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 - "Tá na lá," "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, which Petrie gives as "Tá na lá." See also note for "annotation:Paddy Will You Now?." See also "Tow Row Row (2)."
