Annotation:Hooly and Fairly

Back to Hooly and Fairly

---

HOOLY AND FAIRLY. AKA and see "Ballyhooley." Scottish, English; Air. England, Northumberland. A 19th century song, the style and chorus "borrowed from "The Drucken Wife o' Gallowa'," a song which first appeared in the Charmer, a collection of songs, published in Edinburgh in 1751, but the authorship of which is unknown" [The Scottish Minstrel: The Songs of Scotland Subsequent to Burns, 1882, p. 43]. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. It is listed as an alternate title for the jig "Ballyhooley" in O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907).

The caption to the picture at left is a verse from the song, and reads:

She warring and flyting frae morning 'till e'en
And if ye gainsay her, her eye glow'rs sae keen;
Then tongue, neive & cudgel she'll lay on ye sairly,
O! gin my wife wou'd strike hooly and fairly.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources:

---