Annotation:Dawning of the Day (4) (The)
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||
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)".
