In Clips and Snips, Dave Parkhurst plays an air called May Morning Dew that is gorgeous. I have looked all over about a dozen tune sites and cannot find it. I find May Morning reel but not the air. I emailed Dave about but haven’t heard from him and maybe he’s out or something. Anyway, does anyone know where to find this music? I could probably pick it up by ear, and that would be good practice I suppose, but I’m not an ear learner as of yet.
It’s on JC’s ABC Tunefinder, but I can’t for the life of me decide if it’s the same tune Dave’s playing. JC’s has it in A Dorian, and with a 3/4 tempo.
~Larry
Go for it by ear. It’s an easy one to pick out. I learned it from the Chieftains CD “Water From the Well”. VERY nice version with Kevin Conneff singing after a flute intro by Matt Molloy.
Blessed Be
Bri~
Brian, I envy all you folks here who can pick up a tune by ear, believe me! I can do so if it’s something I’m VERY familiar with, but that’s it. Don’t know if I’m too impatient or if my tinnitus has something to do with it or what!! 
~Larry
I like Mick’s version: http://www.worldzone.net/music/rudall/obrien.html
Tunefinder:
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/findtune?P=may+morning+dew&F2=find+(wide)&L=100
I could be wrong, Tony, but I don’t think that music is the same as the song that Dave or Mick plays. Mick’s is the same tune as Daves, and it sounds great on the pipes. but I think the ABC music is a different tune. It sure looks different, even accounting for stylistic modifications.
Thanks for the links though.
Versions of the air can be played in the A, Em, and D ranges on simple-system instruments. My preference is for the D range (gotta bend that high f nat from the e, lovely and plaintive), but that’s because if I’m piping the tune I can use the drones. Awesome air.
There are words to it, but so far I haven’t been able to find a good rendering outside of what I heard on recordings. To date the only transcription I’ve come across is incomplete and a bit different from the words I normally associate with the tune. I believe there are five verses, and a good version can be heard on the session recordings at Matt Molloy’s pub CD, for those that have a taste for sean-nos singing.
N, not much help today
It’s an extremely common song/air, ome review [by Fintan Vallely] wondered what posessed Mick O Brien to record such a hackneyed tune. It a great air though.
The best way to tackle a tune like this [and any air for that matter], is to learn the song and take it from there, it shouldn’t be hard to find the words.
A dear friend of mine, concertinaplayer Kitty Hayes sings a distinctly different version of it which is also very worth hearing [possibly even more so]
Mick O Brien was over on a visit last november, we were playing in C, at some point in one of the sessions we had over the weekend he played the May Morning Dew on the C chanter over the D drones. Playing it as if it was in Em [sounding one tone flat though], it was quite a haunting effect and distinctly different from the overall sound he had playing it on the CD.
John,
You could say the same about Mick’s version of “Sally Gardens” compared to the traditional. Same tune.
I swear, this reel is never presented the same way twice in the various printed or played versions I have seen and heard.
My favorite is from the Whistle and Sing book. Its called a “four-part reel” there and is crudely notated so i can’t share an abc but could send a tiff or something.
This is an excellent reel to emphasize syncopations and to me, its one of those that you could do quite a lengthy jam with.
we ARE talking about the air here aren’t we?
I know I am talking about the air.
See what you mean Tony. I think I’ll try it by ear (though it seems there may be a half-holed note in there somewhere)
Thanks all for participating.
Dunce cap for the Weekender.
I listened to Mick’s version…MICK Woodruff on Chiffs and Slips. Of the reel.
sigh…
a midi file of the tune and the words is posted in mudcats digitraditionl data base. Its a lovely air, and I love the snip of dave playing it…listen to it quite often.
bump
Have you tried my new email: parky@poetworld.net ? Unfortunately, because I was being buried alive in spam on Hotmail, and because SBC Yahoo is obviously a bunch of re***der players, I have switched to this new email. I always love hearing from you folks! 
My rendition was based on Mick O’Brien’s uilleann artistry on the album called The May Morning Dew. The lyrics go something like this:
"How lovely it is in winter to sit by the hog,
Just to listen to the bark and the howl of the dog
Or to wander through green fields where wild daisies grew,
Or to pluck the wildflowers in the May morning Dew
In springtime, in springtime, when summer is near,
With the trees all abloom and the sky bright and clear
And the wild bird is singing, his loved one to woo,
And the young dove is winging through the May Morning Dew
Of the house that I once lived in, not a stone’s on a stone
And all around the garden, wild thistles have grown
And gone are the neighbors that I once knew
No more shall we walk in the May Morning Dew
I think of those people, now long dead and gone,
And likewise my dear brothers, young Dennis and John
How we ran through the heather, the wild hare to pursue,
And hunted the proud stag in the may morning dew."
It is incredibly cool to sing also…one of my absolute faves, and in fact I believe the Chieftains sing it on their “Good friends, Good music” album.
anyone for a beer?
Dave
oops… as Brian said, it’s the “Water From the Well” album. Guess my alzheimer’s meds are wearing off again…
)
BTW, thank you for the compliment about my playing…muchas gracias!!
dave