Annotation:Dawning of the Day (4) (The)

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X:1 T:Dawning of the Day [4], The L:1/8 M:4/4 K:D DE|F2F2F2EF|A2A2B2 AF|D2FE D2D2|D6A2| B3AB2d2|F3ED2F2|A2F2d2F2|E6A2| B3AB2d2|F3ED2F2|A2F2d2F2|E6DE| F2F2F2EF|A2A2B2AF|D2FED2D2|D6||

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DAWNING OF THE DAY [4], THE (Fáinne geal an lae). AKA and see "Boating on Lough Rea." Irish, Air or March (2/4 or 4/4 time). E Flat Major (Stanford/Petrie): D Major (Cranitch, Tubridy): G Major (Ó Canainn, Scanlon). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Cranitch, Ó Canainn, Scanlon, Tubridy): AB (Stanford/Petrie). P.W. Joyce, writing in 1872, remarks that the song "is still well known in the southern counties...A rude, though not very incorrect translation used to be sung as a street ballad in my young days" [Ed. c. 1850's in Co. Limerick]. The melody is within the span of an octave. A variant is "Oh Johnny dearest Johnny what dyed your hands and cloaths?", which is also (as Paul de Grae points out) the air of "Bantry Girls' Lament (The)" (referring to Bantry in County Wexford). Petrie's air compares closely (save key) with that in Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, No. 774 (see "Dawning of the Day (2) (The)".

The first verse (of the song printed by Joyce) goes:

Maidin mhoch do ghabhas amach
Air bhruach Locha Léin;
An samhradh ag teachd, 'san chraobh re n'ais,
'Gus lonnradh teigh ó'n ngréin;
Air taisdiol dham tre bhaailte-puirt
'Gus bánta míne réidh,
Cia gheabhainn le'm ais acht cúilfhionn deas
Le fáinne geal an lae.

Translation:

One morning early I walked forth
By the margin of Lough Lene; [PWJ: Lough Lene is the old name of the lakes of Killarney]
The sunshine dressed the trees in green,
And summer bloomed again;
I left the town and wandered on
Through fields all green and gay;
And whom should I meet but Cooleen-dhas, [PWJ: Cuilfhionn-deas (pron. Cooleen-dhas) means pretty fair-haired maiden.]
By the dawning of the day.

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