AE FOND KISS. AKA and see "Rory Dall's Port." Scottish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. One part. The melody was originally "Rory Dall's Port," a triple time tune taken from Oswald (and which some say was Oswald's own) and used by Robert Burns for his song of the above name. Rory Dall was an ancient harper, originally from Ulster, who composed and played primarily in Scotland. Emmerson (1971) notes the tune is of the character of the ancient 'ports' of the harp, a slow Gaelic air, rather than the vulgarly termed 'Scottish Waltz.' Burns composed the heartfelt words, which he set to the tune, in 1791, just after the departure of the young and beautiful Calrinda, Mrs. M'Lehose, who was journeying to Jamaica to meet her husband. Clarinda and the poet were warm friends who had met soon after Burns' poems were first published, and the two were "obviously attracted to one another."
**
Glad we never love sae kindly
Had we never loved sae blindly
Never met--or never parted
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
**
Burns' words were in fact an adaptation or remolding of the poem "One Kind Kiss before we Part" by Robert Dodsley, and English butler who had risen to be a poet, playwright and major literary publisher, and whose lines were set to music by James Oswald (1710-1769). Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 175, pg. 229.
ANY PRIVATION BUT THIS (Creach na ciadainn). Scottish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB. "The words to this air are in most collections of Gaelic songs, - and hearing these translated, will explain the occasion and circumstances of 'the privation' to a poet who takes up the subject, better than any recapitulation of the editor, - his first provence being to communicate the airs correctly and intelligibly, in order to establish thier standard, before the poet attempts to attach verses" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 85.
T:Any privation but this
T:Creach na Ciadainn
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Fraser Collection
K:G
G>=F|E2 Dz c2|B2 dz g>e|d2 Bz d>B|A2 Gz G>=F|E2 Dz c2|B2 dz g>e|
D2 Bz d>B|A2 Gz||G>A B2 Bz c>B|A2 Gz D>G|A2 Gz =f>g|a2 gz g>=f|
e2 dz B>c|d2 Bz B>c|d2 g2 d>B|A2 Gz||
ATHOLE BROSE. AKA and see "Buckingham House," "The Dogs Amongst the Bushes," "Niel Gow's Favorite." Scottish, Canadian; Reel or Strathspey. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. D Mixolydian or D Mixolydian/Major (Dunlay & Greenberg, Perlman). Standard. ABB (Skye): AABB (Gow, Kerr): AA'BB (Athole): AA'BB' (Perlman). "Athole Brose is, according to one recipe, a drink made from the water in which oatmeal has been soaked, mixed with honey and whisky. Stirred with a silver spoon, it is bottled and kept until needed" (Alburger, 1983). Alburger (1983) and Collinson (1966) credit composition to Abraham MacIntosh {b. 1769} (whose father was Robert 'Red Rob' Macintosh, also a fiddler and composer of notable ability), who first published it under the title "Buckingham House," first appearing in his father's Third Book. Glen (1891) and Emmerson (1971) remark that such belief is largely based on an ascription to 'Mackintosh, junior' in his father's third book, though it could refer to Abraham's brother Robert (though the latter did not publish any collection). Since the sub-title was "Niel Gow's Favourite," and it appears in Gow's Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (Edinburgh, 1792), it has often been mistakenly credited to that famous fiddler. The following lines appear in Alexander Whitelaw's Book of Scottish Song (1844):
***
You've surely heard o' the famous Niel,
The man that played the fiddle weel;
I wat he was a canty chiel,
And dearly loved the whisky, O
And aye sin' he wore tartan hose,
He dearly lo'ed the Athole Brose;
And wae was he, yu may suppose,
To bed 'farewell to whisky', O.
***
Cape Breton fiddlers play it as a strathspey in the key of D, where it is often the vehicle for stepdancing. It is also often the practice on the island to play the reel "General Stewart" (AKA "Lady Muir MacKenzie") following it (Dunlay & Greenberg, 1996). Cape Breton fiddler Jackie Dunn, in her thesis "Tha Bals na Gaidhlig air a h-Uile Fidhleir" (The Sound of Gaelic is in the Fiddler's Music), 1991, remarks that there is known to have been Gaelic words to "Athole Brose." In Ireland the melody is known as "The Dogs Amongst the Bushes." Sources for notated versions: Fr. Angus Morris (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Peter Chaisson, Jr. (b. 1942, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 73, pg. 111. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 5. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; pg. 75. Gow (Collection), 1792. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 2; No. 148, pg. 17. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 73 & 74. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 189. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 118. ATL 8835, Dave MacIsaac & Scott MacMillan - "Live" (1993). CAT-WMR004, Wendy MacIsaac - "The 'Reel' Thing" (1994). Decca 14030, CX 005, Angus Allan Gillis (c. 1936). DMP6-27-2-4, Doug MacPhee - "The Reel of Tulloch" (1985). Nimbus NI 5383, Buddy MacMaster - "Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island" (1993). Paddledoo Music PAD 105, Alasdair Fraser - "Scottish Fiddle Rally, Concert Highlights 1985-1995" (1996).
T:Athole Brose
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A|:F>D D/D/D A,>DD>G|F>D D/D/D G<B A>G|1 F>D D/D/D A,<D D>=F|
E/=F/G C>E c>GE>G:|2 F>D D/D/D A,<D D>=F|E/=F/G C>E c<G E>C||
|:D<d d>c d>ed>c|A<d d>e =f>de>c|dd=f>d e>df>d|=c>dc>G E<C G>E:|
BALLINDERRY (AND CRONAN). Irish, Air (6/8 time). B Flat Major (O'Sullivan/Bunting): G Major (Heymann). Standard. AB. Ballinderry, O'Sullivan (1983) remarks, is on the edge of a small lake close to Lough Neagh, the largest lake in Ireland, and Bunting states the words to the tune refer to locations within the region. The tune also appears in Clairseach na nGaedheal, part III, 1903. The air is really a simple folk air with a second part attached (which Bunting termed the "cronan"); this second part is somewhat curious and was explained by Professor Eugene O'Curry in 1862. Curry identified the crónán as "the low murmuring accompaniment or chorus, in which the crowd took part at the end of each verse," and that the sound was produced in the throat "like the purring of a cat" (quoted in Heymann, 1988). George Petrie, writing in Bunting's 1840 volume, states that the peasantry of Counties Down and Antrim sang "many rude and ludicrous verses" to the air, one of which goes:
***
Its purty to be in Ballinderry,
Its purty to be in Aghalee
Its purty to be in George's Island
Sitting under an Ivy tree
***
Source for notated version: air and words were noted by the Irish collector Edward Bunting form Dr. Crawford of Lisburn in 1808. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1966; pgs. 75, 77 & 78. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 56, pgs. 86-87.
BANTRY LASSES [1]. Irish, Air (3/4 time). G Mixolydian. Standard. AB. The name Bantry is derived from the Gaelic ben, meaning 'horn' and refers to mountains. Thus Bantry is 'the peaks by the sea shore.' O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 404, pg. 70.
BASKET OF TURF (An Cliaban/Cliabh Móna). "Bundle and Go" [1], "The Creel of Turf," "The Disconsolate Buck," "The Lass from Collegeland," "The Unfortunate Rake," "The Wandering Harper," "The Wee Wee Man." Irish, Double Jig. E Minor. Standard. AABB. Some versions are set in the dorian mode, and it is sometimes played with the parts reversed in the order given in Breathnach's CRE II (1976). The song "The Wandering Harper" is set to this air. Holden (Collection of the most esteemed old Irish Melodies, Dublin, 1807) gives it as "The Unfortunate Rake." The melody compares with "Winter Garden Quadrille" in O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (No. 97). Sources for notated versions: accordion player Bill Harte, 1968 (Dublin, Ireland) [Breathnach]; Frank McCollam (Ballycastle, County Antrim) [Mulvihill]; fiddler Con Cassidy (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty]. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 52, pg. 28. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; pg. 152 (appears as 1st "Untitled Jig"). Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 12, pg. 67. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 735, pg. 137. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 32, pg. 22.
T:Basket of Turf, The
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (32)
K:E Minor
E|EBB BAG|FDF AGF|EBB Bcd|AGF E2E|EGB BAG|FDF AGF|GAB Bcd|AGF E2:|
|:B|Bee efg|dcB AGF|Eee efg|f^df e2e|Eee efg|dcB AGF|GAB Bcd|AGF E2:|
BATTLE OF AUGHRIM, THE (Cath Eachroma). AKA and see "Lament for the Battle of Aughrim," "Loch Torridon," "The Return from Fingal." Irish, March (2/4 time), Polka or Lament. E Aeolian (Brody): A Dorian (Breathnach, Cowdery, Mallinson, Miller & Perron, Mitchell, O'Neill, Sullivan, Tubridy). Standard. One part (Brody, O'Neill): AABB (Cowdery, Mallinson, Mitchell, Sullivan, Tubridy): AA'BB (Breathnach, Miller & Perron). The piece is descriptive of the last great defeat of the native Gaelic army in Ireland, in 1691, following the Battle of the Boyne. Aughrim itself is located about 30 miles from Galway city and is a small village. Russell (1989) related a bit of folklore which had the battle seeming to go one for days and days. There is a hollow or small valley on the road outside the village which Russell maintained was "filled up with blood from the people that were killed, and ever since then it is known as Bloody Valley."
***
Cowdery (1990) finds the melody another expansion/contraction of the central musical motifs of the old ballad air "The Boyne Water." "Lament for the Battle of Aughrim" was printed in the appendix to Walker's Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards (1786). In 19th century Ireland the piece was a piper's tour-de-force (along with a programmatic tune called "The Fox Chase"), and notable renditions were played by such famous musicians as County Galway's Martin O'Reilly. Breathnach (1985) says the tune was played for the last figure of the (County Clare polka) set. Sources for notated versions: Chieftains (Ireland) [Brody]; a Clare version from flute and whistle player Micko Russell (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; piper Leo Rowsome [Cowdery]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; Martin Byrnes [Sullivan]. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 188, pg. 64 (appears as "Cath Eachroma"). Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 37. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, Vol. 2, No. 68. Cowdery (The Melodic Tradition of Ireland), 1990; Ex. 52, pg. 121. Mallinson (100 Polkas), 1997; No. 32, pg. 13. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; Vol. 1, No. 65. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; no. 119, pg. 98. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1845, pg. 347. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989; pg. 20. Sullivan (Session Tunes), Vol. 3; No. 37, pg. 15. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 4. Claddagh CC 1, Leo Rowsome - "Ri na bPiobairi" (1969). Claddagh CC14, "Chieftains 4" (1974). Leader LEACD 2004, "Martin Byrnes" (1969). Shanachie 79024, "Chieftains 4" (1974/1983).
T:Battle of Aughrim, The
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:A Dorian
G|E2 A2A2 Bd|e2d2c2A2|B2G2 GF GA|BG AG E2D2|E2A2A2 Bd|
e2 ed e2 ag|e2d2 Be dB|A4 A3:|
|:e|a2 ag e2 e/f/g|a2 ag e2 fg|a2 af g2 ge|de dB G4|a2 ag e2 e/f/g|
a2 ag e2d2|B2 e/f/e d2B2|A4 A3:|
BATTLE OF KINLOCH LOCHY, THE. AKA - "Blar Leine." Scottish, Slow Air. G Minor. Standard. AABB. The event at Kinlochlochy (the head of Loch Lochy) in 1544 was a fierce clan conflict between the MacDonalds of Lochaber and Glengarry (aided by the Camerons) against the Clan Fraser, aided by the Grants and Clan Chattan. It arose from a dispute regarding the chieftanship of the Clanranald; the MacDonalds supported one Ian Moideartach (John Moydartach or John of Moidart), while the Frasers promoted Ranad Gallda or Galda (Ronald Gualda), the grandson of the chief of the Clan Fraser, Lord Lovat. The King's agent in the north of Scotland, the Earl of Huntly, took the opporunity to punish Clanranald for their plundering of the lands of the Grants, and marched north with his army, joining with the Frasers, Grants, Clan Chatten and others. This alliance succeeded in placing Ronald Gallda in charge of Moidart, but on the return journey Huntly, who now led the force, divided them at a stream flowing into Loch Lochy. One part of this divided force, comprised of the Frasers under Gallda, along with men of Urquhart and Glen Morrison, was set upon by Ian Moideartach and his men as they came to a narrow pass the the south end of the Loch. A great defeat was dealt to the Frasers and Gallda was slain, along with Lord Lovat and many of the clan gentry. Neil (1991) says "it was probably one of the fiercest battles that has ever been fought by the clans involved and many of the traditions regarding it still persist in Highland song and story." Captain Simon Fraser, who composed the tune, erroneously translated the alternate title as having to do shirts, but Neil maintains the name "Blar Leine" came from the ground the battle was fought on--the Gaelic 'blar' being a plain or field, and 'leine' signifying a wet plain, and, in fact, he says there are several place names in the area of the battle such as Lianachan and Lianda which refer to marshy ground. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 8, pg. 3. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 153, pg. 197.
T:Battle of Kinloch Lochy
T:Blar Leine
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Fraser Collection
K:C Minor
G>^F|G2 B2 c>=B|c2 d2 e>c|d2 g2 fg|c2 BG e>c|d2 g2 b>d|c2 BG e>g|
d2 c2 d/c/=B/c/|G4:|
|:E/F/G/B/|e4 f/e/d/c/|d2 c2 (3cdf|g4 g/f/e/d/|e2 G2 f/e/d/c/|d2 g2 b>d|
c2 BG e>g|d2 c2 d/c/=B/c/|G4:|
BEAUTIFUL LITTLE VALE OF ARAGLIN, THE (Glounthaun Araglin Eeving). Irish, Air (6/8 time). A Minor. Standard. AB. "The Araglin is a small river in the Co. Waterford flowing through a very pretty glen, the subject of an Irish song to this air, of which I have a full copy: written by a Waterford man living in England" (Joyce). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 92, pg. 48 (Joyce includes one verse in both Gaelic and English).
T:Beautiful Little Vale of Araglin, The
L:1/8
M:6/8
N:"Moderate"
Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:A Minor
E|A2A AGA|c3 d2d|ede dcA|(G3 G2)E|A2A AGA|c3 d2d|ede d2c|A3 A2||
e|ged ceg|a3 g2 a/g/|eee dcA|(G3 G2)E|A2A AGA|c3 d2d|ede d2c|(A3 A2)||
BEAUTY, CHARMING, FAIR AND YOUNG (Ribhinn àlainn eibhinn og). Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard. AB. This tune "is the air of Robert Donn, the Sutherland's poet's song, to Miss Sally Grant, and is in his printed volumes of Gaelic songs and poems; the air is given as sung by the editor's father" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 170, pg. 69.
T:Beauty, charming, fair and young
T:Ribhinn àlainn eibhinn og
L:1/8
M:C
S:Fraser Collection
K:B Minor
d2 (cd) (fe)dc|f2B2^A2 GF|E2E2F2^A2|B2 B^A [D4B4]|d2 (cd) fedc|
f2B2^A2 (GF)|E2E2F2^A2|B2 B^A [D4B4]||d2dd e2ee|f2 f^e f2F2|
(Fd)(cd) (fe)dc|f2B2^A2^GF|f>edf e>dce|f2B2^A2 (GF)|E2E2F2^A2|
B2 B^A [D4B4]||
BIDH CLANN ULAIDH (Men of Ulster). Irish, Air. A Gaelic lullaby which tells the baby that pipes will be played, wine drunk and the children of kings will be present at his wedding. Culburnie CUL 113D, Alasdair Fraser & Tony MacManus - "Return to Kintail" (1999).
BLACK DONALD (Domhnall Dubh). Scottish, Air and Strathspey. A Major ('A' part) & E Minor ('B' part). Standard. AABB. The air is a popular puirt-a-beul, or Gaelic mouth-music, tune from the Scottish Gaidheltachd. The words tell of a boy who marries "slightly above his station." Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 10: Airs & Melodies of Scotland's Past), Vol. 10, 1992; pg. 4. Culburnie Records CUL102, Alasdair Fraser & Jody Stecher - "The Driven Bow" (1988). Green Linnet SIF 1077, Capercaillie - "Crosswinds" (1987).
BLACK MARY. Scottish, Air. C Major. Standard. AABB. "A very old Gaelic air" (Gow). Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 533.
BOYNE WATER, THE [1] (Briseadh na Bóinne). AKA and see "As Vanquished Erin," "The Battle of the Boyne Water," "Bayne Water" (W.Va.), "Barbara Allan" (Pa.), "The Bottom of the Punch Bowl," "Boyne Water Quickstep," "Cameronian Rant," "The Cavalcade of the Boyne," "Come Kiss Wi' Me, Come Clap Wi' Me," "Findlay," "King William's March," "Lass If I Come Near You," "Leading/Driving the Calves," "Leading the Calves in the Pasture," "Native Swords," "One Pleasant Morning Beside the Glen," "Playing Amang the Rashes," "Praises of Limerick," "The Rashes," "Rosc Catha na Mumhan," "Sheila Ni Gowna," "Song of the Volunteers," "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation," "To Look for My Calves I Sent My Child," "The Wee German Lairdie" "Wha the Deil Hae We Gotten For a King," "When the King Came O'er the Water." Irish, Air or March (4/4 time). A Dorian (Breathnach, O'Neill, Perlman, Roche): E Minor (Joyce). Standard. AB (most versions): AA'BB (Breathnach). The name Boyne itself is derived from the name of the goddess Boinn, literally 'cow-white', "a name well suited to a pastoral people whose wealth was chiefly in cattle" (Matthews, 1972). The name of the tune, however, commemorates the Battle of the Boyne (named for the Boyne River in County Meath, eastern Ireland, though the battle itself was fought three miles west of Drogheda), fought July 1st, 1690, in which the English monarch King William III defeated the Irish forces under King James II. "It has always been, and still is, very popular among the Orangemen of Ulster (for it dashed the hopes of the Irish for religious freedom and the Stuarts for Kingship). The ballad follows the historical accounts of the battle correctly enough. The air is well known in the south (of Ireland) also, where it is commonly called Sebladh na n-gamhan, 'Leading the Calves,' A good setting is given by Bunting in his second collection: the Munster and Connaught versions are given by Petrie in his Ancient Music of Ireland, vol. II, p. 12. I print it here as I learned it in my youth from the singing of the people of Limerick, not indeed to 'The Boyne Water' of Ulster, but to other words (given below). My setting differs only slightly from that of Bunting; and it is nearly the same as I heard it played some years ago by a band on a 12th of July in Warrenpoint" (Joyce).
***
Samuel Bayard (1981) believes "Boyne Water" was composed in the seventeenth century, and thinks it has always been more of a vocal air rather than an instrumental tune. As witnessed by the myriad of titles in the beginning of this entry, it has been a popular air in the British Isles and, as Bayard states, "altogether, the forms suggest that it has undergone a long traditional development." He believes the second half may have been the original tune, with the first half being fashioned out of elements from earlier strains. Bronson discerns the origins of the whole tune family in a Scottish melody found in the Skene Manuscript of c. 1615. Flood (1913) dates the tune from c. 1645, long before the famous battle, though how he arrived at this date is obscure. Cowdery (1990) believes it may be from a reference to a melody published by Petrie (1855), called "To Seed for the Lambs I Have Sent My Child," in which the latter writer declared, "in its superior purity of expression, and in its passionate depth of feeling, affords intrinsic evidence of an original intention, and consequent priority of antiquity, which will not be found in that which I consider to be the derived from of it called 'The Boyne Water.'" O'Neill (1913) concludes the same Gaelic airs printed by Petrie are early antecedents of "Boyne Water," Nos. 1529 ("A Long mo Gamain" {To look for my calves I sent my child"}) and 1530 ("An Tuainirc na nGainna". Breathnach (1985), in CRE II (No. 124), gives a polka setting and remarks it was used for the last figure of the Clare polka set, and says that "Rosc Catha na Mumhan" (The Munster War-Cry) is sung to this air.
***
However old it actually is in oral tradition, Bayard (1991) finds the earliest printed appearances of the tune in William Graham's Lute Book of 1694 (as "Playing Amang the Rashes") and in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy (where it appears as an untitled air). The melody remained in popular usage throughout the British Isles for well over two hundred years. Robert Burns set three songs to it in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, and it was the vehicle for the Scots songs "The Wee, Wee German Lairdie" and "Andro and His Cutty Gun" (the latter from Alan Ramsay's 1740 edition of the Tea-Table Miscellany). In Ireland, Sir Thomas Moore used the melody for his c. 1825 song "As Vanquished Erin." The air was widespread in American usage, often heard as the tune the popular song "Barbara Allan" was sung to, which fact has been noted by several writers (Bayard, Cowdery, Cazden). It is, for example, identified by Cowdery (1990) as one of four tunes which carry the tale of "(Bonny) Barbara Allen" (the second strain of both Joyce's version and Bunting's "To seek for the Lambs..." is the portion of the Irish tune which corresponds to the America "Barbara Allen"). As "The Battle of the Boyne" it was included in a Philadelphia chapbook of 1805, and, under the title "The Buoying Water," as an instrumental piece in the 1790 Whittier Perkins Book (Cazden, et al, 1982). According to Bronner (1987), it was used for an 1815 hit American blackface minstrel song by Micah Hawkins called "The Siege of Plattsburgh" or "Backside Albany." Cazden prints it with the Catskill Mountain (N.Y.)-collected song "A Shantyman's Life," which he states can be found in most collections of lumber camp songs. O'Neill (1913) lists "Boyne Water" as one of the "splendid martial airs" of Irish music.
***
The political connotations of "The Boyne Water" long remained attached to the melody, even after it was imported to North America. Bayard (1981) relates that the mere playing of the tune in the presence of Catholic Irish in western Pennsylvania "could bring on a mass attack," and repeats the Fayette County story of an old Irishman digging potatoes in the garden while his wife followed along beside him picking the up in a sack. She absent-mindedly began singing the air, upon which he turned around and, incensed, brained her with one blow of his spade. In fact, Pennsylvania fifers declined to play the tune for Bayard at gatherings, fearing to destroy the harmony of the group with "political pieces." Sources for notated versions: George Strosnider (Greene County), Hiram Horner (Westmoreland County), Mrs. Sarah Armstrong (Westmoreland County) {All Southwestern Pa.} [Bayard]; flute and whistle player Micko Russell, 1969 (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; Sterling Baker (b. mid-1940's, Morell, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Montague) [Perlman]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 317A-D, pgs. 271-273. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 124, pg. 66. Gow (Beauties), 1819. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 151 and No. 377, pgs. 183-184. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 204 & No. 260, pg. 45. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 208. Roche Collection, 1982; pg. 8, Vol. I, No. 4.
T:Boyne Water [1]
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:E Minor
ED|B,2 B2 B>cdB|AGFE D2 E>F|G2 FE BAGF|(E3D) B,2 E>D|B,2 B2 B>cdB|
AGFE D2 EF|G2 FE B>AGF|E4 E2||E>F|A2B2d2 e>f|e>d cB A3A|B2e2 e>def|
(e3d B2) Bc|dcde d2 cB|A>GFE D2 EF|G2 FE B>A GF|E4E2||
BOATMAN, THE [3]. (Fear a' bhàta). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). B Flat Major. Standard. AABB. "This air sings delightfully and expressively in Gaelic. The parties to the words were seemingly persons above the ordinary rank. Whether the lady alludes to the cabin of his vessel or boat, or to some apartment of her lover's residence, called the green chamber, she mentions her delight at being there, where the best society met, to be entertained with Spanish wine form the hand of her lover" (Fraser). A song by this name appears in Allan Ramsay's ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd (1725), not performed until 1729. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 104, pg. 40.
T:Boatman, The [3]
T:Fear a'bhàta
L:1/8
M:3/4
Q:140
S:Fraser Collection
K:B_
F>G|B2g2f>g|G2 Bz B>_A|G2F2B>F|G2 Bz d>e|f2g2f>e|d2 gz f>e|
d2B2c>B|B2 Bz:|
|:d>c|B2 B>c d>F|G2 Bz g>f|f2 f>g f>c|d2 fz d>e|f2 g2 f>e|d2 gz f>e|
d2B2c>B|B2 Bz:|
BONAPARTE CROSSING THE ALPS. AKA and see AKA and see "Battle of Waterloo," "Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine" (Irish) [2], "Bonaparte Crossing the Rockies," "Bonaparte's March," "Bonaparte's Retreat" (Pa.), "Napoleon Crossing the Alps," "Oro, Welcome Home," "The Diamond," "Peter Gray" (Pa.). Irish (originally), Candain, American; March. Canada, Prince Edward Island. A Dorian. Standard. AABB. "The wide diffusion, extensive ramification and probable great age of this Irish air have been discussed already in the notes to other versions in this collection (see notes for 'Bonaparte's Retreat'). The present version must also represent a fairly antique development of the tune; it has a strongly impressed character of its own, and may readily be traced in Irish tradition. Though some of its variants serve for songs or dances, most of them have the same strong, martial swing as the one given here. Petrie unhesitatingly calls it 'an ancient clan march' (see Petrie, pp. 251, 356), although he does not assign it to any particular Irish sept. Joyce, on the other hand, declares it to ba a wedding march, or 'hauling-home' song-tune, since it was used in his boyhood in County Limerick to accompany the progress of a newly-married couple home from church (see Joyce 1909, pp. 130, 131). Its frequently occurring Irish name, "Oro, 'Se do bheatha a'bhaile!' (Oro, Welcome Home), and two or three lines of verse quoted by Joyce, would be convincing were we not aware by this time of its protean variety of form and multiplicity of functions in the tradition. As a matter of fact, this version, like the ones already cited, goes under other names in Ireland beside 'Welcome Home'; while these words also befin the refrain to a Gaelic Jacobite song sometimes sung to it. We can only conclude that the statements of Petrie and Joyce were both partially correct: the tune, like other old and well known ones in our tradition, has been used for a number of purposes. In southwestern Pennsylvania this version is definitely a marching tune. Another local set is Bayard Coll. No. 352, from Greene County. When the volunteers from the communities of Pine Bank and Jollytown, in that county, went to camp at the time of the Civil War, they marched to the stately music of this tune as played by a 'martial band' (drums and fifes) made up of local folk musicians. Although this 'Welcome Home' form of the air is strongly individualized, it cannot be separated from the other sets, discussed under our Nos. 44-48, to which its variants continually show resemblance and relation. Intermediate or transitional forms have been recorded, some of which were listed under Nos. 44-48; others are referred below...A still more specialized march form of the 'Welcome Home' version goes in Irish tradition by the name of '(Fare Thee Well) Sweet Killaloe'. Variants are found in Joyce 1909, No. 824 and O'Neill's Irish Music, No. 100. A greatly simplified dance-tune form of this 'Killaloe' version is also current in western Pennsylvania under ('floating') titles of 'Jennie Put the Kettle On' and 'Nigger in the Woodpile'. Sets are in Bayard Coll., Nos. 21, 64. 'The American Veteran Fifer' also has a variant, No. 122" (Bayard, 1944)."/ Bayard (1981) cites it as a member of the "Lazarus" tune family (identified in part by a subtonic cadence in the 1st and 3rd tune lines, with a tonic cadence in the 2nd and 4th tune lines; which is a feature of medieval music, he says).
**
Perlman (1996) remarks that the tune was played by the regionally famous PEI fiddler Lem Jay on New Years' Eve over Charlottetown (PEI) radio during the 1930's. Source for notated version: Johnny Morrissey (1913-1994, Newtown Cross and Vernon River, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].
**
PRINTED SOURCES: Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 89. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 63 (appears as 'The Diamond'). The Feis Ceoil Collection, No. 67 (equals JIFSS, No. 15, pg. 18). Hannagan and Clandillon, 'Londubh and Chairn, No. 57 (Welcome Home Jacobite Song; and note mention ibid., p. 28, of a Tyrone version of the tune to the same piece). Hardings All-Round Collection, No. 32. Henebry (Handbook), p. 148 (two sets); Hogg (Jacobite Relics), I, 3, II, 138. JIFSS, No. 2, p. 35; No. 12, p. 17; No. 15, pp. 18 (see above). Johnson (The Scots Musical Museum, edition of 1853) II, No. 298. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909, Nos. 275, 281, 729. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 2; pg. 7. Kennedy-Fraser, 'From the Hebrides, pp. 96-98. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 69. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 11. O'Neill's Irish Music, Nos. 178, 205. O'Neill (Music of Ireland), Nos. 58, 1809 (same set as in O'Neill's Irish Music), and 1824. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 99. Petrie, Nos. 926, 983, 1056 (to Welcome Home Jacobite Song), 1425. Roche Collection, Vol. 2; No. 231. Scanlon, p. 63, 'Battle Call of the Fianna' (close to Petrie 983, 1425). C.J. Sharp (English Folk-Chanteys), No. 7. Smith (The Scottish Minstrel), I, 106, 107, IV 58, 59. Stokoe & Bruce, 1886, Northumbian Minstrelsy, p. 183 (appears as "Cuckold Come Out o' the Amrey"). Green Linnett GLCD 1155, Martin Hayes - "Under the Moon" (1995).
T:Bonaparte Crossing the Alps
T:Napoleon Crossing the Alps
L:1/8
M:C|
K:G
cB|A2 AB AGEG|cd (3edc d2 (3e^fg|aged cAGE|G2 (3GGG G2 cB|
A2 AB AGEG|cd (3edc d2 (3e^fg|aged cAGE|A2 (3AAA A2:|
|:e2|aged cde^f|gega g3e|aged cAGE|G^FGA G2 cB|A2 AB AGEG|
cd (3edc d2 (3e^fg|aged cAGE|A2 (3AAA A2:|
BON(E)FIRE, THE [1]. AKA - "Tein'-aigheir air gach beann dhiubh." Scottish, Strathspey. G Minor. Standard. AAB. This Jacobite oriented tune "was occasioned by the bonfires raised on all the surrounding hills, upon the late General Fraser of Lovat's (the family chief's Gaelic patronymic was MacShimi) election for the County of Inverness, even before his estate was restored to him (forfeited in 1745). It makes a charming medley with ("The Scolding Wives of Abertarff)" (Fraser). Other Jacobite Fraser family tunes are "Lovat's Restoration," "Lord Lovat Beheaded," "Lord Lovat's Welcome." Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 96, pg. 162. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 64, pg. 22. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 193.
T:Bonfire, The
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:G Minor
f|d<G d>c d<GB<g|f>d c<f A<FF<f|d<G d>c d<GB<g|b>ga>^f ~g2g:|
f|d<g g2 d>g b<g|f>dc>f A>FF>f|d<g g2 d<g g>a|b>ga>^f ~g2 g>a|
b>a g<b f>gd>g|f>d c<f A>F F<f|d<G d>c d<GB<g|b>ga>^f ~g2g||
BUMPER(S,) SQUIRE JONES. AKA and see "Thomas Morres Jones." Irish, Air (6/8 time). D Major. Standard. AB. Composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). Though not often added, a coma should appear in the title after the first word rendering the title's meaning a cup filled to the brim in toast to Squire Jones ('bumpers'). Thus the song belongs in the group of O'Carolan's bacchanalian compositions, for which he was justly famous, though the English paraphrase of the original Gaelic was not written until 1730 when it was rendered by Arthur Dawson, Baron of the Exchequer. In fact, O'Carolan composed the song prior to October, 1729, according to an entry in the diary of young Charles O'Conor, a harp pupil of the bards, who wrote: "Wednesday, 8th. I got Squire Jones from him today, and no thanks to him for that." There has been some speculation that the tune was originally composed by a London dancing master and published by Playford in 1703 as "The Rummer," although Donal O'Sullivan, in his definitive work on O'Carolan, concludes that the commonalties of the two tunes are not enough to sustain the assertion. O'Sullivan does conclude that the English lyrics were penned by Dawson and that they are far superior to O'Carolan's "indifferent" Irish lyric. The composition was publicly championed for O'Carolan by Bunting, after he found attributions in the 1780 issue of the bard's tunes by S. Lee and in The Hibernian Muse (c. 1787). The tune is in Himes' reissue of O'Carolan's tunes, c. 1800-10, though Hime did not credit it to the harper when he printed it in New Selection...Original Irish Airs (c. 1800).
**
The Squire Jones referred to, states Flood (1906), was Thomas Morris Jones of Moneyglass, Co. Leitrim, and not, as Bunting asserts, Mr. Jones of Moneygalss, Co. Antrim. O'Neill (1913) relates that while enjoying the hospitality of the Squire O'Carolan composed a song for him, as was his custom. There are two versions of what happened next, and either a man named Moore or one Baron Dawson, overheard the harper composing in private in his rooms. Thinking to play a jest on the blind bard, the personage (who was musically trained) memorized the melody and even wrote his own words to it, and when O'Carolan played and sang the composition the next day it was vigorously asserted that the melody was not newly composed, but an old song, and the Baron (or Moore) played his version. O'Carolan, of course, flew into one of his famous rages, but was eventually mollified by explanations and not a few toasts. The song was sung the year Squire Jones died by the famous English tenor Thomas Lowe at the Theatre Royal, Aungier Street, Dublin on December 8th, 1743, at a benefit given by Madamoiselle Chateauneuf, and it must have been a showcase number for him as the song with music was printed over a decade later (in 1754) in the Liverpool-published Muses Delight with the note "sung by Mr. Lowe." The song and tune appear The Gentleman's Magazine (1744) including dance directions along with the note that James (or Jack) Beard sang it in The Provok'd Wife, and song and tune also appear in The Merry Medley, or A Christmas-Box for Gay Gallants and Good Companions, II (1745). The song (without the tune) was printed in The Canary Bird (1745) and the tune was printed by Thumoth in 12 English and 12 Irish Airs (c. 1745) where it is identified as English. Finally, it appears in Henry Brooke's opera Little John and the Giants, performed in Dublin in 1748 as Jack the Giant Queller. In none of the above was a composer or author credited. A reference to the song is made in Smollett's novel Peregrine Pickle (1751). Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 65, pg. 58. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 230. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 639, pg. 114.
T:Thomas Morres Jones or Bumper Squire Jones
C:Turlough O'Carolan
S:Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper
S:by Donal O'Sullivan
Z:transcribed by Paul de Grae
M:6/8
L:1/8
A/G/ | FDD D2 E | F/G/AF G/A/BA | BEF G2 A/G/ |
FED d2 e | fed edc | dBe cAc | dDD D ||
f/g/ | afa dfa | bgb efg | faf ged | cAA A2 g |
f/g/af geg | f/g/af geg | fed cBc | dDD D2 ||
BURN'S MARCH. AKA and see "Huggad de gadda freed a mony" ("Chugad a'gadaidhe fríd a'mónaidh"), "´Im Bó agus Um Bó," "Pretty Peggy," "Steal a Cow and Eat a Cow." Irish, Air (4/4 time). C Major. Standard. ABBCCDD. The tune appears five times in the Irish collector Bunting's manuscripts, two of which were collected from some of the last of the ancient Irish harpers, Denis Hempson and Patrick Quin. Each time there is a note to the effect that it was one of the first handful of tunes taught to young harpers. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pgs. 68 & 69.
BURNT OLD MAN [1] ("An Seanduine Doit/Doighte" or "Sean Duine Dóite"). AKA - "Burdened Old Man." AKA and see "Georgie, the Dotard," "Hob or Nob." Irish, Air (6/8 time). D Major. Standard. AAB. Bayard (1981) believes this tune to be a cognate of the tunes "Miss McLeod's Reel" and "The Campbells are Coming", and that all three are "recognizable cognates of 'The White Cockade' as well." The song (which features bawdy lyrics on the 'maids never wed an old man' motif) can be found in Peter Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain and Ireland and was recorded by Relativity on their first album of the same name (Green Linnet SIF 1059). Caoimhin Mac Aoidh remarks that most older Irish fiddlers (even English-speaking ones) know the tune by the Gaelic name, "Sean Duine Dóite" (pronounced "shaan din-uh doy-chuh"), but that the English name is prevailing among the younger players. While the Irish word dóite does mean burnt, the title would be more meaningfully translated as "The Withered Old Man." The alternate title "The Burdened Old Man" is not used in Ireland. Breathnach's "Anthony Frawley's Jig" is a related tune. Baoill (Ceolta Gael), pgs. 84-85. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 90, pg. 17.
BUTTERFLY, THE [5]. Irish, Harp Air (6/8 time). A Minor. Standard. AB. Bunting noted in his manuscript that this was either the second, third or fourth tune learned by beginning harpers. Ann Heymann notes that there is an old Irish belief that the butterfly represented a dead soul waiting to enter Purgatory, and that folklore has it that the spirit of a living person can also leave the body while asleep and travel in the form of the insect. Source for notated version: Bunting's manuscript, noted from the ancient harper Patrick Quin of County Armagh, one of ten harpers in attendance at the Belfast Harp Festival, held in 1792 [Heymann]. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pg. 55.
BUTTONHOLE, THE [2]. Irish, Air (4/4 time). A Minor. Standard. AB. Source for notated version: the manuscirpts of the 19th century Irish collector Bunting [Heymann]. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pgs. 114-115.
CAPTAIN O'KANE/O'KAIN. AKA and see "Cailin tighe moir," "Captain Henry O'Kain," "Giolla an Bimhoir," "The Wounded Hussar," "The Small Birds Rejoice." Irish, Air or Planxty (6/8 time). E Aeolian (Matthiesen, O'Neill): G Aeolian (Gow). Standard. AB (Complete Collection, Matthiesen, O'Neill): AABB (Gow). "Captain O'Kane" is thought to have been composed by blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) for his friend Captain O'Kane (or O'Cahan), a sporting Irishman of a distinguished County Antrim family well-known in his day as "Slasher O'Kane"(Donal O'Sullivan, Carolan, The Life and Times). O'Sullivan's attribution is based on a comment by Hardimann (who said O'Carolan wrote it) and because of stylistic similarities with other O'Carolan works. O'Neill (1913) quotes Patrick O'Leary, an Austrailian correspondent, who wrote that the Captain of the title was "the hero of a hundred fights, from Landon to Oudenarde, who, when old an war-worn, tottered back from the Low Countries to his birthplace to die, and found himself not only a stranger, but an outlawed, disinherited, homeless wanderer in the ancient territroy that his fathers ruled as Lords of Limavady." The earliest printing of the tune Captain Francis O'Neill could located was in Aird's 1788 Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, though he also found it (under the title "Captain Oakhain: A Favourite Irish Tune") in McGoun's Repository of Scots and Irish Airs, Strathspeys, Reels, etc.(Glasgow, 1803)-the same title and presumably the same tune was printed in McGlashan's 1786 collection. The song "The Wounded Hussar" was written to the melody by Alexander Campbell (O'Sullivan gives his name as Thomas) and appears in Smith's Irish Minstrel (Edinburgh, 1825). It was also included in Surenne's Songs of Ireland without Words (Edinburgh, 1854). Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 325. Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 133, pg. 95. Hardiman, Irish Minstrelsy, 1831. Matthiesen (Waltz Book II), 1995; pg. 10. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 36 (appears as "Captain Oakhain"). O'Farrell (Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes), c.1799-1800. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 627, pg. 111. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 245. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922. Green Linnet GLCD 1151, Seamus McGuire - "The Wishing Tree" (1995). Maggie's Music MM107, "Music in the Great Hall" (1992).
T:Captain O'Kain, or The Wounded Hussar
B:O'Neill's Waifs & Strays of Gaelic Melody, 1922
Z:transcribed by Paul de Grae
R:air
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:Em
E/D/|B,EF G2 F/E/|F/G/A/G/F/E/ DEF|GBG B/A/G/F/E/D/|
B,EE E2 E/D/|B,EF G2 F/E/|F/G/A/G/F/E/ DEF|
GBB B/A/G/F/E/D/|B,EE E2 E/F/|
GBB B2 A/G/|FAA A2 d/c/|Be^d e>fg|Be^d e2 e/f/|
g>fe d>cB|AFd DEF|GBG B/A/G/F/E/D/|B,EE E2||
T:Captain Oakhain
L:1/8
M:6/8
N:"A favourite Irish Tune"
S:McGlashan - Reels
K:G Minor
G/F/|DBA B2 A/G/|A/B/c/B/A/G/ FGA|BdB cB/A/G/F/|DGG G2:|
|:G/A/|Bdd d2 c/B/|Acc c2f|d>g^f g>ab|dg^f g2 g/a/|bag f>ed|
d/c/B/A/f FGA|BdB d/c/B/A/G/F/|DGG G2:|
CAIRNGORUM MOUNTAIN [1] (An carn gorm). Scottish, Slow Air (6/8 time). "A very old Gaelic air" (Gow). A Major (Gow): G Major (Fraser). Standard. AABB. "The editor inserts this air, given in excellent style by Mr. Gow, as it is called an Irish air, by the Reverend Patrick Macdonald, who published a very inferior set of it. He had not, however, traversed that part of the country to which it belonged, but had he called for John MacPherson, for a long time fox-hunter betwixt the braes of Mar and Cairngorm, extending to parts of the forests of Gordon, Fife, Airdy, Seafield, Invercauld, Rothiemarchus, and Invereshire estates, and heard him sing the 'Pursuit of the Deer' to this air, he would have been delighted, and would instantly recognise it as a native, as well as thank the editor for reclaiming it. John MacPherson died but lately, and for the few last years of his life resided within a couple of miles of the editor's house; he had been a universal sportsman and angler, and the editor often had pleasure in bringing him into his angling boat to row and sing this air" (Fraser). Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 324. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 154, pg. 62 (appears as "Cairngorm Mountain," under the Gaelic title).
T:Cairngorm Mountain
T:An carn gorm
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Fraser Collection
K:G
(3G/F/E/|DB,D DB,D|DB,C D2 G/>F/|(EGF) E>D/E/F/|G>AB B2 (A/G/)|
ABd e>f/g/e/|dBG G>A/B/c/|Bed B>A/B/A/|GEE [G,2E2]:|
(B/c/)|~d>ed dBd|e>ge e2 (d/c/)|B2 (A/G/) g(fe)|B2 A G2 (e/f/)|
g>fe edB|dBA B2G|ABd e>^de|GEE E2 (B/c/)|~d>ed d<Bd|d<Bd d2 (g/f/)|
(eg)f e>d/e/f/|g2f e2g|(G>A/B/c/4d/4e/4f/4 g2) (f/e/)|d<BA G>(A/B/c/)|
B<ed B>A/B/A/|GEE E2||
CAISLEÁN AN ÓIR/CAISLEÁN NA nOR. AKA and see "The Golden Castle." Irish, Hornpipe. G Dorian. Standard. AABB. Composed by West Clare fiddler Martin "Junior" Crehan (b. 1908). Peter Woods (in his book The Living Note: the Heartbeat of Irish Music, 1996) relates Crehan's story about how they got the tune. It seems that at one time a crowd of men were digging a grave for a fiddler at a location that overlooked a place called Caislean Oir. An old man happened by on the road and asked whether the group had made the sign of the cross before they dug, and was assured they had. The old man then proceeded to tell them, in Gaelic, the story of a priest who had taken a wife and was banished to live above the Cliffs of Moher (County Clare), and then he sang them a song in Irish known as "The Priest's Lament." The air of the song stayed with then and formed the basis of the hornpipe "Caisleán an Óir," named for the prominent feature where they heard the melody. Sources for notated versions: fiddler Junior Crehan (West Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; Martin Hayes [Fiddler Magazine]. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 223, pg. 102. Ceol, (II, (1) pg. 50. Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1994; pg. 11. ACM Records, Mick O'Brien - "May Morning Dew." Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann CL17, Junior Crehan - "Ceol an Chlair, Vol. 1." Green Linnet SIF 1058, Matt Molloy & Sean Keane - "Contentment is Wealth" (1985). Green Linnet GLCD 3009, Kevin Burke - "If the Cap Fits" (1978. Learned from Martin Rochford of Bodyke, Co. Clare). Green Linnet SIF1127, "Martin Hayes" (appears as "The Golden Castle").
CALEDONIA'S WAIL FOR NIEL GOW, HER FAVOURITE MINSTREL (Caoidh Na H-alb Airson Neill Ghobha). Scottish, Slow Strathspey. B Minor. Standard. AB (Emmerson, Hunter): AAB (Fraser, Skye). The air was the work of the Scottish fiddler and composer Captain Simon Fraser of Knockie (1773-1852), born at Ardachie near Fort Augustus. Regarding the composer, Hunter (1988) reports that Fraser's contemporary, a fiddler named Captain Macdiarmid, said of him "I never heard anyone make the fiddle speak Gaelic so beautifully." Fraser himself says of his tribute to that most famous of Scots fiddlers, Niel Gow: "This is an effort of the editor's to pay a public tribute of admiration to the memory of that sterling and original genius, Niel Gow, attempted in his own strain. The editor is aware how unnecessary this was, as while there exists any taste for the sprightly national style, brought to such perfection by this individual and his family, his name will live in the models his genius carved out for the cheerful, innocent, and rational amusement of youth; the strain of his music inducing a style of dancing highly conducive to health, athletic agility, and a general elevation of the spirits; and when prudently combined with their juvenile lessons for acquiring a prompt and genteel address, tends to the same effect throughout their advance in years, by giving universal delight. Were this tribute, therefore, worthy of its object, it becomes more due to a self-taught genius, who has rendered it innecessary by bequeathing to posterity so very captivating a memorial of himself. Vide Vignette." Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 99, pg. 177. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 148, pg. 60. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 15. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 183. Lismor Records, Ron Gonella - "Fiddle Gems" (1976). Scottish Records, Yla Steven - "Back to the Hills" (c. 1977). Rounder Records 82161-7032-2, Bill Lamey - "Full Circle."
T:Caledonia's Wail for Niel Gow Her favourite Minstrel
T:Caoidh na h-Alb airson Neill Ghobha
L:1/8
M:C
S:Fraser Collection
K:D
F|:D<B, B,>C D>EFB|A>FF>E DA,A,(F/E/)|D<B, B,>C D>E Fg|
f>d (e/d/)c/d/ B2 (Bc/d/|D<B, B,>C D>EF>B|A<F F>E D>E/F/ A,(F/E/)|
D<B, B,>C D>E Fg|f>d (e/d/)c/d/ (B2B):|
f/^a/|b>c' d'>c' b>=af>d|a<f f>e dAAf/^a/|b>c' d'>c' b>a f/^a/b/c/'|
d'f (e/d/)(c/e/) B/d/f/d/ B(d/e/)|f[fd'][fd']e/>d/ c[ca][ca]d/>c/|
[DB]>c d/c/d/^e/ f[F^A][F^A] D/=E/|[DF][DF][DF] (C/D/) [CE][CE][CE] (D/C/)|
B,/C/D/^E/ F<^A, (B,2 B,)||
CAOINEADH UÍ DHOMHNAILL (O'Donnell's Lament). AKA - "Caoineadh Uí Dhonail." AKA and see "Lament for O'Donnell." Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). Ireland, Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border. G Major. Standard. AABB. This song and its air have some currency in Kerry but apparently not elsewhere. The Munster air is in memory of Red Hugh O'Donnell, an Ulster chieftain who (along with Hugh O'Neill) waged the Nine Year War against the English forces of Elizabeth I at the end of the 16th century. O'Donnell, O'Neill and their Spanish allies were defeated at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, having been outmanoeuvred by Mountjoy's army, with the effect that the rebellion quickly collapsed and English control over the entire island was assured. A story, perhaps from a winking Denis Murphy (?), has it that "Lament for O'Donnell" is about a man who, while dancing at a party, cuts his foot on a tap from his shoe and contracts blood poisoning from which he soon expires. His friends take him to the field in the hopes of reviving him, and an angel appears and sings this lament for him! Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 19, pg. 24. Folkways FW8781, Denis Murphy - "Traditional Music of Ireland Volume 1" (appears as "Queen of O'Donnell," a misinterpreting of the Gaelic title "Caoineadh Ui Dhomhnaill", which when rendered in English sounds like "Queen of O'Donnell" {caoineadh is pronounced 'kween'}). Green Linnett SIF 1139, Eileen Ivers - "Eileen Ivers" (learned from Brendan Mulvihill). RTE Records, "Denis Murphy: Music from Sliabh Luachra". Topic Records, Padraig O'Keeffe - "Kerry Fiddles" (Padraig probably learned it from the singing of his grandmother Mrs. Callaghan). Topic Records, Denis Murphy - "The Star Above the Garter."
CHAPEL KEITHACK. AKA and see "Chapel Keithing." Scottish, Slow Air (3/4). B Flat Major. Standard. AAB. Composed by William Marshall. The Gaelic 'keithack' translates as wood, so the title presumably means 'chapel in the wood' or 'wooden chapel'. Neil (1991) states that the structure of the title was thought to have been sited somewhere along the hilly road which links Dufftown and Huntly, and finds that a place of the same name existed there in 1636, situated near the modern village of Mortlach. Alburger (1983) relates that one Father George Gordon was a priest at Keithack ("near Dufftown") who was a fine musician and in a position to circulate Marshall's music to a wider public. "It has been suggested he furnished bass lines for Marshall's second collection; perhaps Marshall's outstanding slow air 'Chapel Keithack'...was a musical offering in return for the Father's help" (Alburger, 1983). Some have found the composition lacking, however, and Emmerson (1971) for one gives the critique:
**
There is no doubt that as far as the idiom of Scottish dance
music is concerned, Marshall had all the craftsmanship he
required, but the beautiful slow air, or airs, "Chapel Keithing,"
amounts to an exasperating stillbirth of two beautiful melodies
which Haydn, whose name comes to mind when one hears them,
could have developed as a masterly adagio in a quartet. Marshall
begins very well, but the second tune cries out for further development,
and just then, as though caught red-handed, he drops it with a conventional
but meaningless run to change key and return to the original.
**
Some parts of the composition are easier to play in third position. Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 55, pg. 81. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 536. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 93 (arranaged by Hector MacAndrew). Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 49 (arranged by James Hunter). Marshall, Fiddlecase Edition, 1978; 1822 Collection, pg. 6. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 82, pg. 111.
T:Chapel Keithack
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Marshall - 1822 Collection
K:B_
d4 (c>A)|B4 F2|(GF) e2 (d/f/e/d/)|d3c F2|d4 (c>A)|B4 F2|(GE)(DC)(B,A,)|B6:|
f4 (d/b/a/g/)|g>f f2 df|gfedcB|(d3c) ~F2|f4 (d/b/a/g/)|(g>f) f3 =e/f/|ga/b/ a2 g>=e|
f6|d4 (c>A)|B4 F2|(G>F) e2 (d/f/e/d/)|(d3c) F2|d4 (c>A)|B4 F2|(GE)(DC)(B,A,)|B6||
CHI MI NA MOR-BHEANNA (I will see the great mountains). AKA - The Mist Covered Mountains {of Home}). Scottish, Slow Air or Slow March (3/4 time). A Dorian. Standard. One part. The popular Gaelic song appears in Alfred Moffat's volume Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands and tells of the longed-for homecoming, the sights of home yearned to see and how longed for is the sound of their birth language. The tune was played as a lament for President John F. Kennedy's funeral.
**
O chi, chi mi na mor-bheanna,
O chi, chi mi na corr-bheanna,
O chi, chi mi na coireachan, Chi mi na sgoran fo cheo.
**
Chi mi gun dail an t-aite 'san d'rugadh mi,
Cuirear orm failte 'sa' channain a thuigeas mi,
Gheibh mi ann aoibh agus gradh 'nuair ruigeam
Nach reicinn air tunnachan oir.
**
Chi mi na coilltean, chi mi na doireachan,
Chi mi na maghan, bana is toraiche,
Chi mi na feidh air lar nan coirreachan
Falaicht' an trusgan de cheo.
**
Fagaidh mi ubraid, surd agus glagarsaich,
Dh'Fhaicinn an fhuinn anns an cluinnteadh a' chagarsaich,
Fagaidh mi cuirtean duint' agus salach
A dh'amharc air gleannaibh nam bo.
**
Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 1, 1991; pg. 13. Green Linnet GLCD1133, Johnny Cunningham - "Celtic Fiddle Festival" (appears as the first half of "The Mist Covered Mountains of Home").
CHURCH OF CLEGGAN, THE. Irish, Air or March (4/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB. Darley and McCall note there was an old Gaelic song enititle "The Clay of the Church of Creggan". Source of notated version: piper Daniel Markey (Drogheda, Ireland) [Darley & McCall]. Darley & McCall (Darley & McCall Collection of Irish Music), 1914; No. 22, pg. 9.
CLUINN THU MI MO NIGHEAN DONN, AN (Will You Listen to Me, My Brown-Haired Maid). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). C Major. Standard. One part. A song-poem in Gaelic by Domhnall Donn about an older man in love with a younger woman. He wishes to marry her and promises to go to sea no more, but instead stay at home and look after her, pledging a full and happy lofe together. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 150, pg. 193.
COOLUN/COOLIN, THE (An Chuilfhionn) AKA- "An Cuilfion Le Atrugad," "An Cuilrionn," "The Coulin," "The Coolin," "Cuilin." AKA and see "In This Calm Sheltered Villa," "Had You Seen My Sweet Coolin," "Oh! Hush the Soft Sigh," "Oh! The Hours I Have Passed," "Though the Last Glimpse of Erin," "The Lady of the Desert." Irish, Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major (Gow): G Major (Ó Canainn, O'Neill/1915 & 1850, Roche): F Major (Joyce). Standard. AB (Joyce, O'Neill/1850, Sullivan): AAB with variations (Roche): AA'B (Ó Canainn): AABB (Gow). "The Queen of Irish Airs" maintains Francis O'Neill (1913). There are many versions of this ancient and celebrated air "of which Bunting's and Moore's are not among the best: they are both wanting in simplicity," states Joyce (1909), who prints the tune as collected by Forde from Hugh O'Beirne (a Munster fiddler from whom a great many tunes were collected). He considers Forde's version "beautiful...(and) probably the original unadulterated melody," and adds that it is similar to the version he heard the old Limerick people sing in his youth during the 1820's. Flood (1906) states it is probable the air dates from the year 1296 or 1297, believing it must have been composed not long after the Statute, 24th of Edward I, in 1295, which forbade those English in Ireland (who were becoming assimilated into the majority Gaelic culture) to affect the Irish hair style by allowing their locks to grow in 'coolins.' The original song, told from a young maiden's point of view, berates those Anglo-Irish who conformed to the edit by cutting their hair, and praises the proud Irishman who remained true to ancestral custom (the Gaelic title "An Chuilfhionn," means 'the fair-haired one'). The Irish Parliament passed another law in 1539 forbidding any male, Irish or Anglo-Irish, from wearing long or flowing locks of hair--this enactment, relates Flood, is the supposed impetus for the claim that Thomas Moore wrote the song and tune of "The Coolin," which was printed by Walker in 1786.
***
The tune was played by Irish harper Charles Fanning for the first prize (ten guineas) at a harp festival organized at Grannard in 1781. Fanning, then 56 years old, won a similar contest eleven years later at the Belfast Harp Festival with the same air (Flood, 1906), though Bunting (who was in attendance, recording the tunes played) says he was not the best performer but used modern variations on the tune which was much in vogue with young pianoforte players at the time. It was well known enough to have been mentioned by name by the Belfast Northern Star of July 15th, 1792, as having been one of the tunes played in competition by one of ten Irish harp masters (i.e. by Fanning) at the last great convocation of the ancient harpers, the Belfast Harp Festival, held that week.
***
In the alternate title for the tune, "The Lady of the Desert," the word 'Desert' may refer to "Dysert" (though it has the same meaning), a place name in several parts of Ireland, including North Kerry. Bunting's source Hempson claimed to have his version from Cornelius Lyons, a North Kerry musician.
***
Sources for notated versions: the Irish collector Edward Bunting noted the tune from the harper "Hempson, at Magilligan in 1796," who learned his set with variations from the famous harper Cornelius Lyons (of the Barony of Clanmaurice) who composed them in 1700 (Lyons, a friend and companion of O'Carolan, had built his reputation as the arranger of variations in a more 'modern' style to old melodies such as this and "Eileen a Roon"); Joyce prints the version collected by Forde from Hugh O'Beirne, a reknowned fiddler from Ballinamore in the mid-19th century; "From Taig MacMahon, as sung in Clare" [Stanford/Petrie]; fiddler James O'Neill (Chicago) [O'Neill]. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 537. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pg. 10. Hime (Pocket Book), c. 1810; pg. 33. Holden (Old Established Tunes), 1806-7; pg. 28. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 564, pg. 299 (appears as "The Coolin"). Kinloch (100 Airs), c. 1815; No. 25. McFadden (Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), volume V, 1790-7; pg. 29. Mooney (History of Ireland), 1846; pg. 532. Murphy (Irish Airs and Jigs), 1809; pg. 8. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs), 1995; No. 103, pg. 88. O'Farrell (National Pipe Music), 1797-1800; pg. 33. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion), 1801-10; No. 122. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 46, pg. 30 (with variations). O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 89, pg. 16 (with nine variations). O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 119, pgs. 168-170. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. 1, pg. 22, No. 43. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; Nos. 598 & 599, pgs. 150-151. Sullivan (Session Tunes), Vol. 3; No. 40, pg. 17. Walker (Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards), part X, 1786; pg. 8. Green Linnet SIF 1084, Eugene O'Donnell - "The Foggy Dew" (1988).
T:Coolun
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Gow - 2nd Repository
K:D
(3ABc|d2 ~d>f (f/e/)d/c/|~d2 A2 (3DFA|d2 (de/f/) {f}e>d|(d2c)z ~d>c|
~(B2 B)c/d/ (e/d/)(c/B/)|A2 (FA)(d>A)|(c/B/)A/G/ F2 E2|D4:|
|:A>G|~F>E(D>E)(FG)|A>^G ABcA|~d>c (de/f/) ed|(d2c2) d>c|
~B2 (B/c/d/c/) (e/d/)(c/B/)|A2 (FA)d>A|(c/B/)(A/G/) F2 E2|D4:|
CORK AND SWEET MUNSTER. Irish, Air (4/4 time). F Major. Standard. One part. The name Cork is derived from the Gaelic word coraigh, a swamp. "I have known this tune from my earliest days. There was a song to it of which I remember but one verse:--
I travelled this country round and round,
From city to city and seaport town;
But of all the fine places that ever I did see,
Cork and sweet Munster, ochone, for me. (Joyce)
Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 7, pg. 6.
T:Cork and Sweet Munster
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:F
F/G/|A2 AA AGFG|{A}f2e2f2 ef|g2 fe dcAc|dfed c2 AB|c2 d>c c2 Ac|dfe>g f4|
A2 AA A<c (3BGF|G2 F2 F3||
CRODH CHAILEIN (Colin's Cattle). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major (Martin): E Major (Neil). Standard. One part. The melody is though to have been composed by Isabel Cameron of Mull. One of the Gaelic fairy songs (Orain Shidhe), it tells the story of the beautiful bride of Colin who was enchanted by fairies on her wedding day. Her fate was for one year's time to be allowed home each day to milk the cows, and though Colin could hear her singing, she was forced to remain invisible to him. After the specified period the spell was broken and she was restored. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 1, 1991; pg. 14. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 172, pg. 223.
CRODH LAOIGH NAM BODACH (The Old Man's Calf). AKA and see "Plundering the Lowlands." Scottish, Air (3/4 time). D Dorian. Standard. AB. The air is found in a music manuscript of the early 19th century by the Maclean-Clephane sisters at Torloisk on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. It was taken from the "playing of {Echlin?} O'Kain by Mr. {Patrick} Macdonald." Heymann (1988) states that the travelling Irish harper Echlin O'Cathain was known to have spent time in Scotland. O'Cathain was born in 1729 and became a student of Cornelius Lyons, a famous harper. Besides Denis Hempson, he was the only surviving harper by the end of the 18th century to cultivate long fingernails in the ancient manner. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pg. 91.
CROSSING TO IRELAND ("An t-aiseadh do dh' Eireann" or "An t-aiseag do dh'Eireann" Scottish, Canadian; Slow Air (12/8 or 3/4 time) or Waltz. Canada, Cape Breton. E Minor (Matthiesen): E Dorian (Cranford, Dunlay & Greenberg): F Minor (Fraser). Standard. AAB. The Gaelic title translates literally as "The Ferryboat to Ireland." "The editor discovered this air in an ancient manuscript in the possession of his father, of some of the band music of the 78th regiment, to which he belonged, raised by the late Gemeral Fraser of Lovat in the year 1757; it seems to be quick-march time, built upon Lord Kelly's strathspey, unless antecedent to it. MacArthur, the master of the band, was instructed with the view of becoming menstrel to the Kilravock family, and had access to much of the music of the Mairnshire gentlemen formerly mentioned" (Fraser). The tune is sometimes played as a waltz (as in Winston Fitzgerald's recording), though this is frowned upon by traditionalists. It was recorded by Cape Breton musicians Winston 'Scotty' Fitzgerald (c. 1950's in the key of F Dorian) and Dougie MacDonald. Source for notated versions: Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford, Dunlay & Greenberg]. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 224, pg. 90. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; pg. 84. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 95, pg. 36. Matthiesen (Waltz Book I), 1992; pgs. 56-57. Avocet Records, Glasnotes - "Live from Contrafornia." ACC-49195, Dougie MacDonald - "Staying in Tune." Breton Books and Records BOC 1HO, Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald - "Classic Cuts" (reissue of Celtic Records CX 59). Celtic SCX 59, BBMCD 001, Winston Fitzgerald - "A Selection of New Jigs, Reels, Strathspeys." Shag Rock SOTH 0001, Marcel Doucet - "Tarbot Anthology."
T:Crossing to Ireland
T:An t-aiseadh do dh' Éireann
L:1/8
M:12/8
S:Fraser Collection
K:F Minor
F/4=E/4F/4G/4|A<FF C<FF A,<FF c>BA|G<EE B,<EE G,<EE B>AG|
A<FF C<FF A,<FF c>BG|AA/B/c/=d/ e>dc BAG F2:|
f/g/|a<ff c<ff AFF F2 b/a/|gee Bee GEE E2 f/4=e/4f/4g/4|a<ff c<ff A<Fa g2f|
AA/B/c/=d e>dc BAG Fz c'/b/|aff cff FAc f/g/a/b/ c'|gee Bee EGB e/f/g/a/ b|
a2 g/f/ g2 f/=e/ f_ec BAG|AA/B/c/=d/ e>dc BAG F2||
CRUISKEEN LAWN (Cruiscin Lan). AKA and see "O'Sullivan's Return," "The Men of '82," "The Wife Who Was Dumb," "Dumb, Dumb, Dumb." Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Minor. Standard. AB. "Cruiskeen Lawn" is the Englished form of the Gaelic title "Cruiscin Lan," which means 'The Full Little Jug'. Flood (1905) reports that Dr. Sigerson, in "The Bards of the Gael and Gall, believes this tune evidences strong Scandinavian musical influences from the period of the Norse invasions of Ireland c. 800-1050. He is in error, states Flood, who doubts the tune dates from the Norse period or even mediaeval days." Cazden (et al, 1982) finds the earliest publication of the song to be a sheet-music copy printed in New York by Edward Riley, dated between 1823 and 1831, and notes that the song became a favorite on both sides of the Atlantic during the mid-ninteenth century. As a popular tune it was used for several other ballads and hymns, including the American shape-note piece "Consolation" (Sacred Harp, 1848). See also note to "An Cruisgin Beag" and "We'll take again a cruiskeen, a cruiskeen laun." O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 254, pg. 44.
DANIEL OF THE SUN [2] (Dónall na Gréine). AKA and see "The Leg of Duck," "The Bonny Highlander," "The Bottle of Brandy," "Bucky Highlander," "Bully for you," "Daniel Drunk," "From the Court to the Cottage," "Girls of the West", "I gave to my Nelly," "The Leg of the Duck," "Nelly's Jig," "O my Dear Judy," "O My Dear Father Pity your Daughter," "Petticoat Loose," "Potatoes and Butter," "She is/She's the girl that can do it," "Sonny/Sunny Dan," "Thady/Tady you Gander," "Teddy you Gander," "'Tis sweet to think," "The Western Jig," "You May Talk as You Please." Irish, Double Jig or Air. G Major. Standard. AB. Some similarities to version #1. Source Micho Russell indicated the Gaelic title of the song translated literally as "Daniel of the Stroke," referring to someone with sunstroke. It was a fairy tune, said Micho, and told the story of a man who lived in a small thatched house by the side of the road. The man became very ill, but was able to rise and happened to go out to the road one night where he met a stranger who inquired after his health. The man replied that he was indeed very sick, "and I cannot get better." The stranger said that if he was able to play this tune until morning he should be allright, and proceeded to lilt a tune which was listened to very carefully. Upon returning to his dwelling, the man practised the tune on his old tin whistle, and sure enough, by morning's light his sickness was gone. Breathnach (1976) prints the beginning of the song:
**
Comaion is frolic chuir Artúr a bhailis
Ar Dhónall na Gréine;
Má chuala sibh a thréithe
Go gcaithfeadh sé seachtain ag ól I dtíi leanna
'S ná titfeadh néal air,
B'annamh dith céille air.
**
Arthur Wallace put an obligation and a frolic
On Dhónall na Gréine;
If you heard of his traits,
That he would spend a week drinking in an ale house
And that gloom would never fall on him,
And that folly was a rarity with him (Literal translation by Paul de Grae).
**
The song appears in Seán Ó Dálaigh's Poets and Poetry of Munster (1849), though not usually sung to the version Breathnach gives. Breathnach says it is apparently in praise of Dhónall na Gréine, though "it is a complete pretence." He remarks that in districts in which Irish was formerly spoken a common lilt survives, which goes "Dónall ar meisce is a bhean ag ól uisce is na leanaí ag béicigh, na leanaí ag béicigh" (Donall drunk and his wife drinking water and the children roaring, and the children roaring). English ditties to the tune go by the title "From the Court to the Cottage," "Girls of the West," "I gave to my Nelly," "Thady you Gander," and "Tis sweet to think." Source for notated version: flute and whistle player Micko Russell, 1967 (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 10, pg. 7. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989; pg. 7.
DARK ISLAND, THE. Scottish, English; Pipe Air (6/4 time) or Waltz (3/4 time). A Dorian ('A' part) & G Major ('B' part) {Martin}: D Dorian ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part) {Merryweather}: E Dorian ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) {Johnson}. Standard. One part (Martin): AB (Johnson): AA'B (Merryweather). Composed in 1963 by the late Iain MacLachlan, an accordion player from Creagorry. Various lyrics have been written to the tune, although the first version was by David Silver of Inverness, who was asked to write a song for a BBC TV thriller, "The Dark Island", filmed in Benbecula in 1963. The island was his inspiration for the pensive song. He set his lyrics to MacLachlan's air. Subsequently others wrote lyrics, including ones in Gaelic, "Eilean Dorcha." Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's Occasional: Waltz, Air and Misc.), No. 1, 1991; pg. 2. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 1, 1991; pg. 10. Merryweather (Merryweather's Tunes for the English Bagpipe), 1989; pg. 54. Direction, Barde (1977). Rounder 0193, Rodney Miller - "Airplang" (1985). Sampler 8911, Thistledown - "Hills of Lorne" (1989). Topic, "The Clutha: Scots Ballads, Songs & Dance Tunes" (1974). Ryan's Crossing - "Dance Around This One."
X:1
T:Dark Island
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:E Dorian
B2|e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f3 ed2|fa3 A2|f4 a>f|e4 B2|
e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f4 a>f|e4 f>e|d3 e d>c|d2 f2 g2|
a3 AA2|f2 e2 d2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f3 e d2|fa3 A2|f4 a>f|e4 B2|
e3 fe2|d3 ed2|BG3 B2|A4 de|f4 a>f|e4 f>e|d3 e d>c|d4|]
X:2
T:Dark Island
C:Ian Maclachlan
Z:Nigel Gatherer
K:Dmix (one sharp)
M:3/4
L:1/8
S:Various records
E|A3 E A2|G3 A G2|E3 D C2|D4 GA|B3 A G2|B d3 D2|B3 d B2|A4 DE|
A3 E A2|G3 A G2|E3 D C2|D4 GA|B3 DdB|A3 DBA|G6|G4|]
Bc|d3 D D2|B3 A G2|E C3 E2|D4 GA|B3 A G2|B d3 D2|B3 d B2|A4 DE|
A3 E A2|G3 A G2|E3 D C2|D4 GA|B3 DdB|A3 DBA|G6|G4|]
DARK VISAGED LAD O'GLORAN, THE (Gilla Dubh O'Glamharain). AKA and see "The Dark Plaintive Youth." Irish, Air (4/4 time). "In the Carey MS. this was marked 'Carolan'. I have come across a Gaelic Jacobite song to this air, composed during the Cromwellian rule, lamenting the banishment of Charles II., beginning:--Ce fada mise a'gluasacht ni-fhuil suairceas air m'intinn: 'Though long I am wandering, there is no comfort for my mind'" (Joyce). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 450, pg. 253.
DAWNING OF THE DAY [1] (Fáine Geal an Lae). AKA - "Dawn of Day." AKA and see "Enchanted Glen," "The Golden Star." Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major (Heymann, O'Neill/Krassen & 1850): F Major (O'Neill/1915). Standard. AB. The air, one of a supposed seven or eight hundred, was reputed to have been composed by Thomas O'Connellan (see note for "The Breach of Aughrim"), a 17th century harper from County Sligo who spent considerable time in Scotland. Others, notably O'Neill, credit the composition of the tune to Turlough O'Carolan, though it is not known by what authority and thus O'Neill's accreditation is very much in doubt. It was one of the tunes played in competition by 95 year old Irish harper known variously as Denis O'Hansey, O'Hampsey, Henson or Hampson (Donnchadh a Haimpsuigh) at the last great meeting of the ancient Irish harpers in July, 1792, at the Belfast Harp Festival. O'Hampsey lived to the age of 110. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pgs. 80-81 & 82-83. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 54, pg. 35. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 231. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 643, pg. 115.
T: The Dawning of the Day
Z: 1997 by John Chambers <jc@ecf-guest.mit.edu > http://eddie.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/
N: "Moderate"
M: C
L: 1/8
K: G
D \
| (G>AGF) (~E2D2) | ({B}d>edc) B2(AB/A/) | GDGA B2(ge/c/) | B2A2 G2zD |
| (GAGF) (~E2D2) | ({B}d>edc) B2(A(B/A/)) | GDGA B2(ge/c/) | B2~A2 G2z ||
(g/f/) \
| (edef) (g2fg) | (a>bgf) ed2(g/f/) | (edef) (g2fg) | (a2gf) e2ze |
| (fdef) (g2-g/f/e/d/) | (BgBg) cBAz | GDGA B2(ge/c/) | B2~A2 G2z |]
DERRY AIR. AKA and see "Londonderry Air," "Maidin i mBeara," "Danny Boy," "Drimoleague Fair," "The Young Man's Dream." Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard. One part. One of the most famous Irish airs, known popularly as the tune for the song "Danny Boy" by Fred F. Weatherly (1848-1929), an Englishman, a lawyer, and author of the words of about 1500 songs including "The Holy City", also known as "Jerusalem." The melody has also been the vehicle for A.P. Graves' "Loves Wishes" (in Irish Songs and Ballads, 1882), Katherine Tynan's "Would God I were the tender apple blossom," and Terry Sullivan's "Acushla Mine." The melody was published for the first time in George Petrie's collection (1855), obtained from Miss Jane Ross of Limavady, County Derry, a collector who heard the air from a street musician. It is sometimes ascribed, apparently without substantiation, to the ancient chief harper of the chieftain Hugh O'Neill, the famous Rory dall O' Cahan. Pervious to the "Danny Boy" publication the song was known in Ireland, in English, as "My Love Nell." The late 19th century collector Dr. Joyce claimed the original song was Irish, and that the first line translates as:
***
Would God I were a little apple
Or one of the small daisies
Or a rose in the garden
Where thou art accustomed to walk alone;
In hope that thou wouldst pluck from me
Some wee little branch
Which thous wouldst hold in my right hand
Or in the breast of they robe (Loesberg, Folksongs and Ballads Popular in Ireland, vol. 2, 1980).
***
The name Derry is Gaelic in origin and means an oak-wood. In England the generic name for this tune and its variations is "Dives and Lazarus." Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. 1, pg. 16, No. 30. Gael-Linn CEF 104, Matt Cranitch - "Eistigh Seal" Green Linnet SIF-107, Eugene O'Donnell - "The Foggy Dew" (1988). RCA 5798-2-RC, "James Galway and the Chieftains in Ireland" (1986). T:Derry Air
M:C
Q:1/4=80
K:G
DGA|B3A BedB|AGE2- EGBc|d3e dBGB|A4- AFGA|
B3A BedB|AGE2- EFGA|B3c BAEF|G4- Gdef||
g3f fede|dBG2- Gdef|g3f fedB|A4- Addd|
b3a ageg|dBG2- GFGA|B3c BAGF|G4- G||
DURISDEER. Scottish, Air (4/4 time). A Major. Standard. One part. The song was composed by Lady John Scott. According to Neil (1991), the Gaelic title probably derives from the words for door ('duris') and forest ('deer'), the meaning still obscure and having to do with a door or opening of the forest.
***
We'll meet nae mair at sunset
When the weary day in dune,
Nor wander hame the gither
By the licht o' the mune!
I'll hear your step nae longer
Amang the dewy corn,
For we'll meet nae mair my bonniest
Either at eve or morn.
***
Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 34, pg. 43.
EAGLE'S WHISTLE, THE [2]. AKA and see "O'Donovan's March." Irish, Air or March (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB. Sources for notated versions: "Taken down from the whistling of James Quain and of Michael Dinneen, both of Coolfree [Joyce]; piper and folklorist Seamus Ennis [Heymann]. Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pg. 109. Joyce (Ancient Irish Music), 1890; No. 53, pg. 53. "Michael Tubridy." Shanachie 78012, Joe & Antoinette McKenna - "The Best of..."
EASTER SNOW. Irish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. AAB. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh explains the title is an English version of the Gaelic name Diseart Nuadhain, a placename in north Roscommon which can today be found in the form of Estersnow, a Boyle rural district. Mac Aoidh states that Petrie appears to have literaly translated the English back into Irish as "Sneachia Casga" as an alternate title. The same air is to be found in Brendan Rogers manuscript collection (in the Irish Traditional Music Archive) noted from the performances of attendees at the Feis Ceoil competitions held in Belfast in 1898 and 1900. The musical family the Dohertys of Donegal had a different air by the same title, and the great Donegal piper, Tarlach Mac Suibhne, played a different air than the Dohertys. Mac Suibhne's playing of "Easter Snow" was recorded by the Dublin Evening Telegraph in 1897, when he was one of seven pipers at the first Feis, held in that city (the title in the newspaper was "Sneachta na Casga"). Finally, regarding this tune, Mac Aoidh notes that fiddler John Doherty personified "Easter Snow" as a woman, Ester Snow, whom he maintained was over six feet tall, very beautiful, and had skin as white as snow (leading to her name). Source for notated version: the Irish collector P.W. Joyce, 1864. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 105, pg. 89. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905, Vol. III, No. 1123.
EILEEN AROON (Eibhlin a Ruin) [1] {"Eileen My Treasure" or "Darling Eileen"}. AKA - "Aileen Aroon," "Allen A'Roon," "Eib(h)lin A Ru(i)n." AKA and see "An tiocfadh tu a bhaile liom," "An d-tiocfard," "Ducdame," "Erin, the Tear and the Smile," "Robin Adair." Irish (originally), Scottish; Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major (O'Neill): A Major (Flood). Standard. AB (O'Neill): AAB (Flood). One of the oldest tracable tunes in all fiddle literature and still current in the living tradition. Flood (1905) states that it was composed in 1386 by Carrol mor O'Daly {Cearbhall O Dalaigh} (d. 1405), a famous Irish minstrel harper described by old annalists as the 'chief composer of Ireland, and Olair (Doctor) of the Country of Corcomroe,' apparently on the authority of Hardiman. Bunting and Francis O'Neill (1913) give the harpers name not as Carol/Carrol/Carroll but Gerald O'Daly, and Bunting refers to him as a contemporary of Rory Dall O'Cahan, who died in 1653, though he thinks the melody much older and that O'Daly only adapted Irish words to it. Mrs. Mulligan Fox, in Annals of the Irish Harpers gives the 1405 date for the harper's death, and Fitz Gerald speculates that, since the hero of the song says he would spend a cow to entertain his ladylove, that a date of 1450 would be consistent with a time when 'living money' was still in use. No matter what his first name, "O'Daly so captivated Eilleen (Eibhlin) Kavanagh of Polmonty Castle, Co. Carlow (near New Ross, Co. Wexford), that she eloped with him on the eve of her betrothal to a rival lover" (Flood, 1905, pg. 62). An erroneous legend has the song composed by Donogh mor O'Daly, of Finvarra, Cistercian Abbot of Boyle (d. 1244), who was called 'the Ovid of Ireland,' and another version of the song was apparently composed by a 17th poet, also named Cearbhall O Dallaigh. To complicate matters further, James E. Doan (Eigse, volume XVIII, part 1, 1980) concludes there were several poets of the name of Cearbhall O Dalaigh between the 13th and 17th centuries, and suggests that the versions which have survived to the present day in Irish literature and song are really a composite of features of all, a folk-process amalgum. O'Neill (1913) records that the highly romantic story of "Eibhlin a Ruin" and her elopement with Carroll O'Daly was derived from Galway harper Cormac Common's (1703-c. 1790) repertory.
**
The melody was later admired by the German composer Handel during his stay in Ireland, according to Charles O'Conor of Belanagame (Flood, 1906). A note in Pepys' diaries refers to one Joe Harris, an Irish actor in London, singing the song in Gaelic in a performance of Shakespeare's Henry V: "Among other things, Harris, a man of fine conversation, sang his Irish song, the strangest in itself, and the prettiest sung by him that ever I heard" (Flood, 1906, pg. 72). It retained its popularity, being sung at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, in the Christmas season of 1728 by Mrs. Sterling at the end of the opera The Way of the World, and again at that theatre in December 1743 by Mrs. Storer as an interlude during performances of Julius Ceasar. Charles Coffey included it in his 1728 ballad opera The Beggar's Wedding, written after the success of John Gay's Beggar's Opera, and O'Sullivan and O'Neill both find this to be one of the earliest printed versions of the tune. A broadside without printer's imprint and with different words than Coffey's was published about 1740 under the title "Ailen Aroon, an Irish Ballad." See also note for "Robin Adair." Source for notated version: A MS from 1726 [Flood]. Brysson (Curious Selection), c. 1790; pg. 20. Flood, 1905; pg. 62. Hime (Pocket Book), volume IV, 1810; pg. 16. Holden (Old Established Tunes), 1806-7; pg. 29. James Johnson (The McLean Collection), 1772 (Edinburgh); pgs. 28-29 (set by Charles McLean). Kinloch (100 Airs), Part I, c. 1815; No. 10. McFadden (Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), volume V, 1790-1797; pg. 29. Mooney (History of Ireland), 1846; pg. 535. Murphy (Irish Airs and Jigs), 1809; pg. 27. O'Farrell (Music for the Union Pipes), 1797-1800; pg. 30. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion), 1801-10; pg. 20. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 392, pg. 68. Burke Thumoth (12 Scotch and Irish Airs), No. XIII, c. 1745-50. Walsh (Ceol ar Sinsear), Part V, 1920; pg. 18.
EMON ACNUCK. AKA and see "Bryan O'Lynn." American, Jig. A Minor. Standard. AABB. The title is a corruption of the Gaelic "Eamonn a' Chnoic." Not the same as Roche's song air "Eamonn a' Chnoic." Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 57. Ryan's Mammoth Collection.
FASHION WHICH THE LASSES HAVE, THE (Am fasan th'aig na Caileagan). Scottish, Reel. F Sharp Minor ('A' part) & A Major ('B' part). Standard. AAB. "This air is furnished with Gaelic verses, giving a ludicrous account of all the excentricities of female dress. It makes an admirable medley with No. 223 ('The Darling')" {Fraser}. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 220, pg. 90.
T:Fashion which the Lasses have, The
T:Am fasan th' aig Caileagan
L:1/8
M:C
S:Fraser Collection
K:A
c|:AF F/F/F AEEc|AF F/F/F c2 Bc|AF F/F/F AEEA|1 FGAB c2 Bc:|2
FGAB c2 Bf||eAfA cBBf|e<A f>e c2 ea|eAfA cAB<c|AFAB c2 cf|
EAfA cBBf|e<Afe c2 cb|agfa eacA|FGAB cABc||
FEET WASHING, THE [2] (An oidhche ro' na phosadh). English, Scottish; Reel. England, North-West. B Minor (Knowles): C Minor (Athole, Fraser). Standard. AAB (Athole, Fraser): AABB' (Knowles). "The feet washing is certainly a momentous concern, associating ominous trepidation with merriment, exquisitely described, as sung in Gaelic, by Culduthel, and the editor's grandfather, the gentlemen alluded to in the Prospectus. The air is a local pipe reel, of which a number are introduced in this work, not exceeded by any now in circulation, and hitherto neglected, as chiefly performed by pipers, who frequently miss whole bars, or whole measures, rendering the airs scarcely attainable but form the words,--and ordinary performers on the violin are not ready to take them up, as they require a distinct bow to each note. The editor's father sallied forth with this one, and many others of them, to be noticed in their places, for the first time, when singing to his little grandchildren,--and they, dancing and enjoying his song beyond all the music in the world,--whilst his kindness, and their obedience, gave a mutual encouragement to persevere, till the editor wrote down the music, careless of the words, which he now regrets" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 13, pg. 5. Knowles & McGrady (Northern Frisk), 1988; No. 97. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 266.
T:Feet Washing, The
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:C Minor
g|:ec c/c/c c2 Gc|Bcde fbfd|ec c/c/c ~c2 Gc|egfd c/c/c g:|
efge defb|dBfB gBfd|efge defb|dBfd c/c/c c2|efge defb|
dBfB gBfd|efg=a bgfe|dBfd c/c/c ~g2||
FADING, THE. AKA and see "With a Fading." Irish, English; Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). F Major. Standard. One part. The title of this Irish dance tune is a corruption of the Gaelic title "Rinnce Fada" (or Long Dance, which was danced before King James II, when he landed at Kinsale in 1689), a dance that survived into the 20th century in Cornwall, England, where it was known as "The Faddy." Chappell (1859) identifies the title as taken from the burden, or ending "tag," of a "popular Irish song...(which) gave the name to a dance." The air appears in Pills to Purge Melancholy (1707). Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 104-105.
FAIRY DANCE (Rinnce Na Sideoga/Sideog). AKA and see "Fisher Laddie," "The Haymaker," "La Ronde des Vieux," "Largos Fairy Dance," "The Merry Dance" (New England), "Old Molly Hare" (Old-Time). Irish, English, Scottish, Shetlands, American, Canadian; Reel. D Major (most versions): G Major (Merryweather): A Major (O'Neill/1001). Standard. AB (Honeyman, Raven): AAB (O'Neill/1001): AABB (Ashman, Brody, Ford, Sweet, Taylor, Trim): AABB' (Kerr): AA'BB' (Athole, Merryweather): AABCCD (Roche): AABBCCDDEEF (Cranford/Fitzgerald). Often this tune is a "beginning tune" for fiddlers, and though simple, it seems to have retained its popularity through the years. It was one of 197 compositions claimed and published (in Fifth Collection,"1809) by Nathaniel Gow under the title "Largo's Fairy Dance," which dates it to the latter eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Breandan Breathnach states that it was composed by Niel Gow for the Fife Hunt Ball held in 1802, but this is only partly true, according to Nigel Gatherer, for it was actually a pair of tunes Gow wrote, the second being "The Fairies Advance." Both tunes together make up "Largo's Fairy Dance." Emmerson identifies this tune in a class of tunes defined by the rhythm 'quarter note-two eighths-quarter note-two eigths,' which includes "De'il Among the Tailors," "Rachel Rae," and "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (which Emmerson {1971} says is substantially a set of "Fairy Dance").
***
In Ireland, it was learned by Joyce in his boyhood in County Limerick, c. 1840. He (1909) says a Donegal setting of this will be found in the 'Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society.' O'Neill (1913) records that a special dance was performed to the tune in that country. Under the title "The Fairy Reel" the tune features in stories of enchantment by the wee folk. A tale is told by Padraig Mac Aodh-O'Neillin in his 1904 book Songs of Uladh (Songs of Ulster) of the origins of the tune which stem from a fiddler of the Mac Fhionnlachs from Flacarragh:
***
There was a gathering of Bel-Taine on St. John's Day (23rd of June), around
the bonfire in Caislean-na-dThuath in northern Dun-na-nGall about 150-160
years ago (~1850).
***
"...the fire was wearing low, the dancing nearly over, and the sturdiest
steppers getting tired, a stranger came among the people, announcing himself
in the words: "Sonas, sonas--luck on all here! The music called me, and I
going to bed." He said no more.
***
He was attired only in his night-garments. Much consternation was
caused by his curious appearance and behaviour, the more so as he was quite
unknown to the festive-maker. He went around asking the young girls to
dance with him; but out of fifty or more assembled there, he found but one
(and she, happily, was not a native of the district) who expressed herself
willing to accept his invitation. There were three or four fidilers there
and one piper, and he called on them to turn on the "Fairy Reel." But not
one of them knew it; every man of them declared that the air and the name
was new to him. Whereupon the mysterious stranger snatched the fidil out of
the hands of mac Fhionnlaoich, the Falcarrach man, who was nearest him, and
flourishing his bow with the grace of a master, turned on the tune himself,
the people standing around with their mouths wide open in wonderment.
***
"Now," he said to mac Fhionnlaoich, when he had finished the wonderful
tune, "there's your fidil for you. Turn on the 'Reel.' Play it after me;
for you're the only man in the Five Kingdoms can do that same!"
***
So mac Fhionnlaoich complied--somewhat reluctantly, it must be said-and played the 'Fairy Reel: through from beginning to end without a break, while the weird stranger and his fair partner danced, all the people looking on. When he had finished dancing with the girl he slipped a gold peiece into her hand, and turning solemnly towards the people, said: "Remove the fire seven paces to the North, and enjoy yourselves till daybreak. A Sonas, sonas--luck with all here!"
***
And so saying, he strode off into the darkness, disappearing as
mysteriously as he had come.
***
I give this story pretty much as I got it from my friend Padraig mac
Aodh o Neill, who got it from Proinseas mac Suibhne, the schoolmaster of
Losaid, in Gartan
***
Another fairy tale collected (by Seamus Ennis) on Tory Island mentions the tune, is again related by Mac Aoidh, and has parallels in other cultures. It seems that an islander, while going to collect his sheep at Port Glas, overheard wonderful music emanating nearby and investigated. The fairy folk were playing the "Fairy Reel" and the man, being an avid and accomplished dancer, felt compelled to join in. The music and dancing lasted and lasted, and he danced and danced, unable to stop until by chance another islander came upon him. This second man heard no music, and saw nothing of the fairy celebration, and asked the first what he was doing. He got the reply that the dancer was enchanted and would not be able to stop until a mortal laid hand on him. This was done, and the dancer saved from his fate. Mac Aoidh translates: "The soles of his shoes and his socks were worn through and his feet were sore to the bone from the roughness of the place he was dancing on." A similar tale is told by Canadian storyteller Alan Mills (to the accompanying fiddling of Montreal musician Jean Carignan) collected from French-Canadian tradition, which he calls "Ti-Jean and the Devil" (with the Devil substituting for Fairies).
***
A Pennsylvania collected version appears in Bayard (1981) as "Rustic Dance" (No. 52, pg. 38), and, as "La Ronde des Vieux" it was recorded in the latter 1920's by French-Canadian fiddler Willie Ringuette.
***
The tune is associated with a traditional dance in the village of Askham Richard, which lies a few miles from York, England. The famous Dorset novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordion player and fiddler, mentioned the tune in The Fiddler of the Reels:
***
Then another dancer fell out - one of the men - and went into
the passage in a frantic search for liquor. To turn the figure into
a three-handed reel was the work of a second, Mop modulating
at the same time into 'The Fairy Dance,' as best suited to the
contracted movement, and no less one of those foods of
love which, as manufactured by his bow, had always intoxicated her.
***
Sources for notated versions: Dave Swarbrick (England) [Brody]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton), who adapted J. Scott Skinner's variations [Cranford]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; NO. 30b, pg. 9. Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; pg. 7. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 100. Cranford (Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 129, pg. 53. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 71. Honeyman (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1898; pg. 8. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin Tunes); No. or pg. 24. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 129, pgs. 65-66. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 14, No. 2, pg. 10. Merryweather (Merryweather's Tunes for the English Bagpipe), 1989; pg. 53. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 986, pg. 170. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 162. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 3; No. 138, pg. 43 (listed as a Long Dance). Skinner, Harp and Claymore, 1903. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 113. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 61. Taylor (Where's the Crack), 1989; pg. 13 (appears as "Fairy Reel"). Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 24. Edison 50653 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels (appears as 4th tune of "Devil's Dream Medley"). Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Transatlantic 341, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick 2." Fife Strathspey and Reel Society - "The Fiddle Sounds of Fife" (1980). "Bob Smith's Ideal Band, Ideal Music" (1977). "Fiddlers Three Plus Two." Ron Gonella- "A Tribute to Niel Gow."
X:1
T:Fairy Dance
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
f2fd f2fd|f2fd cAeA|f2fd gfed|1 cABc d2de:|2 cABc defg||
|:a2af b2ba|gfge a2ag|1 fefd B2 e>d|cABc defg:|2 fefd Bged|
cABc d2D2||
X:2
T:Fairy Dance, The
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:D
f2fd f2fd|gfed cdeg|f2fd gfed|cABc d2d2|f2fd f2fd|gfed cdeg|fafd gfed|cABc defg||
a2af b2bf|g2ge a2 ag|f2fd gfed|cABc defg|a2af b2bf|g2ge a2 ag|fagf gfed|cABc d2d2||
X:3
T:Fairy Reel, The (Irish)
R:reel
Z:Transcribed by Philippe Varlet
M:C
L:1/8
K:G
~B3 A GBdB|{d}cBAG FGAc| BG~G2 cBAg|fdaf {a}gedc|
~B3 A GBdB|{d}cBAG FGAc| BG~G2 cBAG|1 FDEF G3 A :|2 FDEF GABc||
~d3 g e3 d|cA A/A/A d3 c|BG~G2 cBAg|fdaf {a}gfge|
~d3 g e3 d|cA A/A/A d3 c|BG~G2 cBAG|1 FDEF GABc :|2 FDEF G4||
FAREWELL DARLING YOUTH (Soraidh slan do'n ailleagan). Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). A Major. Standard. AAB. "The Gaelic song usually associated with this melody, was composed to a lady of the family of MacKenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, in Ross-shire. The words sung by the editor's father referred to a youth going abroad. Mr. Campbell, in his 'Albyn's Anthology,' gives the name of this air to no less than two of the few Highland melodies contained in it" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 4, pg. 2.
T:Farewell darling Youth
T:Soraidh slan do'n ailleagan
L:1/8
M:C
S:Fraser Collection
K:A
c/>B/|A>EF>E A>FE>c|B>A FG A2 zE|A>EF>E A>FE>c|d>feG A3:|
A/B/|c>de>f e>cA>f|e>dc>d e3f|e>cB>A A>FE>c|BA F>G A2 zA/B/|
c>de>f e>dc>d|d>cf>e a3f|e>cB>A A>FE>c|B>A FG A3||
FINGALL'S LAMENTATION. Scottish, Air ("Very Slow"). F Minor. Standard. AABB. "A very old Gaelic air" (Gow). Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 539.
FLORA MACDONALD'S LAMENT. AKA and see "Lament for Flora MacDonald." Scottish, Slow Air. The tune was composed by Neil Gow, junior, son of Nathaniel and grandson of the scion of the fiddling clan, Niel Gow (who spelled his first name differently). The young Gow was born around 1795, entered the medical profession and was an accomplished amateur musician, and stayed in Edinburgh with his father. He died untimely at the age of 28. The title of the tune comes from words set by the poet James Hogg, also a fiddler, whose song appears in Jacobite Relics of Scotland, Vol. 2, 1821 (No. 92, pg. 179). In a note to the song Hogg relates:
***
I got the original of these verses from my friend Mr. Niel Gow,
who told me they were a translation from the Gaelic, but so rude
that he could not publish them, which he wished to do on a single
sheet, for the sake of the old air. On which I versified them anew,
and made them a great deal better without altering one sentiment.'
***
See also note for "Flora MacDonald's Adieu to the Prince" for more on Flora MacDonald.
FLOWER O' THE QUERN, THE. Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). A Major. Standard. One Part (Hunter, Neil, Skinner): AABB (Martin). Published in song form by J. Gordon Phillips, Elgin (Scotland), whose words were written as a tribute to a young woman, Mary Morrison. Mary, who lived in Forres in the latter half of the 19th century, was described as "the bonniest lass from Inverness to Aberdeen", but was widowed at an early age. She remarried David Flyslop who was the chauffeur to the Earl of Moray, and lived in a lodge at the end of one of the driveways to Darnaway Castle. The music was composed by J. Scott Skinner as a tune for the song, but the melody also became popular as a slow air. It appears in his Logie Collection, dedicated to another girl, Miss Jessie Stockwell.
**
The flo-ers grow fair on the lowland vales,
an' green grow the wids on the braes,
an' saft an' low sing the scented gales
in the lang, lang simmer days;
But dearer to me are the mountains blue
where grow the heath an' fern,
an' the bonniest flo'er is the ane I lo'e
that blooms 'mang the braes o' the Quern.
**
A quern (pronounced 'kern') is Gaelic for 'hollow'. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 28 (arranged by James Hunter for string quintent). Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 1, 1991; pg. 14 (includes a harmony part). Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 88, pg. 119. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), pg. 35.
FOGGY DEW, THE [2] (Drucd an Ceo). AKA and see "Sloan's Lamentation," "Granuaile." Irish, Air (4/4 time). G Major (Roche, O'Neill): A Flat Major (O'Sullivan Bunting). Standard. AB (O'Neill/1850): AAB (Roche). The tune converts easily to the minor key (see versions #1 & #3). Cazden (et al, 1982) mentions that the tune strain itself came to serve as a symbol of Irish nationalism and was used for a number of "songs of resistance." He finds the earliest printed version to be an 1828 setting of a poem by William Kennedy called "The Irish Emigrant," where it is called an "old Irish melody." Also related to Bunting's melody is a Catskill Mountain (New York) version collected by Norman Cazden (et al, 1982), while another melody printed in Bunting, "Sloan's Lament," is a variant. The Gaelic title for the tune is "Granuaile," for which there is an interesting story (see note for the tune), though it should be noted there are a great many tunes with the title "Granuaile" or its variants in existance. Source for notated version: the Irish collector Edward Bunting noted the melody from "J. McKnight, Esq., Belfast, 1839." O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 186, pg. 33. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 150, pgs. 207-208. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 3; No. 45, pg. 13. DREY 36191, Alan Stivell - "Olympia Concert." Green Linnet SIF 1084, Eugene O'Donnell - "The Foggy Dew" (1988). Green Linnet SIF 1101, Eugene O'Donnell - "Playing with Fire: the Celtic Fiddle Connection" (1989).
**
´Twas down the glen one Eastern morn, to a city fair rode I
When Ireland´s lines of marching men in squadrons passed me by.
No pipes did hum, no battle drum did sound its loud tattoo.
But the Angelus bell o´er the Liffey´s swell, rang out in the foggy dew
**
Right proudly high over Dublin town, they hung out a flag of war.
'Twas better to die ´neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud El Bar;
And from the plains of Royal Meath, strong men came hurrying through,
While Brittanias´s huns, with their long range guns, sailed in from the foggy dew.
**
O, the night fell black and the rifles crack made "Perfidious Abion" reel
´Mid the leaden rail, seven tongues of flame did shine o´er the lines of steel
By each shining blade a prayer was said that to Ireland her sons be true,
and when morning broke still the war flag shook out its fold in the foggy dew
**
´Twas England bade our Wild Geese go that small nations might be free.
But their lonely graves are by Suvla´s waves, on the fringe of the Grey North sea
But had they died by Pearse´s side, or had fought with Cathal Brugha,
Their names we would keep where the fenians sleep, ´neath the shroud of the foggy dew.
**
But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell, rang mournfully and clear,
for those who died that Eastertide in the springtime of the year.
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze, at those fearless men, but true
who bore the fight that freedom´s light might shine through the foggy dew
**
Ah, back through the glen I rode again and my heart with grief was sore
For I parted then with valiant men whom I never shall se more
but to and fro in my dreams I go, and I´d kneel and pray for you,
for slavery fled, O glorious dead, when you fell in the foggy dew.
FOR IRELAND I WON'T SAY HER NAME (Ar Eirinn ni Neosfainn Ce Hi). AKA - "For Ireland I'd Not Tell Her Name." AKA and see "'Ar Eirinn ni 'Neosfainn Ce Hi." "I Am a Disconsolate Rake," "Nancy Pride of the West," "The River Lee," "Storeen Machree." Irish, Slow Air (6/8 or 3/4 time). Ireland; Munster, West Kerry. D Major (Boys of the Lough): G Major (Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham, Ó Canainn, O'Neill). Standard. One part (Boys/Lough, Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham, Ó Canainn): AB (O'Neill). The song attached to this slow air, according the Boys of the Lough, relates the tale of a beautiful maiden who appeared for a short time to a Gaelic poet, resisted his advances and then disappeared forever, leaving him heartbroken. Another version has it that the protagonist falls secretly in love with a maid, although he is too poor to support her and too shy
to propose. He goes abroad to seek his fortune, and once made and emboldened he returns home to claim his beloved, only to discover she has married his brother. Brokenheared, he composes this song, though for obvious reasons he refuses to reveal the name of his beloved. The Boys of the Lough note some similarity between this tune and the English/Scottish border tune known as 'Tweedside.' "...It is often called 'Binn lisin aerach a Bhrogha' (The melodious little lis of Bruff, Co. Limerick) from a song about that place" (Joyce). The melody was published by both Petrie and Joyce (pg. 221, appears as "Nancy the Pride of the West") as the vehicle for songs, and the music appears in Poets and Poetry of Munster (1849). Joyce also later included it in his Irish Music and Song." Words to the song begin:
***
Aréir is mé téarnamh um' neoin,
Ar an dtaobh thall den teóra 'na mbím,
Do théarnaig an spéir-bhean im' chómhair
D'fhág taomanach breóite lag sinn.
Do ghéilleas dá méin is dá cló,
Dá béal tanaí beó mhilis binn,
Do léimeas fé dhéin dul 'na cómhair,
Is ar Éirinn ní n-eósainn cé h-í.
***
Last night as I strolled abroad
On the far side of my farm
I was approached by a comely maiden
Who left me distraught and weak.
I was captivated by her demeanour and shapeliness
By her sensitive and delicate mouth,
I hastened to approach her
But for Ireland I'd not tell her name. (Mary O'Hara, A Song for Ireland).
***
Boys of the Lough, 1977; pg. 24. Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stóir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 89, pg. 51. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 57, pg. 51 (appears as "Ar Eirinn"). O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 87, pg. 15. North Star NS0031, "Dance Across the Sea: Dances and Airs from the Celtic Highlands" (1990). Transatlantic TRA 296, Boys of the Lough, "Recorded Live."
T:For Ireland I Won't Say Her Name
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:G Major
GA | B2 D2 D2 | E2 c2 BA | B4 GA | B2 D2 D2 | E2 G2 B2 | B4 GA |
B2 D2 D2 | E2 c2 BA | B4 A2 | G2 E2 D2 | E2 G3 A | G4 || Bc |
d2 B2 A2 | G2 B2 d2 | e4 ge | d2 B2 A2 | G2 A2 B2 | A4 GA |
B2 D2 D2 | E2 c2 BA | B4 A2 | G2 E2 D2 | E2 G3 A | G4 |]
FRANKLIN IS FLED AWAY. AKA and see "O hone, O hone." English, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB. Chappell (1859) notes this is one of the tunes from which "God Save the King" or, in America, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" is said to have been derived. It appears in Apollo's Banquet for the Treble Violin (1669), Loyal Songs (1685 & 1694), and Pills to Purge Melacholy (1707). As with many such ballad tunes, it was adapted to several lyrics and appears in numerous collections including "A Mournful Caral" (Pepys, Roxburghe, Douce, and Bagford Collections), and "The Two Faithful Lovers" (Bagford Collection), as well as the ballad opera "The Jovial Crew" (1731) where it appears as "You gallant ladies all." The tune is sometimes known by its burden "O hone, O hone" leading Chappell to speculate that it is derived from an Irish Gaelic lamentation. He quotes Gayton's Festivous Notes upon Don Quixote (1654): "Who this night is to be rail'd upon by the black-skins, in as lamentable noyse as the wild Irish make their O hones." Though the tune is sometimes claimed as Scottish, Chappell states it is of English composition. A similar melody was printed in Wales in 1781 (with claims of Welsh provenance) called "Margaret that Lost her Garter" (Kidson, Groves). Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pg. 20.
GAELIC AIR [1]. Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major. Standard. ABB. Source for notated version: David Stewart (Gow). Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 540.
GAELIC AIR, A [2]. Scottish, Air (2/4 time). D Major. Standard. AAB. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; pg. 9.
T:Gaelic Air, A [2]
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:Gow - 4th Repository
K:D
F2 ~FA/G/|FE D2|F2 ~F>A|B~c d2|F2 ~FA/G/|FE D2|F2 ~F>A|B~c d2:|
d>cde|{e}(f2 A)B/c/|d>cde|{de}f3 e|e>dcB|BA A>f|edcA|Bc d2|
F2 FA/G/|FE D2|F2 ~F>A|B~c d2|F FA/G/|F2 FA/G/|FE D2|F2 ~F>A|Bc d2||
GAELIC LAMENT, THE. Irish, Air. Green Linnet SIF-1110, Andy McGann - "My Love is in America: The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival" (1991).
GAELIC WALTZ. Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). C Minor. Standard. One part. A generic title. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 2, 1988; pg. 28.
GILDEROY [1]. Scottish (originally), English, Irish; Reel and Air. A Minor. Standard. AABB. An earlier, minor key, relative of what was later called "The Red Haired Boy" family of tunes. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh explains that the name 'Gilderoy' is an English corruption of the Gaelic words 'Giolla Ruaidh'; giolla is generally taken to mean a servant or a young person, while ruaidh literally means red, though when used in conjunction with a person it refers to red hair. Interestingly, he mentions that in modern Scotland and Ireland hunting and fishing stalkers or guides are still referred to in anglicised form as 'Gilles'. The hero of the ballad "Gilderoy" was a historical personage, a Scottish freebooter of the notorious Clan MacGregor, seven of whose gang were taken by the Stewarts of Athol and hanged in Edinburgh in July, 1638. Robin Williamson maintains the ballad was well known as far away as England by the middle of the 17th century, a decade or two later. An early printing appears in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, 1768. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 28, pg. 14. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 188. Flying Fish FF 358, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 1."
GILDEROY [2]. AKA and see "Black Rock"(Pa.), "The Duck Chewed Tobacco" (Va.), "Guilderoy," "Gilder Roy," "Gilda Roy," "Gilroy," "Gilderoy's Reel," "Injun Et a Woodchuck" (Pa.), "Mairi ban Og," "Nellie On the Shore" (Pa.), "The Old Soldier," "Red-Haired Boy," "Wooden Leg." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Ky., Va., Ohio, Pa., Mass. A Minor/Mixolydian. Standard. AABB. The title Gilderoy is an Englished version of the Gaelic 'Gilleruadh' or 'Giolla Ruadh', meaning red-haired lad or youth. Historically, Gilleruadh was the nickname of a famous Scottish highwayman named McGregor who was captured and executed in 1636; the song describes his exploits and moralizes on his fate. Glen records that the tune was first printed in the British Isles in 1726 (where it appears in Alexander Stuart's Musick for Allan Ramsay's Collection of Scots Songs), in William Thompson's Orpheus Caledonius of 1733 and again in 1742, though Cazden (et al, 1982) dates the tune as "possibly from 1650," perhaps to coincide with the demise of the famous highwayman. It quickly became popular and appears in the later 18th century Scottish collections of Aird, Bremner, Gillespie (1768), Oswald, McGibbon, and McLean (1772) {where it is ascribed to Robert McIntosh}. The Scots national poet, Robert Burns, set one of his early lyrics to it, called "From Thee, Eliza." Macfarlane, in his 'Studies' claimed this tune, among others, was a Gaelic melody, and postulated that an analysis of airs for alteration of musical accent and the introduction of what he termed 'slurs' could detect which tunes had been originally Gaelic but were altered to fit English lyrics. Bayard (1981), Cazden (et al, 1982) and others have long determined that 'Guilderoy', in both vocal and instrumental settings, stems from the protean 'Lazarus' air (see also "Bonaparte's Retreat"), and numbers among one of the half-dozen or so most extensively used melodies in the entire English-speaking folk tune repertory (see JWFSS, I, 142). Elaborates Bayard: "This melody is one of several which provide some index of the extent to which the local tradition is independent of commerical printed collections of fiddle tunes. Bub Yaugher's (Pennsylvania-collected) variant represents the version in which 'Guilderoy' seems always to be known in western Pennsylvania--distinctive in melodic outling, and invariable played in the mixolydian mode. As might be expected the tune is not always known under this name, which is, however, the one most often attached to it. The mixolydian version of 'Gilderoy' is undoubtedly Irish: the editor has repeatedly heard it performed by Irish fiddlers in Massachusetts, and they have always played this version, in variants rather close to the Pennsylvania sets. The printed collections, on the other hand, nearly always give the tune in dorian or aeolian tonality, which corresponds to the tonality of its well known (English and) Scottish versions. Tune versions like this, therefore, present good evidence for the comparative freedom of the Pennsylvania folk fiddlers from influence of printed collections, and for the independence and authenticity of their tradition. The reason for the tenacity of the name 'Guilderoy' is that the famous song by that name was frequently sung to forms of this tune in British tradition" (Bayard, 1944). Flood (1906) claims the tune as Irish and says it was originally called "Molly MacAlpin," a lament written soon after five members of that family (also called Halpin or Halfpenny) were outlawed. Another related Irish tune, likewise in the Lazarus family, include the oft-heard "Star of the County Down" (in duple and triple versions). The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. The alternate Pennsylvania titles given above are floaters--"Injun Et a Woodchuck" comes from the ditty sung to the tune:
***
Injun et a woodchuck,
He et it in a minute
(or: I'll be darned if he didn't.)
He et it so darned quick
He had no time for to skin it. (Bayard, 1981)
***
Sources for notated versions: Irvin Yaugher Jr. (Mt. Independence, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1943; learned from his great-uncle) [Bayard, 1944]: seven southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard, 1981]. American Veteran Fifer, No. 35. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 85 (appears as "Guilderoy"). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 169A-G, pgs. 119-122. "Calliope," pg. 438. Cazden, pg. 32. Edinburgh Musical Miscellany, I, 240. Ford, 1940; pg. 43 (appears as "The Old Soldier"). Hardings Original Collection, No. 51. Howe's Diamond School for the Violin, 1861; pg. 39. Jigs and Reels, pg. 8. Johnson, The Scots Musical Museum (edition of 1853), I, No. 56, II, No. 220. JFSS, II, 119. JWFSS, I, 142. Krassen, 1973; pg. 81. O'Neill, Music of Ireland, No. 1748. O'Neill Irish Music, No. 356. Reavy, No. 90. Robbins, No. 131. Roche Collection, Vol. 3; No. 188. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Smith, The Scottish Minstrel, Vol. 2, 18. Southern Folklore Quarterly, VI, pg. 8 (appears as "The Duck Chewed Tobacco"). Edison 52022 (78 RPM), John Baltzell {Baltzell lived in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the same home town as minstrel Dan Emmett (d. 1904). Emmett taught Baltzell to play the fiddle when he returned to the town, poor, in 1888}. In the repertoire of Magoffin County, Ky. fiddler John Salyer (as "Gilda Roy").
GILLAN THE DROVER ("Giolla na Drover" or "Gillan an Drover"). AKA and see "The Drover Lads," "Gillanadrouar," "Gille Na Drobhair," et al. Irish, English, Scottish; March (6/8 time) or Highland Jig. England, Northumberland. F Major (O'Neill): G Major (Peacock). Standard. AABBCCDD (Kerr): AABB'CCDDEEFFGGHHII (O'Neill, Peacock). The tune with the Englished title (a corruption of the Gaelic "Giolla na Drover" {sometimes "Gillan an Drover"} meaning "The Drover Lads") is claimed by both Irish and Scots. O'Neill styles it an "ancient Irish March," and thought it was (in 1915) "considerably over a century old." O'Neill's dating is confimed by Northumbrian sources for the tune is printed in Peacock's Tunes (c. 1805) and the title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. Peacock notes that it should be played at a slow tempo. The tune seems to Bayard (1981) to be related to the marching air "Domhnall na Greine" (Daniel of the Sun).
***
Despite the popular image of long range cattle drives as an American 'wild west' phenomenon, such drives were common in Britain in the 18th century, often originating in Scotland and routing through Carlisle and the west, or by the valleys of North Tyne and Coquet in the east through to Northumberland. There was a great cattle market at Falkirk (called the Falkirk Tryst) in Scotland. Drovers' places of call can be traced by the names of still-existing inns, such as the Cat and Bagpipe in East Harlsey in Yorkshire, the Drovers' Inns at Boroughbridge and Wetherby, Drovers' Rest in Cumberland, Drovers' Call between Gainsborough and Lincoln, and two Highland Laddie's-one in Nottingham and one near Norwich, at St. Faiths (Collinson, 1975). So important was Scottish beef to England that Highland drovers were allowed to keep their arms (for defense of themselves and their herds from the depredations of the notorious Scottish cattle theives) following Culloden and the Disarming Act of 1747.
***
Beef, however, was not the only Scottish export to head south at the hands of drovers. Many farms in the Highlands had whisky stills, and a field of barley shimmering in the wind surely meant a whisky still was nearby. In 1797 there were some 200 stills in operation in the parish of Glenlivet, and the 4th Duke of Gordon, for one, felt that the making of whiskey was a divine right of his tenants, although he was finally pressured by London to at least tax the trade. Drove routes were used by the inhabitants of Glenlivet to convey the liquor south, and many a sturdy well-laden Highland garron could be seen on the Braes of Livet winding their way up to the water shed of the Ladder hills down through Glen Nochty, Strathdon and on the the lowlands and borders (Moyra Cowie, 1999).
***
Campbell (Albyn's Anthology), 1816, Vol. 1; No. 12, pg. 100. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 272, pg. 30. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 176. McGoun's (Repository of Scots and Irish Airs), c. 1800. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 104, pgs. 58-59. Peacock (Peacock's Tunes), c.1805/1980; No. 29, pg. 12. Front Hall FHR-08, Alastair Anderson - "Traditional Tunes" (1976. From the playing of Colin Ross). Green Linnet SIF 1047, John Cunningham - "Fair Warning" (1983).
GIN YE WILL NOT TAKE HER (TURN HER OVER TO ME). Irish (?), Air (6/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB. Source for notated version: Heymann adapted the tune from Daniel Wright's Aria Di Camera (London, c. 1730). Heymann (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1988; pgs. 99 & 101.
GIVE ME YOUR HAND (Tabhair domh do Lámh). AKA - "Mihi Manum." Irish, Air (6/8 time) {"boldly"} or Waltz (i.e. Bulmer & Sharpley). G Major/Mixolydian (Brody, Matthiesen): G Mixolydian (Mallinson, O'Neill, O'Sullivan/Bunting, Tubridy). Standard. One part (Brody, Mallinson, Ó Canainn, O'Neill): AB (Tubridy): ABC (Matthiesen). The index of the Irish collector Edward Bunting's 1840 collection gives that the piece was composed in 1603 by Ruainn Dall O'Catháin (d. 1653), or familiarly Rory Dall (Ó Cahan), originally an Ulster harper who performed and composed primarily in Scotland (the Gaelic appelation 'dall' means 'blind'). Rory Dall is said to also have been an accomplished performer on the bagpipes and was much respected by the Highland gentry. There is some indication that O'Catháin changed his name to Morrison while in Scotland. The O'Catháin/O'Cahans were a powerfull clan in parts of Antrim and Derry, which lands were called the O'Cahan country, and were loyal pledges to Hugh O'Neill, whose harper Rory Dall was said to be (O'Neill, 1913). A legendary account, related by Francis O'Neill (1913), gives some idea of the lasting loyalty of fuedal obligation. It seems that "Give Me Your Hand" (or, in Latin, "Mihi Manum") became renowned in Rory Dall's lifetime, and that both tune and the story of its composition (related below) reached the ear of King James the Sixth, who bade the harper appear at the Scottish court. He performed the tune and so delighted the king that James familiarly laid his royal hand on the musician's shoulder. When he was asked by a courtier if he realized the honor the king had shown him by the action, Rory is said to have replied: "A greater than King James has laid his hand on my shoulder." Who was that man? cried the King. "O'Neill, Sire," proudly said the harper, standing up. Rory's branch of the family came into conflict with the powerful O'Donnell clan of
***
An account of the occasion of Rory Dall's composing this tune is included in O'Neill's Memoirs (MS 46, pg. 27), and goes:
***
(Rory Dall) took a fancy to visit Scotland where there were
great harpers. He took his retinue (or suit) with him. Amongst
other visits in the style of an Irish chieftain he paid one to a
Lady Eglinton, and she not knowing his rank in a peremptory
manner demanded a tune which he declined, as he only came
to play to amuse her, and in an irritable manner left the house.
However, when she was informed of his consequence she
eagerly contrived a reconciliation and make an apology, and
the result was that he composed a tune for her ladyship, the
handsome tune of "Da Mihi Manum" (Give Me Your Hand)
on which his fame spread thro' Scotland.
***
The melody's popularity was long-lived, as attested by its appearance in many collections througout the 18th century, including Wright's Aria di Camera (1730), Neal's Celebrated Irish Tunes (c. 1726), Burk Thumoth's Twelve English and Irish Airs (c. 1745-50), Thompson's Hibernian Muse (c. 1786), Brysson's Curious Selection of Favourite Tunes (c. 1790, and Mulholland's Ancient Irish Airs (1810). The Latin title first appears in the Wemyss manuscript of 1644 and in the Balcarres manuscript of 1692, though the English or Gaelic translations were not given until Bunting's 1840 edition (Sanger & Kinnaird, 1992). In modern times this ancient harp air has entered modern Irish playing tradition, and is a favorite in County Donegal, for one. Sources for notated verisons: Bunting noted the tune in 1806 from the elderly harper Arthur O'Neill [O'Sullivan/Bunting]; Planxty (Ireland) [Brody]; Jay Ungar (West Hurley, New York) [Matthiesen]; O'Neill credits himself with the version in his Music of Ireland, though it seems nearly identical to Bunting's versions. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 120. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, Vol. 1, No. 83. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 97, pg. 41. Matthiesen (Waltz Book II), 1995; pgs. 20 & 21. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; pgs. 20-21. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 406, pg. 71. O'Neill, 1913; pg. 60. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 63, pgs. 97-98. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 40. Bay 203, Jody Stecher- "Snake Baked a Hoecake." Polydor 2383 397, Planxty- "Planxty Collection" (appears as "Tabhair Dom Do Lamh"). RCA 5798-2-RC, "James Galway and the Chieftains in Ireland" (1986). Shanachie 79009, "Planxty" (appears as "Tabhair Dom Do Lamh"). Shanachie 79012, Planxty - "The Planxty Collection" (1974).
T:Tabhair Dom Do La/mh
T:Give Me Your Hand
C:Rory Dall O'Cathain
B:Robin Williamson "The Pennywhistle Book p 60
Z:By Phillip L. Sexton
M:6/4
L:1/4
Q:55
K:G
D|EGG G2D|EG>A G2D|EGG GAB|B"tr"ed/2e/2 B2A/2G/2|
AAe/2d/2 BBd/2B/2|AA/2B/2 A/2G/2 "tr"E2D|EGG G2D|EGG G2||
D|"sm"EGG GAB|d/2e/2 d/2B/2 A/2B/2 G2D|EGG GAB|Bed B2A/2G/2|
AAe/2d/2 BBd/2B/2|AA/2B/2 c/2d/2e2d/2B/2|dde "sm"g2e/2d/2|
ee (3g/2e/2g/2 a2 d/2e/2|gg d/2e/2 gg d/2e/2|gg (3a/2g/2a/2 b3|bbb b2a/2g/2|
aa/2g/2 a/2b/2 a2g/2f/2|~e3/2f/2(3g/2f/2e/2 ddg|~B3/2d/2 c/2B/2 A2(3c/2B/2A/2|
GG/2A/2 B/2d/2 "sm"=f2e/2d/2|eeg e2d/2B/2|ddg BBd/2B/2|AA/2B/2 (3c/2B/2A/2 G2||
GLEN OF COPSEWOOD, THE (Airidh nam badan). Scottish, Slow Air (6/8 time). F Major. Standard. AABB'. "The editor acquired this beautiful melody from his father, but cannot trace any anecdote regarding it. He, however, thinks it originated in the district of Glenmoriston, where there is a sweet spot, which still bears the Gaelic name of it, and marches with the property on which Mr. Fraser of Culduthel, so often mentioned, then lived. It certainly bears the marks of his style" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 38, pg. 13.
T:Glen of Copsewood, The
T:Airidh nam badan
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Fraser Collection
K:F
(3f/e/d/|cAG/F/ F>GA/B/|c>dc cAF|A2 G/F/ GAc|d3 f2 z/(3f/2e/2d/2|
cAG/F/ F>GA/B/|c>dc cAF|A2 G/F/ GAc|d3 c2:|
|:A/B/|cdf g>fg|a2 g/f/ fdc|d>cd cdf|g3 d zf/2e/2f/2/g/2|aff gdd|fcc ~d>ef|
A2 G/F/ GAc|1 d3 f2:|2 d3 c2||
GOAT PEN, THE (Cro nan Gobhar). Scottish, Jig. D Minor. Standard. AABB'. "The Goat Pen, supposed remotely situated, appears, by the Gaelic words, to have been the rendezvous of two lovers. It is long known as a Scotch dance, but makes a beautiful and delicate air, if slowly performed, worthy of suitable words, and is inserted to reclaim it as a Highland melody" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 22, pg. 8.
T:Goat Pen, The
T:Crò nan Gobhar
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Fraser Collection
K:F
c|A>cd cAF|A/B/cA c>Gc|A>cd cAF|f2e d2c|A>cd cAF|A/B/cA cGc|A>GF Afa|
gfe d2:|
|:f|cAA fAA|aAA cGG|cAA fAA|ae^c d2f|1 cAA fAA|aAA cGc|A>GF Afa|
gfe d2:|2 c>de fga|gfe fed|c>AF Afa|gfe d2f||
GOIRTIN EORNAN, AN (The Little Field of Barley). Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). D Major (Boys/Lough, Ó Canainn): C Major (Cranitch). Standard. One part. "This is a Munster version of a fairly common Gaelic love song, in which the young man tells that he would rather have the kisses of his love than all her wealth and riches." Boys of the Lough, 1977,