Annotation:Morning Star (1)
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MORNING STAR [1] (An Maidineog). AKA and see "Belles of Omagh." Irish, English, American; Reel. USA, New England. E Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA' (Harker/Rafferty): AB (Allan, Flaherty, Tubridy): AAB (Kennedy, Miller & Perron, O'Neill/1850 & 1001, Raven, Stanford/Petrie, Tolman): AA'BB (O'Neill/Krassen). Petrie (1855) thought the tune might have been Scotch in origin. Lending weight to this assertion is the fact that a reel called "Farmer Killed His Ox Today (The)" is a Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, variant. This is perhaps the version of the tune that is known as "Canny Little Lad (The)" in the Shetlands, and an Irish variant goes by the name "Green Fields of Eire (The)." "Cat that Ate the Candle (The)" is sometimes identified as a related tune. Philip Heath-Coleman finds a relationship between Eck Robertson's old-time breakdown "Sallie Johnson" and "Morning Star", albeit more pronounced in the first strain of each tune.
The name morning star has various meanings, including religious and astronomical (the 'stars' seen in the early morning light are usually planets, often Venus {which is also seen at dusk and known as 'the Evening Star'). The Morning Star is also the name of a river in County Limerick whose source is in the Ballyhoura Mountains in Cork and which flows into the Maigue near Athlacca in the southern Limerick.
Sources for notated versions: fiddler Kathleen Morris (Corlisheen, Ballyrush, County Sligo) [Flaherty]; "A Cork reel. From P. Carew's MS" [Stanford/Petrie]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 59. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 10, p. 3. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 1, 1951; No. 30, p. 15. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 141, p. 34. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920’s; No. 47, p. 12. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 124. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 94. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1191, p. 224. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 475, p. 91. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 160. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 895, p. 226. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 12. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 23.
Recorded sources: Columbia 35612, "The Chieftains" (1978). Great Meadow Music GMM 2003, "Rodney Miller's Airdance" (2000). Tartan Tapes CDTT1004, Aiden O'Rourke - "Heat the Hoose" (1998).
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info []