Annotation:Denis Don't be Threatening
Tune properties and standard notation
DENIS, DON'T BE THREATENING (Na Bi Ag Gagar A Doncad). AKA and see "A Dhonnchadh na Bi Fogarthach," "Fairies' Dwelling (The)," "Nay Tell Me Not Dear." Irish, Air (6/8 time) or Jig. D Major (O'Neill): B Flat Major (Kerr): C Major (O'Flannagan). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill): AABB (Kerr). The melody, which is related to the jig "Is it the priest you want?," appears under the "Dennis..." title in the Irish collector Edward Bunting's 1796 General Collection of the Ancient Irish Music, vol. 1 (No. 20, p. 10) and 1809 (p. 41) collection. According to Alfred Moffat (Irish Minstrelsy), "Denis, Don't be Threatening" is the progenitor of "Dandy O (The)". A version of the melody was used by Shield for a song in his Poor Soldier (1783), beginning: "Out of my sight, or I'll box your ears."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 4; No. 241, p. 26. O'Flannagan (The Hibernia Collection), 1860; p. 3. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 431, p. 75.
Recorded sources: