Annotation:Yellow Cow (The)

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X:1 T:Yellow Cow, The T:Is Trua gan Peata 'n Mhaoir agam R:reel H:See also #795 D:Arty McGlynn & Nollaig Casey: Lead the Knave Z:id:hn-reel-129 Z:transcribed by henrik.norbeck@mailbox.swipnet.se M:C| L:1/8 K:D A2GE FD~D2|EFGD EFGE|A2GE FD~D2|EFGE A4:| |:~A3B cdeg|fdec dcAB|cAAB cdeg|1 fdec d2ec:|2 fdec d4||

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YELLOW COW. AKA and see: “Is Trua gan Peata 'n Mhaoir agam (1)," "Mother and Child Reel (The)," "Peata Beag is a Mháthair," "Your Mother’s Fair Pet." Irish, Air and Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB’. The tonality is at times ambigiuous, shifting from D Major to A Mixolydian. It is derived from a "dandling" song, or a kind of nonsense song sung to an infant (hence one of the alternate titles, "Mother and Child"). However, there are a number of variants of both tune and song, including reel settings (most noticeable in the first strain)--see note for "annotation:Our House at Home" for more.

"Yellow Cow" is a version of an Irish song called "I Wish the Shepherd's Pet Was Mine" (printed by Joyce as "I wish I had the shepherd’s lamb" in his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, 1909, No, 426) in which the protagonist wishes for the shepherd's lamb and a yellow cow:

I wish 1 had the yellow cow,
The yellow cow, the yellow cow,
I wish I had the yellow cow
And welcome from my darling.

and whose chorus (in translation by P.W. Joyce) goes:

And Oh! I hail thee, I hail thee!
My heart's love without guile are thou.
And Oh! I hail thee, I hail thee,
The fair pet of thy mother.