Sir, – Terence Killeen noted in your letter pages on July 30th, in response to Gerard Smyth's Irishman's Diary (July 26th), that Bob Dylan had performed Irish folksong Eileen Aroon in Dublin in 1989. This is not the only instance of Dylan performing an Irish folksong on the island. In 1998, he played the ballad Newry Highwayman in Belfast.
The traditional song dates to at least the 18th century, described in one 1788 songbook as an “Irish robber’s adventure”. As the internet was still in its infancy in 1998, one presumes that Dylan still had the lyrics memorised, learned from the Clancy Brothers decades before. – Yours, etc,
ANGUS GIBSON,
Edinburgh.