Annotation:Nancy the Pride of the West

Back to Nancy the Pride of the West

---

NANCY THE PRIDE OF THE WEST. AKA and see "Éireann ní neosfainn cé hí (Ar)," "For Ireland I Won't Say Her Name (1)," "Melodious Little Lis of Bruff (The)." Irish, Air (3/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "Dr. Petrie published the Kilkenny version of this air in his Ancient Music of Ireland (p. 99). The setting I give here from memory as I heard the old people of Limerick sing it in my young days, is different, and is more simple and more purely vocal. There is a beautiful song in Irish to this air, which I published set to the music in my Irish Music and Songs (p. 22)--Ar Eirinn ni 'neosainn ce hi (For Ireland I'd Not Tell Her Name). Sometimes the air is known by this name: and it is also often called 'Binn lisin aerach a Bhrogha' (The Melodious Little Lis of Bruff, Co. Limerick) from a song about that place" (Joyce).

"Nancy the Pride of the West" is also the name of a late 19th century song with a different melody, with lyrics by Alfred Percival Graves (1884). His tune (as published by Sam Henry, goes:

X:1
T:Nancy the Pride of the West [2]
M:3/4
L:1/8
R:Air
S:Alfred Percival Graves 
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:D
BA|G2 FE DC|B,2 A>A Bc|B2B2 GF|E2F2 EC|
B,C E2G2|F4 BA|G2 FE CB,|B,2 A>A Bc|B2B2 GF|
E2F2 EC|B,C E2E2|E4 GA|B2 AG FE|c2 cd ec|
B2B2 ed|c2 BG FG|E2E2 AG |F4 B,>C|E2 FE CB,|
B,2 A>A Bc|B2B2 GF|E2F2 EC|B,C E2E2|E4||

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 410, p. 221.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]

---