The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #15970   Message #3735184
Posted By: GUEST,Lighter
03-Sep-15 - 09:44 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Scotland the Brave
Subject: RE: Origin: Scotland the Brave
Fascinating! The claim that it's *also* the tune to "O'Donnell" merely adds to the confusion - as does the late date of 1934-36.

ABCs for Corrigan's "Irishman's Toast":

X:1
T:Irishman's Toast, The
T:Scotland the Brave
M:2/4
L:1/8
B:Feis CeĆ³il Collection of Irish Airs (1914, No. 42)
K:D
D2 DE|FDFA|d2 fe|dAFD|G2 BG|F2 AF|E2 EF|
AGFE|D2 DE|FDFA|d2 fe|dAFD|GBdB|A2 FD|
E2DD|D4||e2 ef|ec A2|d2 fe|dAFA|
d2 fd|c2 dc|BdcB|AGFE|D2 DE|FDFA|
d2 fe|dAFD|GBdB|A2 FD|E2 DD|D4||

   
Here are lyrics to "The Irishman's Toast." They do not scan to the above tune. Some lines are simply too short:


Don't call me weak-minded, perchance I should sing,
Of the dearest old spot upon earth;
And don't think me foolish should memory bring
To my mind the dear land of my birth:
With its hills and its valleys, its mountains and vales,
Of which our forefathers would boast,
Of a dear little island all covered with green-
Ah, but list' and I'll give you an Irishman's toast:

Chorus.
Here's to the land of the shamrock so green.
Here's to each boy and his darling colleen.
Here's to the ones we love dearest and most,
May God speed old Ireland - that's an Irishman's toast.

My mind's eye oft pictures my old cabin home,
Where it stood by the murmuring rill,
Where my playmates and I oft together did roam,
Through the castle that stood on the hill;
But the stout hand of time has destroyed the old cot,
And the farm now lies barren and bare;
Around the old porch there is ivy entwined,
But the birds seem to warble this toast in the air:
Here's to the land of the shamrock so, &c.

The church and the school-house have long been replaced;
In the Harp Hotel dwells a new host;
The white-haired old veteran has long been at rest,
And his wife has deserted her post;
King Death, the stern reaper, has called them away,
And their children have gone o'er the seas:
There is nothing but strangers around the old spot,
Still this toast seems to waft to my ears on the breeze:
Here's to the land, of the shamrock so, &c.

The song is B133797 in Roud's Broadside Index. Roud lists a text from "Hanson's Comic & Sentimental Recitations" (N.Y., 1883). It appears in later songsters as well.

Acc. to someone at this site
http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-147337.html the Irish name for "Scotland the Brave" is "Bonnie Lass." Is this so?