The Rights of Man - a.k.a. How I spent my Christmas Holidays

[Nanohedron]

@Redwolf

@Nanohedron

Thanks, guys. Hereafter I will not use “syncopation” in reference to dotted notes. What the heck is the classical term for that sort of rhythm, anyway?

Dotted rhythm.

Redwolf

It would be, wouldn’t it.

[Chiffed]

Swing is a BIG variable. The amount the rhythm is ‘bent’ and the pattern of emphasis is gonna change depending on style and even, as Peter said, within a tune. In jazz, swing varies from almost equal length eighths to a very 12/8 or tripelet feel. Actually playing accurate dotted-8th-16th rhythms is pretty unheard-of in jazz, and it would be out of place in most hornpipes. Too angular, herky-jerky-sounding. The only time I find that notation useful in celtic music is for Scottish tunes that snap and swing, and that’s just to keep the snaps from being swings!

Now for reels, I like to play Blackberry Blossom with swing 8ths and a hint of a back-beat (a la Flook!) but my playing partner has to play it straighter. I am just the grasshopper, so straight it is.

[The_Weekenders]

@Peter Laban

Pat Mitchell has a specific use for the term syncopation as a means of rhythmic variation in Irish music. He talks about it in his Rhythm and Structure articles in the SRS journal (specifically the second article).

Hey, where can I get feast me eyes on such a publication?? Libraries only or online???

I don’t think of Rights of Man as a typical hornpipe in terms of finding recorded examples to study. Fishers, the variations on Sailors, Boys of Bluehill have more in common with each other in delivery than Rights of Man do with any one of 'em. It almost reminds me of those set dances that happen to use hornpipe rhythms. The more typical ones are chunkier throughout in delivery whereas, for whatever reason, people play Rights of Man a bit more smoothly and sometimes beneath a usual tempo. I think the melody (and mode) leads you that way. If I played Rights the way I play Sailors, I think it would sound wrong..

Though I agree with Peter about variations from tune to tune, I think it’s not the best example to typify hornpipes for those new to the style, in my admittedly limited experience as player and listener. It’s pretty unique.

I know, the poster asked about THAT tune, but…

At the whistle parties, I am the only person who ever plays Tomorrow Morning, but it’s my favorite “typical” hornpipe..

[Cayden1]

Hey, where can I get feast me eyes on such a publication?? Libraries only or online

For now the journal is available as a CD ROM through Na Piobairi Uilleann. Vol 3 and print versions of all volumes are in preparation.

[The_Weekenders]

Thanks, Peter!

[Brian_Boru]

Thanks for all the advice on playing hornpipes. The version I have starts with triplet notes but otherwise it is basically the same as versions accessed by links posted by one of the contributors. I will try to remember upsidaisy Another thing that helped me was seeing some hornpipes danced on the web.

I love the sound of the Rights of Man. It’s like the tune is both sad and and hopeful at the same time. Perhaps given the state of the world it is a fitting metaphor.

Does anyone know the history of the tune? I know about Thomas Paine’s book. Was the tune written in honour of him?

[m31]

Just to mess you up even further, listen to Eileen Ivers play the Rights of Man here:

http://www.tradtunes.com/album_details.php?album_id=2627
(click on track 5)

or

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1209320&cart=464008515&BAB=M
(track 11)

[Cayden1]

@Brian Boru

Does anyone know the history of the tune? I know about Thomas Paine’s book. Was the tune written in honour of him?

@Fiddler's Companion

RIGHTS OF MAN (Ceart Na Cine Daona). Irish, Scottish, English; Hornpipe. Ireland; Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border, Sligo. England, Northumberland. E Aeolian (Em) {most settings}: D Minor {Williamson}. Standard. AB (Moylan): AABB (most settings): AA’BB’ (Cranford, Kerr). Williamson (1976) says the tune was popular in both Scotland and Ireland, though Hunter (1979) believes it was Irish in origin. The Northumbrian composer and fiddler James Hill (who was born in Scotland) is sometimes credited as having composed the tune, apparently on the strength of one assignation to him in an older collection; it remains doubtful he is the author. Tom Paine’s (1737-1809) book, The Rights of Man, was written to refute Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, and sold a phenomenol (for the time) 200,000 copies in England while causing a furor for its support of the revolution. Paine was burned in effigy on English village greens, and his book was consigned to the flames. The printer who published the book was arrested and a Royal proclamation prohibited the sale of the book, though it continued to enjoy a wide underground circulation, particularly in Scotland and Ireland where it gave support to those who found themselves oppressed. Influenced by Paine’s work, a later document called “Declaration des droits de l’homme” was drafted by the first National Assembly during the French Revolution of 1789 to be incorporated into the new constitution of France. The next year the constitution was approved by the captive Bourbon king, Louis XVI, although he was executed soon afterward.

---

Francis O’Neill, the great late 19th/early 20th century Irish collector and musicologist, remarked on the tune in his work Irish Music: A Fascinating Hobby, and remembered that, when first introduced to Chicago Irish musicians at the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, “Rights of Man” was thought to be a new composition which had recently gained currency in Ireland, as it was not in the repertoire of any Irish musicians then playing in that city (though O’Neill’s collaborator, Sergeant James O’Neill, recalled a version had been played by his father in Belfast some decades prior). O’Neill included the tune in his 1907 work Dance Music of Ireland, though it was not in Music of Ireland (1903). “A florid setting of this favourite,” states O’Neill, “was played by Mrs. Kenny, a noted violinist of Dublin was brought to Chicago by Bernie O’Donovan, the ‘Carberry Piper’, but in that style it gains no advantage for the dancer.” Sources for notated versions: Sligo-style fiddler Paddy Reynolds [DeMarco & Krassen]; Mr. Matthew Archdeacon, National School, Banteer Co. Cork, 1875 [Joyce]; accordion player Johnny O’Leary (Sliabh Luachra region, Kerry), recorded in recital at Na Píobairí Uilleann, February, 1981 [Moylan]; Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; set dance music recorded live at Na Píobairí Uilleann, mid-1980’s [Taylor]. Allan’s Irish Fiddler, No. 86, pg. 22. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 230. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 290, pg. 163 (arranged by John Rea). Ceol, Vol. V, No. 1. Cranford (Winston Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 41, pg. 15. DeMarco & Krassen (Trip to Sligo), 1978; pgs. 33, 47, & 61. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 42 (3 versions notated in Honeyman’s three hornpipe styles–‘Sand Dance’, ‘Sailor’s’, and ‘Newcastle’). Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 328. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 221 & 294, pgs. 107 (No. 294 is simply labled “Hornpipe”). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4; No. 292, pg. 31. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; pg. 55. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 80, pg. 33. Moylan (Johnny O’Leary), 1994; No. 30, pgs. 18-19. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 11, pg. 91. O’Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 306, pg. 152. O’Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 811, pg. 141. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 2; No. 202, pg. 7. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 42. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; pg. 19. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 13. Welling (Hartford Tunebook), 1976; pg. 24. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; pg. 59. Breton Books and Records BOC 1HO, Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald - “Classic Cuts” (reissue of Celtic Records CX 59). Claddagh 20, The Chieftains - “Bonapart’s Retreat.” Flying Fish 051, “Ken Bloom.” Front Hall 01, Fennigs All Stars- “The Hammered Dulcimer.” Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, Padraig O’Keeffe - “The Rushy Mountain” (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Gourd Music 110, Barry Phillips and Friends - “The World Turned Upside Down” (1992). Green Linnet SIF3040, De Dannan - “Ballroom” (1987). Island ILPS9432, The Chieftains - “Bonaparte’s Retreat” (1976). Living Folk LFR-104, Alan Block - “Alive and Well and Fiddling.” Shanachie 34016, Joe Burke, Andy Mc Gann and Felix Dolan - “The Funny Reel” (1995). Sonet 764, Dave Swarbrick and Friends- “The Ceilidh Album.” Topic 12T309, Padraig O’Keeffe, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford - “Kerry Fiddles.”
X:1
T:The Rights of Man
S:Mickey Doherty
Z:Juergen.Gier@post.rwth-aachen.de
M:C|
L:1/8
K:E Dor
BA|GABd AFGF|EFGA Bdef|gage dBGB|(3AAA AB A2GA|
BBBA GBGE|DEGA Bdef|gfed Bdgf|eE{G}ED EFGA|
BdAB GBFB|EFGA (3Bcd ef|gafg efdf|cfBc (3ABA GA|
BdAB GBFB|EFGA (3Bcd ef|gfed Bdgf|e2E2 E2|]
^ga|b^gbg ef=ga|b^gbg e2f=g|a^gaf defg|afdf a2gf|
e^def gfga|b^gbg e2ba|gfed B=cdg|e2E2 E2^ga|
b^gbg ef=ga|b^geg b2ag|abaf defg|afdf a2gf|
e^def gfga|bb (3a_ba gfef|gfed Bdgf|e2E2 EFGA|]
X:2
T:Rights of Man, The
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:E Minor
GA|BcAB GAFG|EFGA B2 ef|gfed Bged|cB (3BAG A2 GA|Bc AB GAFG|
EFGA B2 ef|(3gfe (3fed (3Bgf (3edf|e2 E>E E2||ga|babg efga|baab b2 ag|
agaf defg|agab a2 ga|bc’ab gafg|EFGA B2 ef|(3gfe (3fed (3Bgf (3edf|
e2 E>E E2||

[Brian_Boru]

@m31

Just to mess you up even further, listen to Eileen Ivers play the Rights of Man here:

http://www.tradtunes.com/album_details.php?album_id=2627
(click on track 5)

or

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1209320&cart=464008515&BAB=M
(track 11)

That’s not ITM. ITM has corners. They were spiraling…

Thanks for the link. Its amazing what can be done to a tune.

[crookedtune]

Sorry, y’all, but yuck.

[Nanohedron]

@Brian Boru

@m31

Just to mess you up even further, listen to Eileen Ivers play the Rights of Man here:

http://www.tradtunes.com/album_details.php?album_id=2627
(click on track 5)

or

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1209320&cart=464008515&BAB=M
(track 11)

That’s not ITM. ITM has corners. They were spiraling…

Whoa, there, bucko.

…need I say more?

[crookedtune]

What have crop circles got to do with anything?

[Nanohedron]

@crookedtune

What have crop circles got to do with anything?

Circles, shmircles. I’m talkin’ Ultimate La Tène, baby!

[The_Weekenders]

Like I said, it’s delivered very differently at times, more so than other well known HPs.

Any of you ever find notweorthy Frankie Gavin’s treatment of Fisher’s on the Homage to Joe Cooley record? I don’t think there’s a 30-second clip online (its second half of tuneset) but check out the rhythmic treatment if you have it around…

I have heard Fisher’s plenty of times, but not quite in that way…He puts the emphasis on the second (in cut) or third (in four) beat making the melody “fall” into it, then is more orthodox in the second part. When I first heard it, I wondered if there was a special dance step for just that tune, or if it was the way Joe Cooley used to play it as well…

[Brian_Boru]

The spiraling comment was a cryptic reference to The Commitments movie where the sax player decides to go jazz instead of soul, and gets taken to task by the trumpet player

[The_Weekenders]

Don’t ya hate havin’ to explain it, eh??

[Nanohedron]

@The Weekenders

Don’t ya hate havin’ to explain it, eh??

Maybe it was intentional. Maybe it wasn’t. How will you know? I leave you to ponder the mystery that is Nano.

[Brian_Boru]

@Nanohedron

@The Weekenders

Don’t ya hate havin’ to explain it, eh??

Maybe it was intentional. Maybe it wasn’t. How will you know? I leave you to ponder the mystery that is Nano.

Perhaps I was explaining it for the others…

[Nanohedron]

@Brian Boru

@Nanohedron

@The Weekenders

Don’t ya hate havin’ to explain it, eh??

Maybe it was intentional. Maybe it wasn’t. How will you know? I leave you to ponder the mystery that is Nano.

Perhaps I was explaining it for the others…

And perhaps you weren’t. I know, I know.

[Cathy_Wilde]

Speaking of corners, I’ve had some fun in the past trying to do a (non-?) musical mixmaster with that tune and play various chunks of it as a strathspey. You want odd, give that a whirl!