Annotation:Old Man (1) (The)
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OLD MAN [1], THE (An Seanduine). "Campbells are Coming (1) (The)," "Hob or Nob." Irish, Air and March (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCDEF. See also the closely related airs "Robi Down (Robi Donn)," "Field of Hay," and "Baldooser (The)." O'Neill says this tune is a good example of the many variants an old and popular melody may acquire. The fist setting in his Music of Ireland is from the Irish language singing of his mother in Bantry, west Cork. The second and third settings are from John O'Daly's Poets and Poetry of Munster (1849), who says the song set to the was written by the 18th century poet and wit Andrew McGrath of Limerick, called Mangaire Sugach (Jovial or Merry Dealer), which refers to his convivial habits. O'Daly gives a second setting of the tune for the Jacobite song "Georgey the Dotard," by the Rev. William English:
Alas for old Georgey--the tool of a faction!
"God! what shall I do?" he exclaims in distraction.
Not one ray of hope from Hanover flashes--
The lands of my fathers lie spoiled and in ashes!
In Scotland the tune is famously known as "The Campbells are Coming", and has been at least since the beginning of the 18th century, however, O'Neill and others claim an Irish provenance for the march tune.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: O'Daly (The Poets and Poetry of Munster) 1st ed. (1849) and 2nd ed. (1850), p. 96. O'Daly (5th ed. c. 1885; Meehan, editor), p. 118. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 120, p. 67.
Recorded sources: