Annotation:Wedding of Ballyporeen (The)

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WEDDING OF BALLYPOREEN (Banais Baile na Poirin). AKA and see "Ballinamona (Oro)," "Wedding of Ballinamona," "Darling kippeen of a stick," "Condy Magann, " "You Know I'm Your Priest." Irish, Scottish; Air (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Kerr): AB (O'Neill). "The Wedding of Ballyporeen" was a popular comic song (Roud Folksong Index S225098), one of several set to the air "Ballinamona" or "Ballinamona Oro." Ballyporeen is a village near Cahir, County Tipperary. Early appearances in print are in The Songster's Museum (p. 73, 180?), and in Oliver's Choice Selection of Comic Songs (Edinburgh, 1807, p. 46), and it continued to be included in songster throughout the 19th century. The first stanza goes:

Descend, ye chaste Nine, to a true Irish bard;
You're old maids, to be sure, but he sends you a card,
To beg you'll assist a poor musical elf,
With a song ready made--he'll compose it himself--
About maids, boys, a priest, and a wedding,
With a crowd you could scarce thrust your head in,
A supper, good cheer, and a bedding,
Which happened at Ballyporeen.

English sources make a claim of authorship of the song for James Field Stanfield, who seems to have had a life in the theatre as a jack-of-all-trades, including actor, painter and playwright. He wrote a comic opera called The Fisherman, performed in 1786 and was for some years manager of a theater in Scarborough, and of a company in the north of York. See also note for "Annotation:Ballinamona" for more.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; p. 41. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 996, p. 171.

Recorded sources:

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