Stephen Mills Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) Almost at the very beginning of the Tunes/Songs subforum, someone mentioned the tune "Lillibulero". I thought no more about it until I clicked on a Jackie English sound file of the tune and immediately recognized my old classical guitar piece by Henry Purcell, "A New Irish Tune", which I've noodled around with on Anglo. A tedious trawl through Google yielded little extra systematic information. I gather it was appropriated widely, even at one point being an anti-Irish tune. Any of you Irish or UK'ers (or anyone else) have any interesting tidbits to add about this tune and its history? Edited March 23, 2004 by Stephen Mills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldpaulson Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) It is Purcell. It is used for ECD. But because I am a sucker for a research question, I had to do some more looking around. It looks as if Purcell's tune was appropriated and set to lyrics by Lord Thomas Wharton. This is what caused the controversy. His lyric was originally anti-Jacobite.Look here. Then, anti-Irish. Sometimes it is just called "Jig." This was one of the first ECD-type tunes I learned. I like it. I like Purcell. That's the extent of what I know. ldp p.s. that and the name is frequently never spelled correctly! -- ldp Edited March 23, 2004 by ldpaulson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Mills Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 Thanks. That was very interesting. But, what is ECD? I'm sure it's not "English Concertina Diagrams" or even "Evident even to the Culturally Deprived". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Chambers Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 I gather it was appropriated widely, even at one point being an anti-Irish tune. It would still be seen as very much an anti-Catholic tune in Ireland, only normally being played by Orange bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 p.s. that and the name is frequently never spelled correctly! "Frequently never", eh? The language police are consulting their books on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 ...what is ECD? I'm sure it's not "English Concertina Diagrams" or even "Evident even to the Culturally Deprived". English Country Dance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premo Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 I have a record by the 'City Waites', a band that specialises in 16th and 17th century music, which sets the words to 'The Devil and the Farmer's Wife' to the tune Lilliburlero. I don't know (as I haven't looked at the record for some time) whether they set the words or they are using an older setting. The words fit very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Mills Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 (edited) p.s. that and the name is frequently never spelled correctly! -- ldp So many hits for "Lillibulero" on Google I wasn't even tipped off I'd dropped the "r". I'll bet it doesn't have as many spelling variants as the Ootpik Waltz, however. Edited March 23, 2004 by Stephen Mills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Thorne Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Anyone wanting to here lillibolero can hear it on the BBC world service sevral times a day as the theme music for 'News around Britain'. At least they used to, I havn't checked lately. Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Viehoff Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 I almost fell off my chair when I followed the link ldp gives, since it describes Lilliburlero as a "march". It is tinkling in my mind as a fast and light dancing folk song that a Holst or a Vaughan Williams arranged, along with many other C20 English folky composers, and usually sung at about MM150. However I can't find any evidence that GH or RVW ever did arrange it, and it is probably a deliciously scrunchy Michael Tippett arrangement I can hear in my head as I write this. What counts as a march is plainly quite wide ranging. Look at Brahms' Deutsches Requiem: "Denn alle fleisch es ist wie grass" is a slow section in 3/4, which the composer clearly marks as a march, and you'd definitely need 3 legs for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 What counts as a march is plainly quite wide ranging. Look at Brahms' Deutsches Requiem: "Denn alle fleisch es ist wie grass" is a slow section in 3/4, which the composer clearly marks as a march, and you'd definitely need 3 legs for it. There are also some great 3/4 marches in Northumbrian music. E.g., Lads of Alnwick. Lillibu[r]lero has many uses, including as a Morris tune and a drinking song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyhermit Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I've heard it called the Orangemen's Anthem, I believe it was in one of Tristan Jones' books, probably the semi-fictional Ice. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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