Annotation:Home Ruler (The)

Tune properties and standard notation

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HOME RULER. AKA and see "Daniel O'Connell the Home Ruler," "Frank McCollum's (2)," "Hangman's Noose (1)," "McCollum's Hornpipe," "Pat Galvin's Hornpipe," "Seán Ryan's Hornpipe (1)." Irish, Hornpipe. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was composed in the 1960's by Frank McCollum (Ballycastle, County Antrim) and dedicated to his wife (the real "Home Ruler"), although perhaps the political meaning was secondarily meant. In the political sense McCollum's title is usually presumed to reference James Brown Armour (a nineteenth-century Antrim Home Rule champion), however, an alternate title has emerged called "Daniel O'Connell, the Home Ruler" referencing another Irish political champion, and it has been mistakenly thought by some that even Charles Stuart Parnell was meant to be honored. Especially when the 'A' and 'B' parts are reversed, the tune is called "Hangman's Noose (The)" (as, for example, found in Bulmer & Sharpley's vol. 4, collected from fiddler Pat Neilly, although "The Hangman's Noose" is correctly the name of another composition of McCollum's--see "Hangman's Noose (2)"). McCollum was a fiddler, song and music collector, and composer and was a one-time 'master' of the Ballycastle, Co. Antrim Orange Lodge [and perhaps, as Paul de Grae points out, broadminded as he might have been, unlikely to have dedicated a tune to a hero of Catholic Emancipation]. According to his daughter Catherine, McCollum composed many tunes, and he and fiddler Seán Ryan were quite friendly and used to exchange tunes (Miller & Perron). It is often paired in sessions with the hornpipe "Kitty's Wedding." Traces of melodic similarity can be found in the 'B' part of William Bradbury Ryan's "Erie Hornpipe."

Source for notated version: set dance music recorded live at Na Píobairí Uilleann, mid-1980's [Taylor]; fiddler Seán Ryan [Miller & Perron].

Printed sources: Mallinson (100 Enduring), 1995; No. 74, p. 30. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 3, No. 18 (appears as "McCollum's Hornpipe"). Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 117. Sullivan (Session Tunes), vol. 2; No. 45, p. 19. Taylor (Crossroads Dance), 1992; No. 57, p. 43. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 24. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 14.

Recorded sources: CBS 34601, Chieftains - "Boil the Breakfast Early." Shaskeen - "My Love is in America." Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD 161, Chris Droney - "Down from Bell Harbour" (2005).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
thesession.org [3]
Hear the tune at the Comhaltas archive [4]

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Tune properties and standard notation