The Old Head of Dennis

Subject: The Old Head of Dennis
From: GUEST,radriano
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 12:31 PM

I understand that Thomas Moore used the melody for this Irish air for his song The Meeting of the Waters. I've seen the air as 'The Old Head of Dennis' and as 'The Old Head of Denis'. What's the correct spelling, one n or two?

In a previous thread, Martin Ryan spelled it with one n. (Are you there, Martin? They say you never sleep - is that true?)

Regards,
radriano

Subject: RE: The Old Head of Dennis
From: MartinRyan
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 12:33 PM

Richard

It's true alright - certainly at 5 in the afternoon! I'll check when I get home.

Regards

Subject: RE: The Old Head of Dennis
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 01:01 PM

Moore spelled it Denis. And his is the only early version of the tune outside of the variant "The Boys of Kilkenny". See ref# 2978 in file COMBCOD2.TXT on my website for all of the known early copies.

Subject: RE: The Old Head of Dennis
From: MartinRyan
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 02:07 PM

I had got the "Denis" version from Davy Hammond's wee book of Moore's Melodies - and was confident he would be right. Yet I knew I had seen the "Dennis" spelling in an old book somewhere. Its in "The National Songbook" of 1906 by Charles VIlliers Stanford.

regards

Subject: RE: The Old Head of Dennis
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 02:47 PM

My spelling came from the 1st issue of Stevenson and Moore's 'A Selection of Irish Melodies' in the Library of Congress. M1744[/] .S845. The catalog there is by composer and/or arranger and not by author of songs, so it's to be found there under Stevenson, but not under Moore.

Subject: RE: The Old Head of Dennis
From: GUEST,radriano
Date: 13 Apr 00 - 06:18 PM

Thank you Martin and thank you Bruce. Moore's own spelling of the word is good enough for me.

Regards to you both,
radriano