Noel Hill Song Info

[gpcockram]

Hope you can help me. I am trying to find a song by Noel Hill. I think it is called Two Hills or Two Wheels. I have had a look at the discography on the Noel Hill web site but I cannot find anything. Do you know if the song is called Two Hills or Two Wheels and which CD it is on please?

Many Thanks.

Graham.

[JimLucas]

Hope you can help me. I am trying to find a song by Noel Hill. I think it is called Two Hills or Two Wheels. I have had a look at the discography on the Noel Hill web site but I cannot find anything. Do you know if the song is called Two Hills or Two Wheels and which CD it is on please?

Does Noel Hill sing? Or do you mean a "tune"?

 

Either way, I can't seem to find what you're looking for. I hope someone else can help.

 

Waitaminit! You don't happen to mean "Sidhe Bheag, Sidhe Mhor" ("Shee Beg, Shee Mor")? That's an air by O'Carolan, supposedly referring to a battle between the fairies living under two hills. The name means "Fairies of the Big [Hill], Fairies of the Little [Hill]".

 

If that's the tune, you'll find it all over the place, with either of the above spellings and many more. Here it is on thesession.org. I don't know about a Noel Hill CD, though, as I don't have them all.

[gpcockram]

Hope you can help me. I am trying to find a song by Noel Hill. I think it is called Two Hills or Two Wheels. I have had a look at the discography on the Noel Hill web site but I cannot find anything. Do you know if the song is called Two Hills or Two Wheels and which CD it is on please?

Does Noel Hill sing? Or do you mean a "tune"?

 

Either way, I can't seem to find what you're looking for. I hope someone else can help.

 

Waitaminit! You don't happen to mean "Sidhe Bheag, Sidhe Mhor" ("Shee Beg, Shee Mor")? That's an air by O'Carolan, supposedly referring to a battle between the fairies living under two hills. The name means "Fairies of the Big [Hill], Fairies of the Little [Hill]".

 

If that's the tune, you'll find it all over the place, with either of the above spellings and many more. Here it is on thesession.org. I don't know about a Noel Hill CD, though, as I don't have them all.

 

It is a tune. There are no words to it.

Thanks for the other info but I am afraid that is not the one.

Regards.

Graham.

[Mark Evans]

It is a tune. There are no words to it.

Thanks for the other info but I am afraid that is not the one.

Regards.

Graham.

 

There's hope yet. Harpist Mairead Doherty loves to tell a story about O'Carolan hearing a young maid sing the Cukoos Nest which he later quoted in Sidhe Bheag Sidhe Mhor. She then sings Cukoos nest in Gaelic and has us lads join in at the finish with the tin whistle taking us off into Sidhe Bheag Sidhe Mhor. Audiences love it, and it always makes the hair on the back a me neck stand up. Who knows for sure, but it feels true.

[jburke]

Sorry tunesters, there are a lot of 'tunes' out there that were once 'songs' until the instrumentalists forgot the words...I have a friend that can summon up lyrics to half the GHB standard repetoire, it really spooks pipers to hear someone singing 'their' tunes. That's what happens when a native language is steamrollered and forgotten. Si Beag Si Mor does indeed have lyrics, they can be found on a lovely tribute to O'Carolan 2-cd set recorded by Grainne Yeats, harpist and singist. Yes, one of those Yeatses. In true folk tradition, the lyrics go on forEVER in documenting the war of the sidthe. When I want tune/song history, I go back to the oldest voices in the tradition: harpers, pipers, singers.

 

Jewels

[Mark Evans]

Sorry tunesters, there are a lot of 'tunes' out there that were once 'songs' until the instrumentalists forgot the words...Jewels

 

Yes, I do believe that's true. Den Poitras mother (92) God love her sings the St. Annes Reel in French every time we play it. Fun a plenty.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Mark Evans

[JimLucas]

Sorry tunesters, there are a lot of 'tunes' out there that were once 'songs' until the instrumentalists forgot the words...Jewels

Yes, I do believe that's true. Den Poitras mother (92) God love her sings the St. Annes Reel in French every time we play it. Fun a plenty.

Quite true, though hardly true of all tunes. And in many cases words were added to a tune later on. "Margaret's Waltz" is one of those. Adam McNaughton's "Hamlet" is one of many lyrics put to the tune "Mason's Apron". And I wish I could find the Irish-Gaelic lyrics to "The Rose Tree" that I once heard someone sing... something about "Little Jimmie" going to school. I do have a snip of English words that actually mention "the rose tree", but I have no idea whether they're "the originals".

 

My understanding is that if words are sung to a tune, it's a "song", and if it's only the melody -- even if it's "lilted" with nonsense syllables, -- it's a "tune". A "song" consists of two components, its "tune" and its "lyrics". A tune alone is also known as a "melody". Lyrics alone are also known as "poetry".

 

I've been told -- and a dictionary confirms -- that using "song" to mean "tune" (as I understand the terms) is not particularly new, but it does seem to be uncommon. I'd like to keep it that way. I find the distinction among "tune", "lyrics", and "song" to be useful, just as it can be useful to talk about jigs, reels, and hornpipes, rather than calling them all "jigs" (something I've also encountered).

 

I won't force others to use the words "my" way -- even though that seems to be the most widely understood, -- but I will mention it occasionally, in the hope that they will adopt the distinction to reduce confustion.

[Mark Evans]

[My understanding is that if words are sung to a tune, it's a "song", and if it's only the melody -- even if it's "lilted" with nonsense syllables, -- it's a "tune". A "song" consists of two components, its "tune" and its "lyrics". A tune alone is also known as a "melody". Lyrics alone are also known as "poetry".

 

I've been told -- and a dictionary confirms -- that using "song" to mean "tune" (as I understand the terms) is not particularly new, but it does seem to be uncommon. I'd like to keep it that way. I find the distinction among "tune", "lyrics", and "song" to be useful, just as it can be useful to talk about jigs, reels, and hornpipes, rather than calling them all "jigs" (something I've also encountered).

 

I agree completely. My music appreciation students seem to use "song" for everything regardless the classification hand-out I offer and beg on bended knee for them to use, if only for my sake .

[wes williams]

I think it is called Two Hills or Two Wheels... .

How about Touhey's?

[Bruce McCaskey]

I put this question to Noel Hill himself to see if he could shed light on the matter. He said he couldn't place the suggested title but offered the following comment:

 

"In the past I have referred to an O' Carolan piece which is called Sí Beag, Sí Mór. The title comes from the name given to two hills in County Leitrim between which the river Shannon is supposed to rise. Perhaps this is the fragment of information which has given rise to the title "Two Hills."

 

Hope this helps.

 

Edited for a pesky typo...

Edited May 13, 2006 by Bruce McCaskey