The Song Who's Name Must Not Be Mentioned

daveboling · Post by **daveboling** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:39 am

Well, St. Patrick's Day is upon us, and I've received notice that I will be asked to play TSWNMNBM at a function at which I will be performing.
I seem to remember a thread (which I have not been able to find in a search) that told the name of the tune to which the lyrics (with some mangling of said tune) of TSWNMNBM was set. Can anyone tell me what tune was the original melody to which the TSWNMNBM was set?

dave boling

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:17 pm

daveboling wrote:Well, St. Patrick's Day is upon us, and I've received notice that I will be asked to play TSWNMNBM at a function at which I will be performing.
I seem to remember a thread (which I have not been able to find in a search) that told the name of the tune to which the lyrics (with some mangling of said tune) of TSWNMNBM was set. Can anyone tell me what tune was the original melody to which the TSWNMNBM was set?

dave boling

Good Lord. There have to be a number of TSWNMNBMs, but I'm guessing you mean

DANNY BOY.

The tune it's sung to is now called Londonderry Air, Air from County Derry, or Derry Air. Let the filthy wag their tongues.

Here's some interesting info:

http://www.standingstones.com/dannyboy.html

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 12:46 pm

Oh, Darn eBay!
The pipes, the pipes are Pakistanis ....

djm

dwinterfield · Post by **dwinterfield** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:06 pm

daveboling wrote:Well, St. Patrick's Day is upon us, and I've received notice that I will be asked to play TSWNMNBM at a function at which I will be performing.
I seem to remember a thread (which I have not been able to find in a search) that told the name of the tune to which the lyrics (with some mangling of said tune) of TSWNMNBM was set. Can anyone tell me what tune was the original melody to which the TSWNMNBM was set?

dave boling

Do I recall a poll on this song? I think it showed that a substantial portion of the membership are fond of it.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:12 pm

daveboling wrote:Can anyone tell me what tune was the original melody to which the TSWNMNBM was set?

The original tune which Weatherly reportedly composed and set to his lyrics in 1910 was by all accounts unremarkable, and the song met with no success at all. It was his sister-in-law in America who, two years later, sent him the tune we now associate with it; Weatherly re-published the lyrics with the new melody, and made a small fortune from it.

Commentaries differ, but there seems to be evidence that Derry Air may indeed be an Irish melody.

I've been Googling to see if I could dredge up the very original melody Weatherly composed, but no luck, yet.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 1:56 pm

dwinterfield wrote:Do I recall a poll on this song? I think it showed that a substantial portion of the membership are fond of it.

I'm fond of it in direct proportion to the donations to my tip jar.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:40 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
daveboling wrote:Can anyone tell me what tune was the original melody to which the TSWNMNBM was set?
The original tune which Weatherly reportedly composed and set to his lyrics in 1910 was by all accounts unremarkable, and the song met with no success at all. It was his sister-in-law in America who, two years later, sent him the tune we now associate with it; Weatherly re-published the lyrics with the new melody, and made a small fortune from it.

Commentaries differ, but there seems to be evidence that Derry Air may indeed be an Irish melody.

I've been Googling to see if I could dredge up the very original melody Weatherly composed, but no luck, yet.

"Derry Air" (can anyone say that without laughing?) is based on an Irish dance tune, but it's quite different in execution. If you were to hear the original played, you'd never guess it was meant to be the air for that gawdawful song.

The bottom line is, "Danny Boy" is an English song.

Redwolf

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:03 pm

George Handel is reported to have said, upon hearing the melody, that he'd die content if only he'd written it.

~~

Don't let the existence of a dodgy set of lyrics--or of the theft by someone from another nation--deter you: This is one of the world's great melodies, and deserves every bit of renown it receives for that sake alone.

Disowning the tune because some english lawyer made up a set of lyrics is (almost literally) cutting off your nose to spite your face.

~~

Part of the problem is that the name of the melody either contains the word "London" or turns into 'derriere'. I move that someone hurriedly translate 'Derry Air" into irish gaelic, and that's what we'll all call the melody henceforth.

Jumper · Post by **Jumper** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:06 pm

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=329669#329669

And then you'll want to memorize this:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?p=87795#87795

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:10 pm

Nanohedron wrote: Good Lord. There have to be a number of TSWNMNBMs...

I thought that it was The Unicorn Song.

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:44 am

Ah yes the Unicorn Song.

I had to sing it in elementary school. I hated it then, still hate it now. Dumb unicorns

. I normally enjoy Shel Silverstein's work but he should have tossed that POS into the fire as soon as he finished it.

Danny Boy is a positive masterpiece by comparison.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:58 am

But if there hadn't been The Unicorn Song there would never have been the Irish Rovers.

It still makes me laugh to see people on here wax lyrical about The Irish Rovers as if this was the trad band to beat them all.

djm

NicoMoreno · Post by **NicoMoreno** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:03 pm

You mean this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU">one</a>?

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:35 pm

NicoMoreno wrote:You mean this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU">one</a>?

That is quite possibly the funniest thing in the entire world.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:02 pm

s1m0n wrote:George Handel is reported to have said, upon hearing the melody, that he'd die content if only he'd written it.

~~

Don't let the existence of a dodgy set of lyrics--or of the theft by someone from another nation--deter you: This is one of the world's great melodies, and deserves every bit of renown it receives for that sake alone.

Disowning the tune because some english lawyer made up a set of lyrics is (almost literally) cutting off your nose to spite your face.

~~

Part of the problem is that the name of the melody either contains the word "London" or turns into 'derriere'. I move that someone hurriedly translate 'Derry Air" into irish gaelic, and that's what we'll all call the melody henceforth.

Fonn Dhoire is what it would be in Irish...pronounced "fon GUR-reh" in the Ulster dialect (appropriately).

I still don't like the tune. The original was fine, but it was reworked so drastically for "Danny Boy" that it no longer sounds even remotely like a real Irish air. It sounds like the romantic, schmaltzy art music typical of the period. I'll take "Airde Cuan" or "Mo Mhuirnín Bán" any day of the week.

Redwolf

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