Speaking of airs, this is a current favorite. Thing is, I discovered that it’s considered a pretty inauspicious tune, cursed even, in the Irish Gaeltacht due to the stories that surround it. Now, I know two native Irish who play it without compunction after their fashions, but they don’t speak Irish, so I suppose that possibly explains that, for otherwise in the Gaeltach, at least, it would apparently be a social gaffe to play it, as I’m gathering.
All of which disappoints me a bit. Not that I was planning to travel to the Gaeltacht just to play it, but…damn. Sort of takes the fun out of it, you know?
I’ve heard the horror stories of Judy Garland’s jazzy rendering of it, and the telling is as close as I care to get.
(Edit) But here's a thought: if the tune's considered ill-omened in the Gaeltacht and you're not supposed to play it, how do they know it when they hear it, then? Just wondering.
I saw/heard that by accident one morning not too long ago. I was getting ready for work and turned on TCM and that movie was playing. Can’t remember the title at the moment but it was not a good rendition. Oh, “Little Nellie Kelly” was the title, I believe.
Get away with you and your halo. That was just plain horrid. I noticed the Judy Garland fans were all very ga-ga for it, though. Imagine that.
But I want to pursue this ill-omened thing. I mean, what if you don’t play it, but leave the dots or some ABC notation lying around; would there be some sort of psionic energy wave causing the beer to sour and cars’ wheels to fall off?
Dang. That’s what’s happened to my luck in the past year … Judy Milking A Tune Syndrome.
My life has been in ruins since taking up that accursed thing. Indeed, the halls of Irish music are littered with the fallen. Look what it did to Larry Nugent. And Sylvain Barou. And Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh.
(FWIW, I think Muireann spent the first part of her life in the Gaeltacht so I imagine she would have been pretty aware of the hazards of choosing that as a party piece)
