I’m curious about this air, which has been recorded by many pipers over the years. Every time I hear it, I mistakenly identify it as “The Dark Lady” before I catch myself, because to me at least the melody is anything but bright. I’ve searched the web for some sort of explanation of the air’s title, but have not been able to find anything, though one source said that the poem that goes with the air has been lost. From the sound of it, it seems to me that it is perhaps an Aisling, or Vision, song in which the lady in question is an allegory for Ireland. This would explain the somber, haunting sound of the air, but it is also pure speculation on my part. Does anyone know anything about this air, or where I might find some information about it? Thanks.
Ken
Here’s how Leo Rowsome played it. Willie Clancy learned it from him and everyone copied Willie’s playing thereafter, but as you can hear, he put his typical Clancy spin on the phrasing etc. Perhaps someone like Terry Moylan has investigated it for An Piobarie, that’d probably be your only bet for learning more about the song. Terry’s pretty diligent.
Elias Howe printed a song of that title in 1000 Jigs and Reels, published in the 1870s, which differs a bit from Leo’s tune: Bright Lady - The Traditional Tune Archive
Leo Rowsome got this air from a collection of tunes from PW Joyce, I believe.
I don’t have that Joyce book so I have no information on where or whom the tune was collected from.
So basically Leo was the first to record the tune and everyone since made their own interpretations from that.
Tommy
There’s a discussion here from 2005:
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/8310/comments
(although Tommy’s response above provides about the same information as the response he gave in the 2005 discussion 
)
Ronan Browne also plays this air on his album The Wynd You Know but I don’t have the liner notes in front of me so I couldn’t say if he commented on its origin.
Joyce said that he collected the tune in 1852 “from the whistling of Davy Condon, a thatcher by trade”, from County Limerick. He gave the original title as speir-bhean, translating it as “The Bright Lady” (though noting “the celestial woman” would be a more exact translation). No other information, though he does note its similarity to a tune on the following page, which he got from his own grandmother.
(later edit)
Subsequent to looking up the above I’ve done a bit more nosing around. It seems that the image of the “speir-bhean” was used in the 17th century by Aodhagan O Rathaille in the context of a Jacobite poem, where she was indeed a sort of personification of Ireland. So perhaps the tune was used to set this or a similar text.
Thank you for your responses! I followed Kevin’s advice and consulted Terry Moylan who confirmed what you all said, with a little more:
As Joyce reveals, he heard a tune by the name of “Spéir-bhean”, and published it as “Spéir-bhean / The Bright Lady”, thus imposing his own idea of the meaning of “Spéir-bhean” on his readers, and also leading to the air bearing this name ever since.
“Spéir-bhean” is not otherwise translated as “bright lady” anywhere that I am aware of. It is usually understood as “fairy-woman” or “vision / aisling” as you correctly surmise.
I’m not aware of any other earlier or even contemporary versions of the tune.
Thanks again.
[Thread revival. - Mod]
Four years after posting above, the other day I (finally) got round to listening to Rowsome’s version while looking at the Joyce piano setting. Assuming Rowsome did get his version directly ‘from the book’ - i.e. from Joyce - it’s interesting to hear how free he’s been with the original tune, as it’s barely recognisable at first listen. Especially with your typical Rowsome full-on high-drama reg work behind it.
The tune given by Joyce, and the version printed by Howe, has a regular AABC structure, with each phrase lasting four bars - a simple enough little air. While Rowsome does give a sort of free, rubato interpretation of the ‘B’ and ‘C’ bits, his opening ‘A’ part is quite different. Basically he seems to have opened with a distinctive phrase from the second bar of Joyce’s original tune - that run up from d / f sharp to c natural - and then followed it with several bars loosely based on the original ‘C’ part.
I note that Joyce’s piano setting does begin the tune with a partial ‘run up’ from d/f sharp in the bass, which might suggest the idea of starting with a similar phrase. Perhaps Rowsome was tinkling around on the piano (he did have one, I think) and came up with this idea, or perhaps he just completely misremembered the tune and went with what sounded good. Those c naturals are the real heart of the tune, after all.
Either way, I find this process by which individual musicians (or sometimes generations of them) created wildly different, ‘pipey’ versions of tunes a fascinating one (Clancy’s ‘Dark Lochnagar’ anyone?). It certainly enhances my respect for Rowsome, although I can see his air playing isn’t to everyone’s taste (my girlfriend managed about 10 seconds of “Bright Lady” before pronouncing it “incredibly depressing” and banishing me to the next room)
Hi,
This is all very interesting, thanks.
Here are my findings regarding this tune. I first heard Brian McNamara play this live two years ago, and found it captivating.
https://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_214_4_slow_air_from_brian_mcnamara
It seems to differ greatly from the tune linked to above, but that my just be my understanding of interpretation. The tune linked to above I have from O’Neill’s 1850 tunes as ‘Bright love of my Heart’.
I have also seen a song, ‘Ope your casement, lady bright’ where the specified tune is ’ the snowy breasted pearl’ just to add to the confusion.
http://d232364.sitehosting.ie/data/IMCO/CIMR191-OpeThyCasement,LadyBright.htm
It is a lovely, lovely air
Dave
The source supposedly used by Rowsome is tune no. 29 in this book:
https://archive.org/details/ancientirishmusi00joyc
As I mentioned it does seem to have been a very loose and creative interpretation though (such as discarding the majority of bars 1-4). If you pick through the bars after the first repeat the relationship becomes slightly clearer.
Clancy is obviously following the Rowsome version, but takes it even further from the original source.
(Edit: yes, looking at the J O’Neill “Bright Love of my Heart” - the second of the two airs he prints with this title - it’s clearly the same tune as collected by Joyce. I wonder if there are words to it somewhere?).
Thank you for the link. 
Thank you for drawing my attention to the 1850 version 
The fact that the tune was also called “Bright Love of my Heart” opens up further interesting possibilities. There are a number of airs associated with this title or the Irish version of it gra geal mo chroi. There seems to have been one collected in Newfoundland for example, which while it’s in 3/4 time does seem to have some melodic relationship to the ‘A’ part of the tune printed in Joyce…perhaps an attractive coincidence, perhaps not. (There are lyrics too - the usual sad story of a hopeful suitor’s chances with the girl being spoiled by some “roguish villain”. Something to think about next time you try playing it!)
I suppose a lot of these old airs came from 18th century broadsides and then found their way all over the place.
Myles, for the record, the book I quoted was O’Neill’s 1,850 tunes, the big yellow one. This was not printed in 1850, but in approximately 1900.
A fascinating book in many respects, as it allows comparison of tunes collected in the USA with native collections.
All the best,
Dave