Annotation:Leather Away with the Wattle
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LEATHER AWAY WITH THE WATTLE (Buail Leat Leis An Bata). AKA - "Leather Away the Wattle-O." AKA and see "Grand Old Dame (The)," "Halfdoor," "I-Tiddly-I-Ti," "Leather the Bottle-O," "Lisdoonvarna Polka (2)," "Little Lisdoonvana Polka (The)," "London Bridge Polka (The)," "Rose Tree (2)," "tSeanbhean uasal (An)," "Water Street Polka (The)." Irish, Polka and Air (2/4 time, "lively"). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill): AABB (Tubridy). The melody appears first in O'Daly's Poets and Poetry of Munster (1849), a version reprinted by Howe and O'Neill. O'Daly notes:
This spirited air escaped the notice of our most eminent collector, [Edward] Bunting, and probably would have never been in print had it not fallen into our hands. The words are the production of a violent Jacobite. By leathering away with the wattle , he implies his determination to decide all political differences by an appeal to 'physical force'. The wattle was a stout cudgel, or 'Ailpin', in frequent requisition at country fairs and faction fights early in the present century. (p. 193).
The Philadelphia-based band The Four Provinces Orchestra recorded the tune (under the title "Leather Away") in 1924. Bayard (1981) suggests that the first part of this air was the derivation of the second part of the minstrel tune "Mary Run Away With the Coon." The title "Leather Away with the Wattle" breaks down as: 'leather away' i.e. to go at something vigorously, and 'wattle' i.e. a stick, or 'to have a vigorous go with the stick'. This phrase could apply to various things, but is also a euphemism for male masturbation.
Source for notated version: PĂĄdraig O'Keeffe (Sliabh Luachra) [Breathnach].
Printed sources: Breathnach (The Man & his Music), 1996; p. 95. Levey (Collection of Iris Music, vol. 2), 113. O'Daly (The Poets and Poetry of Munster) 1849; p. 192. O'Daly-Meehan, 1885; p. 232. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 413, p. 72. Petrie-Stanford (Complete Collection), 1903-06; No. 1203. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; p. 8.
Recorded sources:
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