Annotation:Irishman's Heart to the Ladies
Tune properties and standard notation
IRISHMAN'S HEART TO THE LADIES, AN. AKA- "Irishman's Health to the Ladies." AKA and see "Baron's," "Buttermilk Mary (3)," "Coleman's Favourite," "Fond of the Ladies" ('A' part only), "Frolicksome Dame (The)," "Haley's," "Health to the Ladies (A)," "Irish Miller (The)," "Irish Rover (The)," "Irishman's Love (1) (An)," "Móinín Jig (The)," "Mountain Road (2) (The)," "Mountainy Boy (The)," "Night of the Wedding (The)," "O'Mahony's," "Over the Callows," "Paddy Clancy's," "Pat Beirne's Favourite," "Queenstown Jig (The)," "Runner (The)," "Saddle the Pony (2)" (Roche), "Sweet Biddy Daly," "To the Ladies." Irish, American, Canadian; Double Jig. USA; New England, New York, Pennsylvania. Canada; Ontario, Prince Edward Island. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Cited as having commonly been played for country dances in Orange County, New York in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). O'Neill prints the tune as "Sweet Biddy Daly."
Sources for notated versions: Henry Yeager (fiddler from Centre County, Pa., 1930's) and Wilbur Neal (elderly fiddler from Jefferson County, Pa., 1948) [Bayard]; Stuart Williams and Wayne Holmes, and Ruthie Dornfeld [Phillips]; Eddy Arsenault (b. 1921, St. Chrysostom, East Prince County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; George Penk (Portland, Oregon) [Songer]; "As played by Jimmy Norton, the Boss Jig Player" (Norton was a child prodigy and spent most of his life on the variety stage; in addition, he was a fiddler) [Howe].
Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 442, p. 412; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]. Begin (Fiddle Music from the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 40, p. 51. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 56. Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 221, p. 82. DeVille, 1905; No. 38. Harding's Original Collection, 1928; No. 86. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 49. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), 1951; No. or p. 13. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 13. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 143. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 368 (two versions). Robbins, 1933; No. 57. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 84. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 107. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 36.
Recorded sources: Green Linnett 1052, Kevin Burke - "Up Close" (1984. Appears as "Health to the Ladies"). Odyssey ORCS 1051, Jerry Holland - "Fiddler's Choice" (1998).
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index []
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info []