By “the slow one” I mean the one that goes (in vague abc, with no accuracy implied as far as duration goes):
G AB c E G | AG ED E G
G AB c B A Bc B A G EDE G
A B d BAB G E D E GG G3
By “the jolly one” i mean the one that goes vaguely (ditto):
D|G G A GA |B GE D DE GA B |c cA B AG E | etc etc
I always loved Chris (Langan)'s story about yer man, not a native speaker, singing this, and his pronunciation producing the immortal line “Bhíonn tú lom bí lom” instead of “Bhíonn tú liom bí liom.” In English: rather than “If you are with me, be with me” he was singing “If you are naked, be naked.”
I’ve an old Chomltas LP with someone singing the slower Twisting of the Hayrope. If you ever get to hear it sung, you realize that instrumentalists play it in “C,” in a sense - the “tonic” of the tune is C, but the way we play it creates the impression it is in G. Rather like how Ennis played the Lament for the Fox. If you compare how Rowsome played that in D you can see that it is roughly the same tune. Ennis makes it sound as if it’s G. Curious how that works.
It’s quite a chore to obtain tracks of the great instrumental airs being sung. The singers consider them hackneyed perhaps.
There is another recording of Ennis singing/playing that is a favorite of mine titled “The Frost is All Over” or “What Would You Do?”.
Lyrics include…
What would you do if you married a soldier?
What could I do but follow the gun.
What would you do if he died on the ocean?
What could I do but to marry again.
He starts off playing the melody, then sings it with the drones running, alternating with lilting the chorus. I sing/play it on occasion at the local session and it’s close to another tune which is more familiar to the fiddlers, etc. When I play it they get all out of sorts, disoriented, rosin comes off their bows and the like.
You can also hear this track - or another take of it? - on an album Ossian reissued, “As I Roved Out,” which is field recordings Jean Ritchie made in the early 1950’s.
Ok, so I think maybe I got the title of the tune wrong, in my first post, but here is the info from Peter Browne:
I can tell you that the recording of Séamus singing and playing
Éamonn a’ Chnoic is from the RTÉ CD “The Return from Fingal”,
not available at present but it is being reissued and the
RTÉ website > www.rte.ie > will let you know when.
Peter B
Not sure if that’s Casadh an tSugáin (perhaps not?) but it’s really a wonderful recording, the combination of Seamus’ voice and the piping
is very much worth having.
There are two distinct versions of Casadh an tSugain. It is one of the big songs of Munster and is the slow air that Willie Clancy recorded. I haven’t heard Seamus Ennis either playing it or singing it but it would be a gender-specific song (like Jimmie Mo Mhile Stor) and almost always sung by a woman.
There is a Donegal version that was recorded by Michael O’Domhaill perhaps even in the Bothy Band days. This version would not be classed as one of the big songs; usually when groups record songs in Irish they use childrens play songs or simple work songs.
Eamonn an Chnuic (Ned of the hills) is another of the big Munster songs associated with Tipperary. It is totally different to Casadh on tSugain. A version in English has been extensively recorded called The Dear Little Isle.
The Dear Little Isle and Stor Mo Chroi are two of the staple songs of Mike Flynn, a singer from West Clare.
Just a brief addition, Ennis did play that air and it’s on quite a lot of the tapes in circulation.
Mike Flynn is actually Mick Flynn from Freagh, Miltown Malbay his singing is recorded on the Lambes on the Green HIlls and most recent on his own CD ‘The Singer’s Dozen’ which as you might guess has thirteen songs. He is a tremendous singer, both solo and in duet with his wife Jane and is often referred to as ‘Mike’ as there is another singing Mick Flynn around North Clare which gives rise to any amount of confusion.
I did hear them both.