Manx Ballads and Music
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com L U!“ _ilrflWiWilWWW)WHITE" M _l 3 1293 00923 0701 I1 753 M6? M6 161% o/L-LC, 155 PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE LULO'ICSB’: MSU Is An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution c:\clrr:\c!etedueamiHa.v MANX BALLADS AND MUSIC =X< AMS PRESS NEW YORK 42 MANX BALLMM & Musxc £an211 BY A WIT .W. HM A 00 PREFACE RE. BY THE REW? BROWNMA a}: PRjNTE D Q szusmsn BY 01;. Q\.JOHNSON Pmlsvzcr H 11.1.. Bm.‘1‘.LA5 ism OF MAN. i896. x" Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Manx ballads & music. Manx ballads and music. Manx words with English prose translations. Reprint. Originally published: Manx ballads & music. Prospect Hill, Douglas, Isle of Man: G. & R. Johnson, 1896. “Music to ballads”: p. 1. Ballads, Manx—Isle of Man. 2. Folk-songs, Manx— Isle of Man. 3. Folk music—Isle of Man. 4. Manx language—Texts. I. Moore, A. W. (Arthur William), 1853-1909. II. Title. _ M1738.M68M6 1984 83-21435 ISBN 0-404-17575-9 AMS PRESS, INC. 56 East 13th Street, New York, NY 10003 Reprinted from an original in the collection of the Univer sity of Illinois Library, edition of 1896, Douglas, Isle of Man. Trim size has been slightly altered. Original trim: 13.8 X 22.1 cm. MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :ulzuwI TABLE OF CONTENTS. >X< Fin as Oshin .. Mannanan Beg Mac y Leirr Coontey-ghiare Jeh Ellan Vannin ThurotManninee as DobberanElliot‘ Er Genney Hombaghey Ushag veg Ruy‘ Yn Dooinney Boght Fer Dy Clien Click The Doagan Juan y jaggad Keear‘ Arrane ny Paitchyn Tappagyn jiargey“ .. My Caillin Veg Dhone' QuoifynUshteyMylecharaine‘ Millish Lieen Vooar... 'sy Garee‘ ..l ... Arrane Oie Vie Ollick Gennal Arrane ny Mummeryn‘ Helg yn Dreain‘ Hop-tu-naa‘ Kiark Katreeney‘ Yn Folder Gastey Arrane ny Ferishyn Berrey Dhone‘ Yn Bollan Bane‘ Arrane Sooree' .. Car-y-Phoosee" ... Yn Ven-Ainshter Dewil Moir as Inneen Nancy Sooill-Ghoo Nelly Veen Isabel Foalsey" Irree Seose ‘ With Music (for page see Index of Music). vi. PAGE. Eisht as Nish (Keayrt va mee aeg)‘ 106 MarishInneen jeh’n ny Fiddleryn’ Bochilley 108 110 Dooimiey Seyr v’ayns Exeter’ 114 Yn Graihder Jouylagh‘ 118 Graih my Chree‘ 120 TaSheeCreggyn mee as nish Maynrys Scarleode keayney“ ny Manninee 120 124. 131 Baase Illiam Dhone‘... 134 Mannin Veen 140 Dobberan Chengey-nyMayrey 151.1211 Vanni11 142 YnYnCoaylNyArraneMarrinysNyManninMadgyn ChennSterrymThreeKirree jeh y Veg y Skeddanyn ny EeasteyrynJiassDolphin'f0 ec Tiger’Veen’ Baatyn-Skeddan‘Niaghtey’ Port le B0ghtey* . Moirrey ‘ 150 158 166 170 172 176 180 184 187 Inneenyn Eirinee’ 190 Cre ta Gloyr? I95 TrimsheyEuboniaIlliam Walker Soilshagh Bait as 'sy .Robin Jough Tear Lajer 196 I99 203 My Henn Ghooinney Mie" 206 Yn Shenn Laair 210 Ny Mfaa'ne Kilkenny“ 212 Hi, Haw, Hum 212 Hudgeon y Fidder 212 Yn Maarliagh Mopar 214 Skeeylley Breeshey’ 214. Ny Mraane-seyrey Ballawyllin 214 Arrane Queeyl-nieuee‘ 216 Yn> Eirey Cronk yn Ollee‘ 216 Lhigey, Lhigey 216 My Vannagh er Shiu 218 Be my Fiddleryn"i 218 ‘ With Music (for page see Index of Music). INDEX OF TUNES. =3? PAGE_ Bollan Bane, 1st version 224 Do. 2nd do. 225 Keayrt va mee aeg (Eisht as 225 Baase Illiam Dhone 226 Kiark Katreeney 227 Lullaby" 228 Ushtey Millish ’sy Garee 2 30 Inneenyn Eirinee 232 Yn Graihder Jouylagh 233 Arrane Sooree 234 Dooinney Seyr v'ayns Exeter 235 Thurot as Elliot 236 Car-y-Phoosee, Ist version 237 Do. 2nd do. 238 Yn Chenn Dolphin 238 Jemmy as Nancy, 1st version" 2319 Coayl jeh Do ny Baatyn-Skeddan, do. 2nd 1st version do. 240 24: Yn Eirey mm. yn Ollee 24.1 Jemmy as Nancy, 2nd version‘ 241 Mannin Veg Veen 242 Hop-tu-naa, 1st version 243 Do. 2nd do. 243 Marrinys yn Tiger 244 Graih my Chree 2445 Juan y Jaggad Keear 246 Arrane Queeyl-nieuee 247 Ta mee nish keayney 248 Ny Three Eeasteyryn Boghtey 249 Marish ny Fiddleryn 2 5o Ushag veg Ruy 25 r Helg yn Dreain 252 Mylecharaine‘, major 253 Do. minor 254 Arrane ny Mummeryn 255 Ny Mraane Kilkenny 256 Ny Kirree f0 Niaghtey 257 Tappagyn Jiargey . 258 My Caillin‘veg Dhone 259 My Graih nagh baare“ 260 ' No words. ' viii. PAGE Sheign Dooin“ 261 My Henn Ghooinney mie 262 Berrey Dhone 263 Skeeylley Breeshey .. 264 Isabel Foalsey 265 9 ILLUSTRATIONS. a DRAWN BY M. NICHOLSON. Title Page Mount Karran, Sulby Glen 2 Engagement between Thurot and Elliot, from an old print 20 The Curraghs, looking towards Ballaugh 52 Sooreeing, or Courting 80 Castle Rushen, from an old print 124. Entrance to Peel Castle ' I30 Hango Hill, Castletown 134 The Morning After 150 In Laxey Glen ' 187 o Tailpieces. ' No words. MANX, BALLADS. 'lt PREFACE. S regards the words and the music of the Manx Songs, one is constantly startled by their dis parity. Many of the tunes seem fitted, if not intended, to express emotions which find no utterance in the words. And the question occurs—are these the original words P In the case of the best known among the tunes, Mylecharaine, the subject of the song is of a very prosaic kind. A dowry, for the first time, in the Isle of Man, is given to a daughter, and is con demned by the lieges as of evil precedent. But the tune suggests a depth of ineflable melancholy. In Kirree f0 Niaghtey we have a tune, I should imagine, less trimmed to modern associations, a very noble, rugged product of conditions which it is hard to realize, even though we were to admit that a great snow-fall and the rescue of the buried flocks may possibly have occasioned this vehement and irregular outburst. The Love-songs, for the most part, appeal to prudential considerations rather than passionate im pulse. They affeét the dialogue form, as in Mair as I nneen, wheré the mother represents common sense, and the daughter betrays no consciousness of individual passion, but merely the general preference for the married as compared with the single life. In Scotch music we find a similar state of things. No one can for a moment pretend to be satisfied that the words of “Robin Adair" were originally written to that tune, still less to allow the superb madness of“ Roslyn Castle” to be adequately mated with such rubbish as that with which it is fain to put up in books of Scottish Song. We cannot resist the conviction that these great old tunes have lost their partners in life, that both tunes and words were the outcome of a more primitive age. For some reason or other the words were forgotten, and the tunes, in their forlorn widowhood, descended to the X. embrace of churls and varlets, or continued to exist in single blessedness, and became those “ Songs without Words" which serve as the basis of popular dance music. The next thing which strikes us in the survey of our little field is that the songs are so few in number, and, in quality, so trifling, so unromantic, so unpoetical, and so modern. The causes may be conjeétured. In addition to those mentioned in Mr. Moore’s Intro duétion, I venture to suggest the following: 1.—There has never been a Bardic class, nor have there been any royal or feudal traditions which could foster such a class. Hence the total lack of that stimulus which had so much to do with the literature of the Border Ballads. Of anything like the native literary instinc't which has always obtained in Wales it is, in this connec'tion, useless to speak. 2.—The football position of the Island, kicked about from Celt to Norseman, from English to Scot. This must have affected the language as well as the temper and spirit of the people. 3.-—We fell under the dominion of a great English family, the Stanleys ; but we were not thereby admitted even to the doubtful advantages of the Feudal system. We were practically serfs, and this serfdom continued for three hundred years, terminating only in the Atft of Settlement. 4. This was a period of unhappiness, “ benevolent despotism" if you will, but absolute ignorance—tyranny, in fact, with certain compensations. One of them does not appear to have been culture of any kind or sort. The pre-Reformation clergy did nothing; it was their interest to do nothing. 5.-—-Out of this mediaeval darkness we were deliver~ ed by the Reformation. But there is no literary result : “ who will sing us the songs of Zion P " We had none. Ican imagine nothing more crushed and broken than the spirit of the Manx people as they passed under the Ecclesiastical tyranny which, indeed, had never, under any secular régime, ceased, vampire-like, but with the xi. best intentions, to suck the blood of our forefathers. F eudalism was a fruitful source of poetry. But we never had Feudalism. What we had was Serfdom. The American slaves could sing; they are a light mercurial race; and I would not give our poor old “ Kirree" for all their facile gushes of sentimentalism. We were Celts, that never had fair play, we brooded, smouldered, did not come off. Even the dash of Norse blood failed to fire us; and, while the Russian serf has continued to sing or sob, through all the centuries, melodic miseries now available as “pick-me-ups” for Teutonic dilettanti, we have been_silent.