Annotation:We brought the summer with us

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WE BROUGHT THE SUMMER WITH US (Thugamar féin an Samhradh linn, Thugamar fáin an samhradh linn). AKA and see “Hugar mu fean,” “Samhradh Samhradh.” Irish, Slow Air (6/8 or 3/4 time). E Major/Mixolydian (Stanford/Petrie): D Mixolydian (Ó Canainn): C Major (Haverty). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Ó Canainn): AB (Haverty, Stanford/Petrie). The ancient song and air, versions of which are still very much a part of the living tradition, appears earliest in print in the Neales’ Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes (Dublin, 1726), which Ó Canainn (1978) believes to be the first real collection of exclusively Irish folk music. One of the most significant Irish language poets of the 17th century, David Ó Bruadair (c 1625-1697), alluded to the song twice in one of his poems. It also appears in Burke Thumoth’s collection of c. 1742 (as “Hugar mu fean”), and in Cooke’s Selection of Twenty-one Favourite Original Irish Airs arranged for Pianoforte, Violin or Flute (Dublin, 1793). Breandan Breathnach, in Folk Music and Dances of Ireland, notes that the air is an example of the rare airs in Lah (Aeolian) mode. According to Donal O'Sullivan (Songs of the Irish, Dublin, 1960, p. 3), the song has assocaitions with "pastoral May Day ceremonies" and that the air "is doubtless of considerable antiquity." Collector Edward Bunting (1773-1843) recorded that the song "was sung by the band of Virgins that went out of Dublin to welcome the Duke of Ormond when he landed in Ireland" (1633).

Of all the fish that’s in the sea,
The Herring is king, the herring is king.
Sing thugamur fein an samhra linn
Tis we have brought the summer in.

Further verses can be found in Eibhlín Bean Uí Choisdealbha, Amhráin Mhuighe Sheóla: Traditional Songs from Galway and Mayo (1923, 67-9).

Fr. John Quinn finds the tune family to contain a number of airs and dance tune versions in modes from major to dorian, including “Hugar mu fean/feian” (set both as a song air and as a jig), the jig “Back to Skibbereen,” . See also O’Neill’s version, an air setting, under the title “Boy of My Heart (The),” notes Quinn, as well as Thomas Moore’s song “Come, send round the wine.”

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 1), 1858; No. 55, p. 23. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 97, p. 83 (appears as “Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn”). Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 502, p. 127. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 2 (appears as “Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn”).

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear the Cheiftains recording on youtube.com [1]
Hear singer Joe Heaney's version [2]

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