Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?

Subject: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 02 Mar 17 - 04:18 PM

I believe the words are by Tommy Makem. Would the tune be also his or is it traditional? A song I wrote jumped onto that tune..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: meself
Date: 02 Mar 17 - 06:19 PM

It's been years since I've heard that one, but if I recall correctly, the tune is based on the Scottish march 'The Balkan Hills'. Now, that tune is generally thought to be trad., but whether it is or not, I don't know.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: GUEST,Jerry Crossley
Date: 02 Mar 17 - 06:48 PM

As far as I am aware, the tune is traditional, in that it is at least based on a tune known as The Meeting of the Waters, which is close in parts to the more familiar tune My Love is But a Lassie. It was quite common for Irish songs to be written to fiddle tunes, such as jigs and reels, and not unusual for Scottish tunes to borrowed by the Irish for such use as well.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: meself
Date: 02 Mar 17 - 07:27 PM

Just had a listen - The Meeting of the Waters is essentially the same tune as The Balkan Hills.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Mar 17 - 08:35 PM

The song.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Mar 17 - 04:19 AM

Pretty sure THIS is where Makem took his tune from
These are the notes on the origin of the song - enjoy!
Jim Carroll

Mick McGilligan's Daughter, Mary Anne
Lowry refers to the song Mick McGilligan's Daughter, Mary Anne in his novel Ultramarine; "Paddy - give us Paddy McGulligan's daughter, Mary Ann." (Pg. 64).

Mick McGilligan's Daughter, Mary Anne is an anonymous Irish bawdy song, which only exists in print in Louis Tierney's cleaned-up version:

I'm a gallant Irishman
I've a daughter Mary Anne
She's the sweetest, neatest, colleen in the Isle
Though she can't now purchase satin
She's a wonder at bog latin
In a fluent, fascinatin' sort of style
When she's sellin' fruit or fish
Sure, it is her fondest wish
For to capture with her charm some handsome man
Ah! no matter where she goes
Sure, everybody knows
That she's Mick McGilligan's daughter Mary Anne

Chorus:
She's a darlin', she's a daisy
And she's set the city crazy
Though in build, and talk, and manner, like a man
When me precious love draws near
You can hear the people cheer
For Mick McGilligan's daughter Mary Anne

Alternative chorus:
She's me darlin', she's me daisy
She damn near drives me crazy
She's got hairs upon her chest like any man
And you know she's on the rocks
When she's wearin' cotton socks
Mick McGilligan's daughter, Mary Anne

There are eight more verses, which elaborate on the masculine qualities of Mary Anne. This has resonance in Ultramarine, for the underlying theme is that Dana is a 'nancy', i.e. effeminate and not a 'real man'. James Joyce also alludes to this song in Ulysses; this may be a coincidence, but Lowry includes further allusions to Ulysses in Ultramarine, so it seems that he certainly was aware of Joyce's reference to the song. Another possible influence is Conrad Aiken's Blue Voyage, Chapter 3, when the gambler sings about a girl who 'can't keep her petticoat down'.
This song is not to be confused with another song The Great Big Wheel with another Mary Ann, which Lowry refers to in an untitled poem (Collected Poetry 265.1) and in his film script for Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night (Pg. 223). Lowry stated that he heard The Great Big Wheel from a neighbour; "The song about Mary Ann and the Ferris Wheel was sung for us, out of the blue, on New year's Eve, by one of our neighbours, a Guernsey fisherman of 75, who had come to visit us while we were revising the scene. He did not know what we were writing about. The song was probably written about 1890, is English, forgotten, if ever remembered, and even if ever published, which is doubtful, can be no longer copyright." (Notes on a Screenplay for F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night Pg. 72). This song is a different one to the one written by E. W. Rogers in June 1895, and sung by Arthur Lennard (1867-1954).

Subject: RE: Tune Req: boys of killibegs tune traditional?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 03 Mar 17 - 08:26 AM

ANOTHER USE OF THE TUNE HERE
Jim Carroll