache of emigration with which Derry was associated throughout the 1700s and 1800s.

Its most powerful lines include, ‘If I had the power, the storm to rise, I would blow the wind higher for to darken the skies. I would blow the wind higher to make the salt seas to roar, On the day that my love sailed away from Coolmore’ and, ‘To the north of America my love I'll search for, For there I know no one, nor no one knows me. But should I not find her, I'll return home no more, But like a pilgrim I will wander for the maid of Coolmore’.

Martin rose to fame in the 1970s as a stand-up comic on the American circuit and became a regular on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

He enjoyed a successful Hollywood film career starring in films such as The Jerk, Three Amigos, Roxanne and Father of the Bride.

An accomplished banjo player he has released several albums including with the Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell.

His 2009 record ‘The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo’ featured collaborations with Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Tim O’Brien and Mary Black.

County Derry Fleash poised to bring a weekend of magnificent entertainment