Annotation:It is Day
X:1 T:It is day T:Thaunalaw M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Spirited" B:Joyce - Ancient Irish Music (1873, No. 57, pp. 57-58) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F cc {d}e>f|gf f2|cc {d}e>f|gf e/c/e/f/| gf ec/B/|AA AG/F/|EF GA/_B/|cG AF|| cF (F>G)|AB [EG]>F|EF (GA/)B/|cG AF| cF (F>G)|AB [EG]>F |EF G(A/B/)|cG AF||
IT IS DAY. AKA - "Ta na la," "Thaunalaw." Irish, Air (2/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. P.W. Joyce notes the air takes its name from the chorus of an Irish drinking song, which (in translation) has the first drinker exclaiming:
"It is day, it is day, it is day---in the early morning!"
While the second replies:
"Arrah, not at all, my dear friend, it is only the light of the moon, shining on high!"
Joyce finds that there is a coarse, broadly humorous English song to the same air entitled "The Lamentation of Patrick Keane the tailor", which begins:
I am a tailor by my trade, in cutting out I am quite handy,
And all I earn ev'ry day, my wife lays out in tea and brandy.
Thaunalaw is Joyce's phonetic translation of the Irish title. See also note for "annotation:Paddy Will You Now?."
