Strange and interesting tune titles

ausdag · Post by **ausdag** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:59 am

The tune 'A Claiomh i Laimh' is also known as 'Cork Lasses' or 'Sword in Hand', tame enough, but also as 'Little Pig Lamenting The Empty Trough'....

Cheers

DavidG

Hans-Joerg · Post by **Hans-Joerg** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 5:17 am

quote="Antaine"]I imagine that many of those odd titles are either anglicised gaeilge or mistranslations.

A friend of mine always had funny translations (where possible) of tune titles, for example "Hardyman the Fiddler" - "Hartmann der Geiger" (

if you have German). Imagine an Irish - English translation (that maybe is meant dead serious).
Hans

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 5:26 am

A few frae the George Petrie(1789-1866) Collection

For my breakfast you must get a bird without a bone. Tune 777

Blow,Old Woman,and be merry.Tune1121

Cousin Frog went out to ride.Fa lee linkin laddy oh.Tune647

If it is the pea you want.Tune1312

Red Regan and the Nun .Tune418

Oh Johnny,dearest Johnny.What dyed your hands and cloaths?He answered him fit"by a bleeding at the nose..."Tune693

Goodbye and my blessing to the troubles of the world.Tune1462

Cock up your Beaver appears in the Goodman Manuscripts as "Cock up &c &c" in order to preserve the dignity of Victorian sensibility and morality,but was the beaver in question not that conjured up by yer mucky minds, but the beaver hat which was a popular item of fashion in those days?

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

anima · Post by **anima** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 9:29 am

From Geoghegan's

"Blab not what you ought to smother"
"Thump the bitches"

Calum · Post by **Calum** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 11:03 am

There is also a Burns poem/song Cock up &c &c, which drove Frank Skinner into schoolboy hysterics when he decided to look into Burns on national TV. Good thing he never discovered folk music...hey the cuckoo, ho the cuckoo, hie the cuckoos nest...

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 3:59 pm

anima wrote:"Thump the bitches"

Sounds like a rap song.

danny · Post by **danny** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:27 pm

wallop the spot

dont know the tune but great name

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:34 pm

Whack the pot lid.

benwalker · Post by **benwalker** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:47 pm

"Throw The Beetle At Her" Whats that all about? Any Takers?

It's the name of a Slip Jig CRnE Vol 4 - Good Tune.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Nov 26, 2004 4:58 pm

...I used to do that a lot to my sister when we were younger, but then she started throwing bricks, which put a quick end to bug tossing.

lundblad · Post by **lundblad** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:57 am

What about "The Rambling Pitchfork"? What is that????
We were discussing this matter most eagerly at the workshop in Copenhagen this year..

djm · Post by **djm** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:36 am

"Rambling Pitchfork" - an itinerant farm labourer who had his own pitchfork, the tool of his "trade". It gives you an idea of the degree of poverty that owning your own pitchfork might make you more employable over the other thousands of destitute people trying to hire themselves out to farmers as general labourers. The man became known by the name of the tool.

There's another tune, "Spailpín a Rún". I have read that the word "spailpín" is thought to have once meant a "hand sickle". Farm labourers for hire with one of these tools were so common that the word "spailpín" eventually came to mean any itinerant farm labourer. Just another example of the man being named for the tool he carried.

djm

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 11:45 am

Or it could mean ....
One Pitchfork talking forever to another Pitchfork,and not making much sense(rambling)

Does it remind ye o anyone! :roll:
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

Uilliam · Post by **Uilliam** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 12:20 pm

Frae the James Goodman Manuscripts (1840's -1866)

Girl that lost her___The. 467
"Moggy,will you Do it Again?" 403
"Push her against the Hop" 375
"Touch it up Tight" 401

I presume the 4 above are frae the Irish Romantic Period...
Two more frae Goodman
Box the Monkey 237
"Kidney,Dearie" 203

Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

The Sporting Pitchfork · Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:59 pm

Uilliam wrote:Or it could mean ....
One Pitchfork talking forever to another Pitchfork,and not making much sense(rambling)
Does it remind ye o anyone! :roll:
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam

Not a clue. Although my name can be rendered as "pitchfork of tranquility" in Chinese. That might make for a good tune title...