19 replies to this topic

[Dirge]

After all the fiddling around working how to process it properly here it is.  Londonderry air test.mp3   782.68KB   274 downloads. I'm still learning it but you get the idea of where it's headed.

Not my usual fare this. Jeremy the ICA librarian hinted on C net that the library had acquired some new music and I asked him about it; he replied that he'd picked out a taster selection for me as he wasn't sure what I liked. He picked well; it was almost all fun stuff, and this was among it.

Frankly I would run a mile from this one normally; it's a lovely tune, but for me it conjures up awful memories of Bing Crosby, Andy Williams or suchlike crooning about 'Danny Boy' with a thick layer of added treacle. I would never, ever, have thought to ask for the music, but I'm pleased to have it, so thank you Jeremy.

Music available from your local ICA librarian now.

Any Maccan down to middle C on the right hand should be able to play it; the lowest note scored is the C below that which I think means everything from 58 up can cover it.

[Geoff Wooff]

I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me doing something wrong,
thanks for that anyway Dirge,
best regards,
Geoff.

[Kautilya]

I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me doing something wrong,
thanks for that anyway Dirge,
best regards,
Geoff.

No barricades for me.... opened ok, but I could not hear the words with the toon??!!
Tempo is spot on Dirgey Boy (most of the lyrics are about lost loves and death..

Ye can takk the high road....with Oh Mary
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=BAQGHPK3lIc

or the low road with Danny
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=fWh5zdmDZd0

Did not know there were so many variant lyrics so good for sessions. the Oh Mary (a favourite of James Joyce it is alleged) and Danny Boy words by Weatherly, (he wrote the English lyrics for songs such as Handel's "Art Thou Troubled as sung by Ferrier another good toon for you Dirge?)


Oh Mary dear, a cruel fate has parted us.
I'll hide my grief, e'en though my heart should break.
Farewell my love, may God be always with you.
I love you so, I'd die for your dear sake.
But you'll come back to me my sad heart whispers.
You'll come with summer's flowers or winter's snow,
But I'll be there to wait if God should spare me.
And with the years, my love shall deeper, greater, grow.
2. Oh Mary dear, the years are lone and dreary,
And yet you come not back my soul to cheer.
My eyes grow dim, my path of life's near ended.
When death shall come, in spirit, Love, be near.
Remember then, my soul's deep adoration.
Shed one sad tear for all the world to see.
Breath one short prayer, and I shall know you love me.
And still be waiting, Mary, when you come to me.

Danny Boy Weatherly 1913
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And when you come, and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer, sweeter be
For you will bend and tell me that you love me
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

And I shall rest in peace until you come to me.
Oh, Danny Boy, Oh, Danny Boy, I love you so.


Hinkson love song in the 1890s
Would God I were the tender apple blossom
That floats and falls from off the twisted bough,
To lie and faint within your silken bosom,
Within your silken bosom as that does now!
Or would I were a little burnish'd apple
For you to pluck me, gliding by so cold,
While sun and shade you robe of lawn will dapple,
Your robe of lawn, and you hair's spun gold.

Yea, would to God I were among the roses
That lean to kiss you as you float between,
While on the lowest branch a bud uncloses,
A bud uncloses, to touch you, queen.
Nay, since you will not love, would I were growing,
A happy daisy, in the garden path;
That so your silver foot might press me going,
Might press me going even unto death.


More here with apologies for Wiki
http://en.wikipedia....Londonderry_Air

[Mike Franch]

It would be a worthy project to rescue this tune from the treacle-izers. (Is that a word?)

Edited by Mike Franch, 10 January 2012 - 01:37 PM.

[Ex Libris]

That's seriously good Mr Dirge. I spend a considerable amount of time knotting my fingers around Stanley arrangements on EC and many are very satisfying, but I have to admit that your duet playing on this recording beats me hands down.


The latest batch of music donated to the ICA library, came from the estate of Reuben Shaw and it's his music that I sent you recently. And while I only knew Reuben as a boy really, I'm sure he would have been delighted your lovely interpretation of this piece. I know that we take the internet so much for granted nowadays but I still think it's blooming marvellous that a piece of music handwritten to order in Birmingham, which was then posted to Nottinghamshire, ends up many years later being practiced and played in New Zealand - or anywhere for that matter should anyone else want it.

Oh .. you will have noticed that I have changed my user name to keep a lower Google profile. The Latin is a bit pretentious, I know, but it is the best I can think of ...


Jeremy

[Kautilya]

It would be a worthy project to rescue this tune from the treacle-izers. (Is that a word?)

Why not? Breaks all the rules, so totally original!
Harold Wilson used to make up words and when he (deliberately) said them in Parliament they went into Hansard and so became official.

Check with the MP for Consset(i) na to see if they will do the honours

Edited by Kautilya, 10 January 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[Kautilya]

That's seriously good Mr Dirge. I spend a considerable amount of time knotting my fingers around Stanley arrangements on EC and many are very satisfying, but I have to admit that your duet playing on this recording beats me hands down.



Oh .. you will have noticed that I have changed my user name to keep a lower Google profile. The Latin is a bit pretentious, I know, but it is the best I can think of ...


Jeremy

If you are putting out tunes everwhere and switching around all the time why not try Meretrix - or go with the simple English meretricious
There are only 73,900 on Google for "Meretrix"
whereas "ex libris" is pretty rampant at 9,410,000 results

If you went really high class-ical, properly to reflect the super service you offer, you could go for
"Mr. Retrixious" (No results found for)
or the indeterminable
"Ms. Retrixious", (No results found for)
both of which have that added Greek retsina flavour!
The important thing is to keep Dirge giving us pleasure.

Edited by Kautilya, 10 January 2012 - 08:57 PM.

[shelly0312]

>I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me >doing something wrong,


yeah Geoff, I also get a "codec missing" error in my Windows Media; I am not much of a computer geek--so I may never have the opportunity to hear this interpretation. I am sad--Dirge always inspires. Michelle

[Kautilya]

>I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me >doing something wrong,


yeah Geoff, I also get a "codec missing" error in my Windows Media; I am not much of a computer geek--so I may never have the opportunity to hear this interpretation. I am sad--Dirge always inspires. Michelle

Amazing.....! this one seems almost exactly the same though player uknknown and unlisted - they must be working overtime in the forges of Mordor tonight
http://youtu.be/cwbscTLaqJs

[Dirge]

>I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me >doing something wrong,


yeah Geoff, I also get a "codec missing" error in my Windows Media; I am not much of a computer geek--so I may never have the opportunity to hear this interpretation. I am sad--Dirge always inspires. Michelle

Amazing.....! this one seems almost exactly the same though player uknknown and unlisted - they must be working overtime in the forges of Mordor tonight
http://youtu.be/cwbscTLaqJs

Erm. It's certainly me playing; I recognise the shaky bits. Didn't have the ending though. This is you at work isn't it? Not something sinister?

Thanks if so (but the original opens for some, including me. Odd isn't it?)

Edited by Dirge, 11 January 2012 - 02:37 AM.

[Geoff Wooff]

F? well that is what I would call it... nice key on the Maccann... hmmmm... I played along.... better that Museli for Breakfast!
Still did not manage to open the download but thanks to Kautilya's link 've gets dee aydeahhhh'.

Me Missus said "now that was a proper arangement you should take a leaf out of that players book"... so an unsolicited thumbs up from the Boss... sounds good to me !

Edited by Geoff Wooff, 11 January 2012 - 05:22 AM.

[Kautilya]

>I've downloaded your files but I cannot open them for some reason... will try again to see if it is just me >doing something wrong,


yeah Geoff, I also get a "codec missing" error in my Windows Media; I am not much of a computer geek--so I may never have the opportunity to hear this interpretation. I am sad--Dirge always inspires. Michelle

Amazing.....! this one seems almost exactly the same though player uknknown and unlisted - they must be working overtime in the forges of Mordor tonight
http://youtu.be/cwbscTLaqJs

Erm. It's certainly me playing; I recognise the shaky bits. Didn't have the ending though. This is you at work isn't it? Not something sinister?

Thanks if so (but the original opens for some, including me. Odd isn't it?)

Moi?
Maybe only thee and me have the key that opens all the doors - and your shoulders of course, with your clarion horn call at 33secs


http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xkKclN8C5as

on relistening, yeah, u are cut off in end-flow
not sure why the ending is missing as that is all there seemed to be .. maybe there is a glitch at the end of the mpeg3 which is then keeping the peasants out?
Maybe yr Zoom is sending out evil signals worldwide...
will get orcs to check it again.

Edited by Kautilya, 11 January 2012 - 01:05 PM.

[Kautilya]

will get orcs to check it again.............

Three whipped orcs later

http://youtu.be/KjHIphONfhs

[Dirge]

It would be a worthy project to rescue this tune from the treacle-izers. (Is that a word?)

Well, go to it Mike! The tune predates all the soppy words apparently, something that encouraged me to try learning it when I found out.

I like it and shall continue to play it, but I suspect I'll never be able to play it for others without pleading its cause/apologising for it first, which is a shame.

If you suggested that the arrangement itself is a bit treacly I'd swallow that too but I can cope with small doses of artificial sweetener, well in music, anyway.

Geoff, yes it's in F. And my fondest regards to your lady wife who is clearly a woman of taste and discernment.

Jeremy, like the new name. And thanks again for sending this in the first place.

K thanks for putting it where others can hear it.

[Kautilya]

Geoff, yes it's in F.

Struggling to make it work (simple button progression for dumbos) on F row on my C/F box.
Could it be because my suck and blow post WWII squeezer is not tooned to 440 concert pitch?
I can make it work on my Bflat/Eflat box also WWII period.

Edited by Kautilya, 12 January 2012 - 02:13 PM.

[Anglo-Irishman]

It would be a worthy project to rescue this tune from the treacle-izers. (Is that a word?)

Well, go to it Mike! The tune predates all the soppy words apparently, something that encouraged me to try learning it when I found out.

Dirge,

That insight of yours really was instrumental in giving us a marvellous bit of listening! You're a brave man to try it, because it's so damn well known and much asked-for that almost every soloist, instrumental or vocal, has had a stab at it, including the very best, so competition is stiff. You pulled it off - congrats!

The de-treacle-izing (to compound the verbal felony) is, I think, due in part to the concertina as such. The arrangement has a certain sweetness, but this only just compensates the dryness of the timbre (like sugar in a real apple tart made with sour apples).

As to the soppy words:
Many decades ago, Edgar Boucher, then head of music broadcasting at BBC Northern Ireland, did a feature on the Londonderry Air. It is undoubtedly a traditional Irish air originally, but the metre of those many lyrics is not typical of Irish songs. Boucher's theory was that the original lyric would have had a more typical metre like:

"Oh, do not leave me, / And do not grieve me, (10 syllables)
And do not treat me / So cruelly." (9 syllables)

The soppy lyrics have this metre:

"In Derry Vale, beside the Foyle's dark wa-a-ters, (12 syllables)
So oft I strayed, ah! many years ago ...! (10 syllables)

The shorter lines would have been sung unaccompanied, and therefore decorated with grace-notes (e.g in the words "leave" and "grieve" and "treat"), and these grace-notes may have been written down by an academic musician as part of the melody, so that the later lyrics had to have longer lines. When I'm playing or whistling the tune, I tend to think those shorter lines with grace-notes, and it alters the phrasing of the melody so that it sounds less treacle-y.

Cheers,
John

[Dirge]

Thanks John, that's nice of you. Much appreciated!

[Ptarmigan]

Well done, very tasty indeed.
Those Duet machines must surely be the closest thing to a church organ & sound like the perfect tool for arrangements like this ... unfortunately, I only have one Thumb & 4 Fingers on each hand. ...... you're not from Norfolk are you,Dirge?

By the way, as always, we were asked to sing Danny Boy at the session here in Bushmills, last night, not surprising really as Limavady & Derry/Londonderry is just over the hill. However, our Bushmills Ballad Session is not like most Irish Sessions, but more about that, later.

A few years back, we played at the first Danny Boy Festival in Limavady, entering a competition that year which was designed to promote the ancient music collected by Edward Bunting. Entering into the spirit of the event, we were the only ones to actually compete in period costume & one of the few groups to play only ancient tunes. Sadly, many folks just played modern Irish tunes, which to me, missed the whole point of the exercise.

I was particularly keen to take part though, given that, unlike so many Irish Music enthusiasts, I really do enjoy playing the Ancient Music of Ireland as well as all the Jigs & Reels, but sadly, you don't get many opportunities to play them in sessions, at least without attracting some very strange looks.

In fact, many trad heads I know don't actually regard the Ancient Music of Ireland as being part of The Tradition at all, which is something I've never really fully understood. Of course, for far too many musicians, especially the younger ones, playing Irish Trad is all about playing the most complicated & difficult Reels, as fast as possible, so I can see how the often more melancholic, very early melodies, just don't appear on their radar at all.

Anyway Dirge, what I'm getting at is, in most Irish Sessions over here, you'd probably be chased from the premises & barred for life, for even suggesting to play Danny Boy. However, at our Saturday night session anything goes & in any case, for me, a good melody will always be a good melody & this is a truly great one, which I never mind playing, or listening to, especially when it's played as well as you play it here ........ so goodonya!

Cheers,
Dick