I wonder how anyone could name a tune "I buried my wife and danced on her grave". Is there a story behind this title? Or what about "Lord Mayo's March"? I like that tune and would like to perform it in public, but it would be useful to know who that Lord Mayo was. Is there a website where such informations could be found?

Lots of the tune titles are just spur of the moment titles that stuck. Lots have no deeper significance.
Lord Mayo is different. The harper, O' Murchadha composed it in honor of his patron, who I'm guessing was Lord Mayo. O'Carolan also named lots of tunes in honor of people he liked or stayed with. Murchadha was an 18th century contemporary and rival of O'Carolan. Picture dueling harps, on horseback. Strange you asked now, as I just read about this last night.

My favorite tune story is for (I think it's a jig) "Pull the Knife and Stick it Again."
This witch would drop out of a tree onto your back as you passed by and utter a curse on you. If you stabbed her with your knife, it would lift the curse. However, if you pulled the knife out, the curse was on again. So, the witch would encourage you to "Pull the knife and stick it again." (Don't listen to her if it happens to you.)

Hi Bruce, where did you find the information about O'Murchadha? I would like to know more about it.

If anyone know the story behind this tune title, I'd like to know: "The Banshee's Wail over the Mangle Pit." It's on Martin Hayes' "Under the Moon." What's a mangle pit, anyway? Sounds horrible.

The reality may be totally innocuous, Tony. I'd say it's a kind of outdoor root cellar for mangelwurzels. A mangelwurzel, mangoldwurzel, or mangel is (and I quote from Collins English Dictionary):

a Eurasian variety of the beet plant, <i>Beta vulgaris</i>, cultivated as cattle food, and having a large yellowish root. [C18: from German <i>Mangoldwurzel</i>, from <i>Mangold</i> beet + <i>Wurzel</i> root]

I hope this won't destroy any frissons you may have been getting from this tune. OTOH a banshee wail would be scary enough.

The title I've wondered about is "Gander In the Pratie Hole".

Does gander mean "to look" or are we talking about a male goose? As for pratie hole -- well, I have no clue really, but I've imagined it has something to do with one of those out buildings with a crescent moon on the door.

Does anybody know for sure?

This question came up on the uilleann pipe list. Gander is a male goose. Pratie is a potato, not what you were thinking. Someone said potatoes were stored in a some sort of pit (maybe like a mangle pit), and geese love to eat potatoes.

I downloaded a song called "Mrs. Durkin" that's done by Wylde Nept and has a line that goes something like this, "no more I'll dig the praties, no longer I'll be poor". Potatoes are what came to mind from listening to the song, but you never know. Now I do. Thanks for answering an unasked question.

Rick

_________________
maire na mná go deo!
Health to the men and may the women live forever!