CAMPBELLS ARE COMING, THE [1]. AKA and see "The Burnt Old Man," "Campbell's Frolic," "Hob or/A Nob," "I was at a Wedding in Inverara Town," "O Tommy Come Tickle Me" (Pa.), "The Old Man," "An Seanduine." Scottish (originally), American; Jig, March and Air (6/8 time). USA; Arkansas, New York, southwestern Pa. G Major (Ford, Gow, Harding, Kerr, Mitchell, Sweet): F Major (Emmerson). Standard. One part (Ford): AB (Emmerson): AA'B (Gow, Mitchell): ABB (Harding): AABB (Kerr, Sweet). The melody is punctated like a Scotch Measure in jig time--tunes like this are classified by Oswald and others as "Scotch Jigs." Grattan-Flood, typically and without much evidence, claims the tune is Irish. Another claim is that the tune was composed for a song on or about the period of Mary Queen of Scots' imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle. "The Campbells are Coming" was known as a Whig tune and as such was played by the vanguard of the loyalist Scottish troops, many Clan Campbell, as they marched in opposition to the ill-fated Jacobite rebels of 1715 led by the Earl of Mar (knicknamed 'Bobbing John') [Winstock, 1970]. The Robert Wodrow Correspondence records that in 1716 each of three companies of Argyle's Highlanders entered Perth and Dundee led by a piper playing "The Campbells are Coming," "Wilt thou play me fiar play, Highland Laddie," and "Stay and take the breiks with thee."{see also notes for those tunes}. James J. Fuld in The Book of World Famous Music (1966) notes the tune was mentioned in a letter (probably the one by the aforementioned Wodrow) dated 1716, although it was not printed until 1745 when it appeared in a Scottish collection. Despite mention of the existance of a melody by that name early in the 18th century, Glen (1891) finds the first printed version of the melody not to have been until Robert Bremner's 1757 collection Scots Reels (pg. 83), although it also is said to appear in James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion (c. 1750). Another printing with the "Campbell" title appears somewhat later in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript from Perth. Further to the south in Britain, the title was included in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian songs and tunes, which he published c. 1800.
**
The melody is to be found as a country dance called "Hob or Nob" in collections earlier than Bremner. It can be found, for example, in Walsh's Caledonian County Dances (4th book) of c. 1745, in Johnson's Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances (1748), and other contemporary dance books.
**
"The Campbells are Coming" was transplanted to American country dance tradition and appears in repertories of dance fiddlers in New York and Pennsylvania (Harry Daddario, Union County, Pa.). Musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph recorded the tune for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. Samuel Bayard (1981) also collected the tune from Pennsylvania fiddlers. He notes that the cadences of the 'A' parts are different in modern versions from those in the 18th and 19th century where the tune ended on the major third. He sees the American versions, which end on the tonic, as a "rebellion" against the 'circular' or 'endless' tunes from the British Isles. The cognates of the tune family that "The Campbells Are Coming" belongs to include "The Baldooser," "The Burnt Old Man" and "The Field of Hay," but more importantly Bayard speculates that the popular dance tunes "Miss McLeod's Reel" and "The White Cockade" also derive from the same source. Other writers have also noted the connection with "Miss McLeod's Reel;" Breathnach (1977) and O'Neill (in his introduction to The Dance Music of Ireland) both point out that "The Campbells Are Coming" is the same air as "Miss McLeod" only played in jig time. The Pennsylvania version, altered in the 'B' part, takes its alternate title from the ditty sung to it:
**
O Tommy come tickle me, I'll tell you where;
Just under my navel there's a big bunch of hair. (Bayard).
**
Sources for notated versions: Floyd Woodhull, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]; Amasiah Thomas (Jefferson County, Pa., 1952) [Bayard]; Irvin Yaugher (Fayette County, Pa., 1946) [Bayard]; Hiram White (elderly fiddler from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 539A-C, pgs. 478-480. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 15, pg. 78. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 81, pg. 160. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 110. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 15. Harding's All Round Collection, 1905; No. 189, pg. 60. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 17. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum), 1790; No. 299. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 16, pg. 32. Mitchell (Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 90, pg. 80. O'Malley and Atwood (Seventy Good Dances), pg. 11. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 18. Tyson (Twenty-Five Old Fashioned Dance Tunes), No. 10. Gennett 6121 (78 RPM), Uncle Steve Hubbard and His Boys, c. 1928. Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham (appears as last tune of the improbably named "Medley of Reels").
COMING 'ROUND THE MOUNTAIN. Old-Time, Fiddle Tune. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
LARDNERS' [1]. AKA and see "Prairie Hornpipe," "Coming Down From Denver," "Cowboys," "The Halfway House," "Turnpike Reel." American, Reel. USA; New England, Pa. A Major. Standard. AABB. "This reel furnishes a very apt illustration of a feature often encountered in American traditional dance music: namely, the interchange of parts. The first and second parts of (this tune) can hardly be discussed together as if they were the indivisible components of a traditional tune, because they are not often found together. While the first half of this tune occurs pretty frequently in our instrumental tradition, it seems to have no steadfast association with any one second strain. A set of this tune in its entirety, however, and fairly close to Yaugher's, appears under this same name in Cole's, p. 19. Since Yaugher is acquainted with that collection, it is not impossible that he drew the name from this source instead of learning it locally. The Yaugher version given here is undoubtedly traditional, nevertheless, since it shows a number of variant readings from the set in Cole's 1001. The second strain of (this tune) occurs in Cole's, pg. 7, as the second part of 'The Turnpike Reel'. Our first strain--joined with diverse second parts--often appears in popular dance music collectiions, and in local tradition, under the title of 'Cowboys'...A tune with a first part resembling that of 'Lardner's Reel' is in Cole's 1001, pg. 112, 'Leviathan Hornpipe'" (Bayard). The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Irish variants include the hornpipe "Halfway House" and "The Turnpike Reel." Source for notated version: Irvin Yaugher Jr. (Fayette County, Pa., 1943; learned by ear from other local fiddlers) [Bayard]. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 20. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 19. Harding's Original Collection, 1928; No. 107. Harding's All-Round Collection, 1905 & 1932; No. 178 (appears as "Prarie Hornpipe"). Jigs and Reels, pg. 19. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 69. Robbins, No. 9.
T:Lardner's Reel
L:1/8
M:C|
K:A
|:A2 Ac BA GB|Ac eg a2 ga|bg eg ag fe|dc BA GB EG|
A2 Ac BA GB|Ac eg a2 ga|bg eg ag ae|fd BG A2 E2:|
|:E2 GE BE GB|A2 cA eA cA|B2 ^dB fB dB|e2 ge bg eg|
A2 GA B2 AB|c2 Bc d2 ed|c2 BA E2 G2|A4 A2:|
MISS McLEOD'S/MacLEOD's REEL [1] ("Cor Ingean Ni Mic Leod" or "Cor Mhic Leoid"). AKA and "Billy Boy," "The Cake's All Dough," "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?" "Enterprise and Boxer," "The Enterprising Boxer," "The Girl with the Handsome Face," "Green Mountain," "Hop Up Ladies," "Hop High Ladies," "Hop Light Ladies," "John Brown," "May Day," "Miss MacLeod of Ayr," "MacLeod's Reel," "McLeod's Reel," "Miss McCloud," "Misses McCloud's Reel," "Mistress McCloud's Jig," "Mr. McLaw'd." "Mrs. McLeod of Raasay's Reel," "Mrs. MacLeod Raasay," "Nigger in the Woodpile" (Pa.), "Old Mammy Knickerbocker" (Pa.), "The Virginia Reel," "Walk Jaw Bone." Irish, Scottish (originally), American, Old-Time; Reel and Breakdown. Ireland, County Donegal. G Major (most versions): A Major (Ashman, Roche, Songer): F Major (Hardings). Standard. AABB. A universal favorite in the British Isles and North America. Apparently the tune was first printed in Gow's Strathspey Reels of 1809 (pg. 36), with the note "An original Isle of Skye Reel. Communicated by Mr. McLeod."
***
It was popular as long ago as 1779 in Ireland as its playing is mentioned in an account by a foreign visitor named Berringer or Beranger of a "cake" dance (i.e. where the prize was a cake) he participated in while visiting in Connacht. O'Neill (1913) relates Beranger's observations somewhat differently and gives that it was one of six tunes played by Galway pipers in 1779 for the entertainment of the traveller. In modern times in Ireland the tune was included in a famous set of the late Donegal fiddlers, brothers Mickey and Johnny Doherty, who played it as the last tune after "Enniskillen Dragoons" and "Nora Criona" (Wise Nora), though sometimes they substituted "The Piper of Keadue" for "Miss McLeod's." The whole set was played in the rare AAAE tuning, which required playing in position (Caoimhin MacAoidh).
***
The title "Peter Street" appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). The reel was mentioned in an account of one of the old pipers of County Louth, a man named Cassidy, as recorded by William Carleton in his Tales and Sketches of the Irish Peasantry, published in 1845. Breathnach (1997) believes the first name of this piper was Dan, and that he was blind. Carleton, born in 1794, was a dancing master who taught in the 1820's, and was engaged to teach the children of the 'dreadful' Mrs. Murphy. It seems that Carleton:
***
having spent several nights at piper Cassidy's house weighing up the local
dancers ...was impelled by vanity to show them how good a dancer he was
himself. He asked one of the handsomest girls out on the floor, and, in
accordance with the usual form, faced her towards the piper, asking her to
name the tune she wished to dance to. Receiving the customary reply, 'Sir,
your will is my pleasure,' Carleton called for the jig Polthogue. He next
danced Miss McLeod's Reel with his partner, and then called for a hornpipe,
a single dance, this is, one done without a partner. It was considered
unladylike for girls to do a hornpipe. The College Hornpipe was his choice
for this dance. (pg. 59)
***
Charlie Piggott, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998) written with Fintan Vallely, relates that accordion player Johnny O'Leary was at the deathbed of his mentor, the famed Sliabh Luachra fidder Pádraig O'Keeffe, in St. Catherine's Hospital, Tralee. O'Keeffe was lucid until the end, and engaged in witty repartee with O'Leary:
***
'You know two great reels,' he said. 'Don't ever forget them.'
'What are they?' said I.
'"Miss McCloud" and "Rolling in the Ryegrass",' he said.
'You see, "Miss McCloud" is a great reel,' he said, 'but we're playing
it wrong.'
'How do you mean it?' says I.
'I'm at it now,' he says, 'but I suppose I won't be left alive to do it-
play it backwards. And,' he says, 'you'll never in your life hear a nicer
reel.'
Whether 'tis right or not, I don't know. He was just going to do it when
he died. He said he had a sister that had the first part of it done backwards
with a concertina and, Pádriag said, 'twas double nicer than the way we're
playing it. He was a genius, you know. He was a genius.
***
The melody has had a long history in America and has proved enduringly popular with fiddlers in many regions. Cauthen (1990) notes the tune's mention in the "Marion Standard" of April 30, 1909, which reported its having been played at a housewarming in Perry County, Alabama, in 1827. Bronner collected the tune from central New York fidders, who also knew it under the title "Virginia Reel" and, from one source, the "interchangable title" of "Campbells are Coming," a jig. Some confusion in his sources seems to stem from the interchangability of many triple and duple meter tunes under the "Virginia Reel" moniker, but Bronner states that versions of "Miss McLeod" in 12/8 time were "not uncommon" in his collecting experience. Samuel Bayard (1981) also wondered if "Miss McLeod" was a reworking of some set of the 6/8 time "The Campbells Are Coming," a family which includes (among others) "The Burnt Old Man" and "Hob or/and Nob." O'Neill (1913) has no doubts and states unequivocably that the 'McLeod' and 'Campbell' tunes either had a common origin or that the former was derived from the latter (or its Irish equivalent, "An Seanduine"). The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the mid-1920's) and it was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner remembered the tune being played in the Flagstaff-Williams (Ariz.) area in 1903 (Shumway). The title (as "MacLeod's Reel") appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. A rendering of the tune under the title "Mistress McCloud's Jig" was recorded by him for the Library of Congress from fiddlers in that region in the early 1940's. Bayard (1981) noted that the tune was usually played in the British Isles with with the parts ending on the second of the scale, resulting in an "endless" or "circular" tune, while fiddlers in the Americas usually ended on the tonic. Also in the repertoire of Uncle Jimmy Thompson (Texas, Tennessee) as "McLeod's Reel."
***
Novelist and fiddler Thomas Hardy, of Devonshire, England, knew the tune and worked it into his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886):
***
Farfrae was footing a quaint little dance with Elizabeth-Jane--an old
country thing, the only one she knew, and though he considerately toned
down his movements to suit her demurer gait, the pattern of the shining
little nails in the soles of his boots became familiar to the eyes of every
bystander. The tune had enticed her into it; being a tune of a busy,
vaulting, leaping sort--some low notes on the silver string of each fiddle,
then a skipping on the small, like running up and down ladders--'Miss
McLeod of Ayr' was its name, so Mr. Farfrae had said, and that it was
very popular in his own country [Scotland].
***
Words are sometimes set to the tune, especially in American variants. These words were collected in Scotland:
***
Macaphee turn yer cattle roon loch o' Forum (3 times)
Here and there and everywhere the kye are in the corn.
***
Waitin' at the shielin' o Mhaire bhan mo chroi (pronounced: varie van ma cree)
Waitin' at the shielin' o faur awa' tae sea
Hame will come the bonny boats Mhaire bhan mo chroi
Hame will come the bonny boys, Mhaire bhan mo chroi.
***
A curious alternate title for "McLeod's," "The Enterprising Boxer" is a miss-hearing of the name "Enterprise and Boxer," which refers to a naval engagement between two ships of those names.
***
Sources for notated versions: Michael Coleman (Co. Sligo/New York) [DeMarco and Krassen], John McDermott, (New York State, 1926) [Bronner], 8 southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded at Na Piobairi Uilleann, October, 1984 [Moylan]. Adam, No. 20. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 69, pg. 17. American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 6. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 25a, pg. 6 (appears as "Mr. Mc Law'd a Popular Dance"). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 249A-H, pgs. 211-213. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 192. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 4, pg. 26 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pgs. 10-11 (appears as "Virginia Reel" [2]). Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 24. Cazden (Folk Songs of the Catskills), pg. 29. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 29 (appears as "Miss McCloud's"). DeMarco and Krassen (Trip to Sligo), 1978; pgs. 38, 52, 66. Gale, No. 30. Hardings All Round Collection, 1905; No. 183, pg. 58. Hardings Original Collection and Harding Collection, No. 36. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 44. Howe, 1951; pg. 34. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 10. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 48, pg. 24 (appears as "May Day"). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 5. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 109. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 143, pg. 84. O'Malley, pgs. 10 & 22. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 275, pg. 140. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 134. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1418, pg. 263. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 655, pg. 117. Robbins, No. 96. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 1; No. 148, pg. 59. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 112, pg. 39. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), Vol. 4, pg. 50. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 136. Surenne, pg. 11. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 32. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 4 (appears as "Miss MacLeod of Ayr"). Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 19. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 42. White's Unique Collection, No. 170. Biograph 6003, The Bogtrotters- "The Original Bogtrotters" (appears as "Hop Up Ladies"). Brunswick (78 RPM), John McDermott (N.Y. state), 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers - "Concert Collection II" (1999). County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Davis Unlimited 33015, Doc Roberts- "Classic Fiddle Tunes" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe"). Gael-Linn CEF 045, "Paddy Keenan" (1975. Appears as "McLeod's Reel/Cor Mhic Leoid"). Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, The Kerry Fiddle Trio - "The Rushy Mountain" (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Green Linnet 1023, Joe Shannon and Johnny McGreevy- "The Noonday Feast." Green Linnet SIF1122, Kevin Burke - "Open House" (1992). John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Uncle Joe Shippee - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). June Appal 007, Thomas Hunter- "Deep in Tradition." Nimbus NI 5320, Ciaran Tourish et al. - "Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal" (1991). Rounder 0057, Frank Dalton and George Wood- "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Rounder 0058, John Patterson- "Old Originals, Vol. II" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?"). Shanachie 33001, Patrick J. Touhey- "The Wheels of the World." Tennvale 001S, Bob Douglas- "Old Time Dance Tunes Fron the Sequatchie Valley" (Appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Tennvale 003, Pete Parish- "Clawhammer Banjo." Topic 12T309, Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - "Kerry Fiddles." Transatlantic 341, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick 2." Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham, 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Medley of Reels"). Mickey Doherty - "The Gravel Walks."
T:Miss McLeod's Reel
L:1/8
M:C|
K:G
|:G2 BG dG BG|GB BA Bc BA|G2 BG dG BG|A2AG (3ABc BA|
G2BG dG BG|GB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
|:G2 gf ed eg|B2BA BcBA|G2 gf ed Bd|ea ag fd ef|g2 gf ef ge|
dB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
WIND THAT SHAKES/SHOOK THE BARLEY, THE [1] ("An Ghaoth a Bhogann," "An Ghaoth/Gaot a Chroitheann/Corruideann an Eorna" or "An Gaot A Biodgeas An T-Orna"). AKA and see "Duncan Davidson," "(An) Gaoth A Chroitheanna an Eorna," "I Sat (with)in the Valley Green," "The Kerry Lasses," "Rolling Down the Hill." Irish, Scottish, Shetland, American, New England; Reel. D Major (most versions): G Major (Hardings): D Mixolydian (Carlin). Standard. AB (Allan's, Breathnach, Cole, Honeyman, Mallinson, O'Neill/1850, Stanford/Petrie, Sweet, Tubridy): AAB (Athole): AA'B (O'Neill/Krassen, 1915): AAB (Brody, Carlin, Flaherty, Hunter, Kerr, Neil, Skye): ABB (Phillips): AABB (Hardings, Miller & Perron). The Irish musicologist Father Henebry considered this tune originally Scottish (as did Breathnach), but Bayard (1981) finds almost no Scottish traditional forms; he found numerous versions in Irish and Irish-American currency. Emmerson (1971), however, states the tune is "substantially a set of the 'Fairy Dance,'" which is definately Scottish and whose full title is "Largo's Fairy Dance," composed by Nathaniel Gow.
***
"The Wind that Shakes the Barley" was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly)./ "The (Provance) version...contains a feature common enough in old-country reels, but seldom encountered in American variants: namely, the 'circular' construction, which provides for the tune's going on indefinitely without coming to a complete cadence. F.P. Provance stated that he learned this set 'among the Dutch' in eastern Fayette and western Somerset Counties--an interesting evidence of how the German settlers have adopted the tradition of the Irish whom they encountered on their arrival in Pennyslvania" (Bayard, 1944).
***
The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800.
***
The tune was the vehicle for the Donegal house-dance the Barnas Mór Reel, writes Fintan Vallely in his book Blooming Meadows (1998), interviewing Donegal fiddler Vincent Broderick of the townland of Tangaveane in the Croaghs (Blue Stack Mountains). Broderick remembered: "They would let hands to, d'you see, every other bar or so...and they done this step dance every one of them on their own and then they would join hands again, go around again."
***
A romantic song to the tune with words by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830-1883) commemorating the uprising of 1798 led by the Society of United Irishmen was originally published c.1880 in Ballads of Irish Chivalry. It is also called "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" and goes:
***
I sat within a valley green
I sat there with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love
The old for her, the new
That made me think on Ireland dearly
When soft the wind blew down the glen
And shook the golden barley.
***
'Twas hard the woeful words to frame
'Twas worse the tide that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said "The Mountain glen
I'll seek it morning early
And join the bold United Men
While soft wind shakes the barley"
***
While sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arms 'round her flinging
The foeman's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild wood ringing
The bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft wind shakes the barley.
***
I bore her to some mountain stream
And many's the summer blossom
I placed with branches soft and green
About her gore-stained bosom
I wept and kissed her clay-cold corpse
Then rushed o'er vale and valley
My vengeance on the foe to wreak
While soft wind shook the barley
***
Then blood for blood without remorse
I've taken to Oulard Hollow
I've laid my true love's clay cold corpse
Where I full soon will follow
And 'round her grave I wander here
Now night and morning early
With a breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley.
***
Oulart Hill, referred to in the song as "Oulard Hollow," is located in County Wexford and was the site of the United Irish rebels' first significant success. On Whit Sunday, the 27th of May, 1798, they ambushed and annihilated a body of Government troops-the infamous North Cork Militia-numbering around one hundred. There are said to have been but three survivors, despite the fact that the militia was Irish to a man. Another song set to the tune is called "The Little Bag of Tailors." O'Neill prints the tune as "Wind that Shakes the Barley" and "I sat in the Valley Green."
***
Sources for notated versions: Kevin Burke (Co. Clare) [Phillips]; Michael Kennedy (Ireland) [Carlin]; F.P. Provance (Point Marion, Pa., 1943; learned from fiddlers playing it in eastern Fayette and western Somerset Counties, Pa.) [Bayard, 1944]: J Bryner (Pa., 1946), F King (Pa., 1960), and Shape (fiddler from Pa., 1944) [Bayard, 1981]; fiddler Sean Keane (Ireland) [Breathnach]; fiddler Michael Lennihan (b. 1917, Kilnamanagh, in the Frenchpark area of County Roscommon) [Flaherty]; S. O'Daly [Stanford/Petrie]. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 68, pg. 17. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 23. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 162A-C, pgs. 99-100. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 202, pg. 90. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 293. Burchenal (Rinnce na h-Eireann), pg. 120. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 195, pg. 116. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 22. DeVille, 1905; No. 74. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; pg. 91. Greenleaf, No. 186. Hardings All-Round Collection, 1905; No. 129, pgs. 40-41. Harding's Original Collection, 1928; No. 130. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 9. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 223. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 15. JFSS, VII, 172 (a Manx vocal set, "Crag Willee Syl"). Kerr, Vol. 1; Set 3, No. 2, pg. 4. Levey, No. 49. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 35. Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 24, pg. 11. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 92. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 188, pg. 243. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 155. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 257, pg. 133. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1518, pg. 280. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 737, pg. 129. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 52. Robbins, 1933; No. 25. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 1; No. 199, pg. 75. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; Nos. 320 & 321, pgs. 80-81. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 89. Surenne, 1852; pg. 41. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 64. Sym's Old Time Dances, pg. 27. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 24. Welling (Hartford Tunebook), 1976; pg. 26. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 35. Columbia C 33397, Dave Bromberg Band - "Midnight on the Water" (1975). Columbia Legacy CK 48693, "The Best of the Chieftains" (1992). Front Hall 014, John McCutcheon - "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (1977. Learned from the Smathers Family). Front Hall 015, Jake Walton and Roger Nicholson- "Bygone Days." Gael-Linn Records CEF 022, Seamus Ennis, John Joe Gannon, Sean Keane - "Seoda Ceoil II" (1969). Ghe Records GR1001, Mike Cross - "Child Prodigy" (1979). Green Linnet SIF1110, Tony DeMarco - "My Love is in America: The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival" (1991). Homespun Tapes, Kevin Burke. Shanachie 79006, Mary Bergin- "Traditional Irish Music." Shanachie 79011, Planxty- "Cold Blow the Rainy Night." Shanachie 78010, Solas - "Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers." Bob Smith's Ideal Band - "Ideal Music" (1977). "Fiddlers Three Plus Two."
X:1
T:Wind that Shakes the Barley
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A|F(AA)B AFED|B2BA B2d2|F(AA)B AFED|gfed B2d:|
e|f2fd g2ge|f2fd Bcde|f2fd g2gb|afed B2 d>e|f2fd g2ge|
f2fd Bcde|fafd gbge|afed B2d||
X:2
T:Wind that Shakes the Barley
L:1/8
M:C|
K:D
A2 AB AF ED| B BA Bc d2|A2 AB AF ED|gf ed Bc dB|
A2 AB AF ED|B2 BA Bc dB|A2 AB AF ED|gf ed B2 d2:|
|:f2 fd g2 ge|f2 fd ed BA|f2 fd g2 ge|af ed B2 de|f2 df g2 eg|
f2 fd ed BA|de fg af ba|gf ed B2 d2:|