On Wed, 27 Jun 2001, W. B. OLSON wrote:
> Where is ANY song sung to the tune "Charles O'Connor". Donal O'Sullivan
> (#125) lists none for this rather rare tune in his 'Carolan'.
> There were some sung to "Planxty Connor" (known as "Bob in the Bed" in
> England-see other titles for it in the Irish tunes index on my website).
>
> Bruce Olson
Well, Bruce, I checked O'Sullivan's book and you're right, there's no
corresponding text for "Charles O'Connor". But the tune is closely
related to 'Bumper Squire Jones' and others. And I made no claim
that the tune of 'Anacreon in Heaven'/'Star-Spangled Banner' came from any
of Carolan's drinking songs. I haven't read Flood, but Aloys Fleischmann
wrote an article which mentioned the similarity between 'Bumper Squire
Jones' and 'The Rummer' from one of John Playford's volumes. 'Rummer' and
'Anacreon' are also similar, but I don't
believe that one tune necessarily led directly to the other. All of these
tunes are different, but they are what you might call generically
related, in style, phrasing, melodic range, rhythm, etc.. These tunes are
of a certain type, used for drinking songs in the 17th & 18th centuries.
I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek when I referred to this genre as
a "noble tradition". None of these tunes mentioned are particularly
memorable, and certainly not the best choice to be used in a national
anthem.
I good question to pose: These tunes are English &/or Irish. Are
there any of this type that hail from Scotland?
Dave R
> --
> Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, broadside
> ballads at my no-spam website - www.erols.com/olsonw or
> just <A href="http://www.erols.com/olsonw";> Click </a>
>
> Motto: Keep it up; muddling through always works.
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