Origin of tune names?

[Brus]

Where does one find out where tune names come from?

For example, the Boys of Blue Hill. Who were these boys, where is Blue Hill, and what happened that a tune was named after them?

I'm sure some names are disputed or lost to history, but I'm guessing a lot have a well-documented origin.

[MTGuru]

The Fiddler's Companion is a good first source for tune names:

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FCfiles.html

[Mr.Gumby]

Fiddler's companion IS a decent source of information (above all publishing history) about tunes, I don't feel there's all that much exploration of the origins of titles. But we'll take what we have and some do occur.. Another source can be (Paul de Grae's translation of) the Notes for Breadán Breathnach's collections (on Nigel Gatherer's site).

On a side note, I have been working for years , on and off, on a collection of photos of tune names, both actual geographic locations connected with the names to a more playful take. From the blindingly obvious (see below) through the more tongue in cheek to the more, well, elusive ones.

[MTGuru]

On a side note, I have been working for years , on and off, on a collection of photos of tune names, both actual geographic locations connected with the names to a more playful take. From the blindingly obvious (see below) through the more tongue in cheek to the more, well, elusive ones.

That is funny. One of the ridiculous* pleasures of touring around Ireland is the thrill of recognizing the place names, and trying to fit the tune titles to your experience. "I'm driving east on the M4. And look, there's a rock on the road!"

Or even worse (or maybe better), detouring out of your way just to be able to say you've been to X. "Look, it's only 8 km to Lisdoonvarna ...".

A fun idea, Peter.

* Ridiculous because what else would one expect?

[Mr.Gumby]

Well, we do have The Hills of Coore, The Last House in Ballymakea, Caisleann an Oir, Inisheer, the Crosses of Annagh, The Road to the Goilín, The Mist Covered Mountain (among others) almost within sight from the kitchen window and The Cliffs of Moher, Cathaoir and Phiobaire, Doonagore, Ennistymon, Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora, the Burren, Bellharbour, Tullycine and all these places within easy reach.

I shoot them as I find them or when the mood takes me.


But sometimes a quite literal, documentary take can work, or at least until I get a better one. Cathaoir an Phiobaire, The Piper's Chair:



Sometimes a subject is so wellknown and often photographed you have to work at it a bit more.

The Cliffs of Moher:



And sometimes you get one that will do nicely, like the one I have set aside for The Mountain Road (even if it's not the actual road near Tubbercurry the tune was composed for)




And there's the non specific rural ones like The Snow on the Hills, The Glenside Cottage, The Atlantic Roar or the Rolling Wave, the Flowers of the Burren, the Kid on the Mountain etc that you can play with. As well as some of the more funny ones.

[Steve Bliven]

I wanna see the Maids of Fecal.....

Best wishes.

Steve

[ursa_major]

Mr Gumby
fabulous photos thanks for posting
Bruce

[squidgirl]

Peter, those are lovely. They go straight to the mystery (or humor!) one feels around so many tune names.

[Mr.Gumby]

For example, the Boys of Blue Hill. Who were these boys, where is Blue Hill, and what happened that a tune was named after them?

The Boys of Bluehill was first published (under that name) by Francis O Neill. The captain had a habit of naming tunes for areas he associated with them, eg many of the tunes he collected from Johnny Allen and the Feakle musicians (are you there Steve?) on his visit to Clare are named for places around the area: The Humours of Scarriff, Maids of Feakle, Humours of Ayle House, Tuamganey Castle, Cooleen Bridge etc. In the same manner he used a lot of names fro mthe area he grew up in in Co Cork. The Ordnance Survey of Ireland throws up a Bluehill in the Cork area. Who knows.


Here's another one that would represent 'The Flowers of the Burren' well enough, it's that time of year :



or the Stone in the Field:



I admit those are probably a bit self-indulgent when taken side by side with the shots of actual locations tunes are named for. There are worse things to occupy yourself with though.

[pancelticpiper]

Where does one find out where tune names come from?

I'm sure some names are disputed or lost to history, but I'm guessing a lot have a well-documented origin.

With a newly-composed tune, yes, there will be a 'real name' if the composer named it (some don't).

But with traditional tunes, just as with traditional song, the tunes are nearly always much older than the names or words now associated with them.

It's interesting how even with recently composed tunes how the process of aural transmission has already yielded a number of different names, just as it yields a number of different versions of the tunes themselves.

So a tune that's a few hundred years old will be very unlikely to be known today by the name (or names) it was known by then.

The folk process has, as long as we can document, continually reworked the same melodies into different forms, the same tune appearing as ballads in various time signatures in various languages and as dance tunes in various time signatures in various countries. So a jig with a very Irish-sounding name might crop up as a ballad in England, a reel in Scotland, and so forth, all with completely different names.

It's amazing how many names some of the old tunes have been called over the years, for example Tune #292 in Ceol Rince na hEireann Cuid 2: Miss Fargherson's New Reel, The Scotch Bonnet, A Short Way To Heaven, The Tap Room, Fitzgerald's, Lord Edward's, The Blossom of the New Tree, Scotch Maggie, The Lady's Top Dress, Granshaw Glens, Roll Out the Barrel, The Rakes of Abbey.

[MarkP]

On a side note, I have been working for years , on and off, on a collection of photos of tune names, both actual geographic locations connected with the names to a more playful take. From the blindingly obvious (see below) through the more tongue in cheek to the more, well, elusive ones.

Have you one yet for 'I buried my wife and danced on her grave'?

[Mr.Gumby]

I buried my wife and danced on top of her, hm, I expected someone to ask if I had any shots of a Wet Fish or something like that, your suggestion has more potential for putting your foot in it.

[MarkP]

thanks for the correction. I was on the verge of suggesting 'the boggy field' but thought better of it.

[Mr.Gumby]

Hehe. Let's not wade into that one.

I don't know where the 'danced on her grave' came from, the internet, I suspect. The fact you can sing one (but not the other) to the first strain of the tune recommends it to my mind. Would love to hear the rest of the words, if they exist.

Ronan Browne did a nice bit of photoshopping a while ago, involving Jennifer Aniston and a shedload of battery hens.

[MarkP]

Apparently there is an old song that goes...

Last week I buried my wife,
I bundled her up and took her right out the door;
Up the hill and past the old oak,
To where I’d be burying her, right on the old moor.
When I was finished, I began a jig right then and there –
She never had supported me so much before!