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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Geoff Wallis Origins: gander in the pratie hole (51* d) RE: Origins: gander in the pratie hole 21 Mar 08


I have no intention of being as rudely blunt as Fegg, but s/he does have a very valid point. Irish tunes themselves are meaningless (in the sense that a collection of notes can never be interpreted linguistically), only their titles carry any meaning.

Said titles fall into various categories:

1) airs derived from songs sung in either Irish or English - in this case the tune's title is no more than a reference to the song;

2) tunes celebrating or commemorating events, whether major or minor in consequence, e.g. The Battle of Augrhim or The Dispute at the Crossroads;

3) melodies celebrating a place or area, e.g. Bantry Bay, The Glen Road to Carrick and all the 'Humours' tunes;

4) those named after a person, either because said person is reckoned to have originally composed the tune (e.g. Paddy Fahy's, Jackie Coleman's, etc.) or celebrating a particular person or an aspect of their character (e.g. Marquis of Lorne or Mayor Harrison's Fedora);

5) descriptors of everyday events, places, household objects, preferences, appreciations, etc - the list is very wide;

6)tunes referencing birds, animals, farming, hunting, etc.

I could go on, but that's enough for starters.

I'd also be very wary of assuming that anything Séamus Ennis wrote or said about a tune is necessarily correct. I'd better qualify that.

In the years following his work as a collector of songs and tunes Séamus developed a career as a musician and, dare I say, showman.

The Lark in the Morning story certainly dates from that time and has no veracity in fact (the younger Ennis would have acknowledged its implausibility). Similarly, informative though his notes for The Best of Irish Piping might be, they do roam somewhat wildly into the realms of fancy.

Here's one example relating to The Merry Sisters which struck Ennis 'as being the musical embodiment of a man's dilemma as he tries to choose between the three, with arguments for and against each, unsuccessfully'.

And here's another: 'Kitty's Rambles takes us on a variety of expeditions with her enquiring mind and her conclusions'.

In other words, and in response to the OP, I'd be very wary of attempting anything more than an explanation of the tune's title.


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