Annotation:Priest and his Boots (1) (The)

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PRIEST AND HIS BOOTS [1], THE ("An Sagart 'Sa Butaiside" or "Sagart na mBuataisí"). AKA and see "Bounce Upon Bess," "Come All You Good Fellows," "Drum Corps (The)," “Irish Lilt (5),” "Larry O Lashem," "Kissing and Drinking (3)," "Mopsy's Tune (the Old Way)," “Murphy Delaney,” “Paddy's Dream,” "Paddy's Trip from Dublin," “Parson in Boots,” “Rocking the Cradle (2),” "There are aounds of mirth," "Tivoli (The)," "Welch Jig (2) (The)." Irish, Double Jig and Set Dance. D Major (Howe): B Flat Major (Haverty): D Mixolydian ('A' part) & G Major ('B' part) {Breathnach vol. 3, Cole}: A Mixolydian ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) {Breathnach vol. 2, Levey, O'Neill}. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Haverty): AABB (most versions). The Irish title of this jig and set or country dance translates as “Priest of the Boots,” though it is often found as “The priest in his boots” or “The priest and his boots.” Dance instructions, but no music, for a title called "The Priest and his books" is to be found in the Menzies Manuscript, 1749, contained in the Atholl Collection of the Sandeman Library, Perth, and, indeed, that may be the original title. O’Neill (1913) also states that a special dance was performed to this tune in Ireland. In fact, the tune appears to have been known throughout the British Isles, and early versions can also be found in Playford’s English Dancing Master (1651)--under the title “An old man is a bed full of bones”--Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion (1745-65 under the title “The Irish Lilt”) and James Aird’s Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1786). An early version of the tune was printed under the “Priest in his Boots” title in Charles and Samuel Thompson’s Compleat Collection of 120 Favourite Hornpipes (London, c. 1765-77, No. 23). Alfred Moffat, in The Minstrelsy of Ireland (1897), identified variants of this tune as “Murphy Delaney” and “Miser (1).” Although the former is decidedly a variant, “The Miser’s” melodic differences are greater and it has sometimes been disputed whether in fact it is actually a variant of “Priest and his Boots”.

Breathnach (1976) believes most of the alternate titles printed by O’Neill are song names, for songwriters were very fond of the tune as a vehicle for their words. For instance, he finds four songs set to it in Crosby’s Irish Musicial Repository (1808) and notes Thomas Moore set his song “There are sounds of mirth” to it. Paul de Grae records: "In Crosby's Irish Musical Repository, "The Priest in His Boots" is given as the air of a song entitled "Paddy's Trip from Dublin", a few pages further on it is again named as the air to "Murphy Delaney". Both may have had a common origin, which time and taste have varied, yet "Murphy Delaney" as now known appears to have been derived from "A Jig to the Irish Cry", one of Burk Thumoth's Twelve Irish Airs, published in 1742."

There is no relation to the similarly-entitled “Parson in/on his Boots” published by Aird, though the names have led at times to some confusion. O’Neill (1922) remarks: “As ‘The Priest in His Boots’ and ‘The Parson in his Boots’, this tune was printed in six different Collections of Music between the years 1765 and 1809 at Edinburgh, London, and Dublin. The dullest ear can discern the similarity of strain in the second parts of ‘The Priest and his Boots’ and ‘Arkansas Traveler (The)’”. Howe (c. 1867) gives “Paddy's Trip from Dublin,” “Murphy Delaney,” “Larry O'Lashem” and “Paddy's Dream” as alternate titles. Source for notated version:

Sources for notated versions: flute and whistle player Micko Russell, 1969 (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; a non-standard version by flute player Paddy Taylor (Ireland) [Breathnach, CRÉ III].

Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ II), 1976; No. 17, p. 11. Breathnach (CRÉ III), 1985; No. 8, p. 5. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 52. P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 3), 1859; No. 266, p. 132. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 103. Levey (Dance Music of Ireland, 2nd Collection), 1873; No. 51, p. 22. Manson (Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2), 1846; p. 42. Moffat (Minstrelsy of Ireland), 1897; Appendix, p. 342. Mulhollan (Selection of Irish and Scots Tunes), Edinburgh, 1804; p. 8. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 47. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 968, p. 180. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 188, p. 45. O’Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 238-A. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pp. 81 & 89. Straight and Skillern (Two Hundred and Four Favourite Country Dances, vol. 1), c. 1775; No. 184, p. 92.

Recorded sources: Claddagh Records CC8, Paddy Taylor - "The Boy in the Gap" (1969). Flying Fish FF-246, The Red Clay Ramblers - "Hard Times" (1981).Green Linnet SIF 1105, Patrick Street – “Irish Times.” Maggie’s Music MM220, Hesperus – “Celtic Roots.”

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]

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