there is some very fine ''small print'' below christy's composer credit to ''the well below the valley'' too small for my eyes: it may credit tom munnelly, the singer from whom christy moore originally learned the song he first recorded while he was in ''planxty'' on the eponymous lp, and john reilly of boyle, co. roscommon, ireland, from whom he learned it. other versions appear in child (no.21).
yes, you're right as to the '4', phil, so i'll^W i've corrected that below; i've given this cd as 1994 (phil & h).
the sense i construed from the wording on disc and rear inlay was that although the disc was a sony records (uk) ltd. disc, in ireland it should be ordered from them at the dublin address (or from your usual wholesaler?), rather than from their uk address, in london - nor in belfast, if they distributed thence to norn iron - bicvwbw.
(- wasn't it a moot point by then, or had we in the yuk-of-gb-&-ni not yet transished to the full free trade terms of the dreaded ee-yeww! under which any product legally for sale in one member state could and must be freely exportable to any other member state° - ?)
° - excepting only newly-joined members still undergoing their transitions to full free trade within the eu
My memory banks don't help on this one, I'm afraid, but looking at the images in Discogs, I would say that the date Christy wrote is actually 26 July 1994, the last digit of the year is just ever so subtly different from the two 9's in the middle! (I've had a similar problem in my life, in that people often can't tell the difference between my handwritten 5's and 9's - maybe it's an Irish thing, I'm five-eighths Irish, you know!). I wonder if this CD is just an Irish thing, too - the back insert and disc at Discogs shows the Dublin address for Sony, and UK, Germany and Australian releases are all on The Grapevine Label. However, SACEM (France) is a fly in that ointment!
EDIT: Oops, German release NOT on The Grapevine Label, but Pinorrekk Records.
EDIT 2: this Columbia disc shows German label code, even though German release is on a different label, so SACEM might not necessarily indicate French release.
the cd is undated, as is the rear inlay; the saddle-stapled six page insert booklet is undated, save for christy moore's introduction on p.2, which he signed off on 26/7/1994, so this cd cannot antedate this - and is prob'ly 1994, possibly 1995. (philmh's phenomenal memory banks may come to my/our assistance...)
i've given this as european because the disc bears the sacem logo, above mcps/biem. (LC)0162).
the disc states made in austria 31-477704-10, the booklet 4777042000 and contains full lyrics.