Annotation:Lillibulero
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LILLIBULERO [1]. AKA - "Lilly Bullery," "Lilliburlero." AKA and see "Bumpers Are Flowing," "Carawath Jig," "De bheatha ad' shlainte, Ui Shuilleabhain Mhoir," "Gogai o gog," "Green Goose Fair (1)," "Irlandais Jig," "Jolly Companions (2)," "Modes of the Court so common have grown (The)," "Montrosse's March," "My Lord Mayor's Delight," "Old Woman Whither So High," "Onehorned Cow (2) (The)," "Orange and Green Will Carry the Day," "Pretender's March (The)," "Protestant Boys," "Retreat (The)," "A rock and the/a wee pickle tow," "Scotch March (1) (The)." English, Irish; Air (6/8 time) or Jig. England, Northumberland. A Major (Cole, Miller & Perron, Raven, Sweet): G Major (Barnes, Merryweather, Sharp, Stanford/Petrie, Seattle/Vickers): D Major (Chappell, Scott). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Cole, Raven, Stanford/Petrie): AAB (Chapell, Scott): ABB (Sharp): AABB (Barnes, Merryweather, Miller & Perron, Seattle, Sweet). The the words of the chorus or burden of the song, lero, lero, lillibulero bullen-a-lah, purportedly were, according to a contemporary (Protestant) chronicle quoted by the English musicologist Chappell (1859), Irish Gaelic "words of disctinction used among the Irish Papists in their massacre of Protestants in 1641." Other suggestions for the meaning of the burden are that it was a stage convention for "foreigner's dialect" used in 17th century English plays to denote unfamiliar languages. Another explanation is that it is a corruption of the Gaelic phrase An lile ba léir é; ba linn an lá, which translates as "The (Orange) lily was (the most) evident; we carried the day," which would fit with the political associations of the song.
"Lillibulero," Chappell goes on to say, was an anonymously composed Whig tune (i.e. joined to various anti-Catholic words) and the British army's song during the Revolution of 1688 in which William of Orange defeated James II. A "party tune," includes Kidson (1922), which was disseminated on the authority of Bishop Burnet. It was immensely popular from the time of its introduction and not a little influential from a political standpoint as it was used as a rallying call for the Protestants. In fact, "Lillibulero" has been called the "tune that drove James out of three countries" (i.e. England, Scotland and Ireland). Pepys says: "Slight and insignificant as (the words) may now seem, they had once a more powerful effect than either the Philippies of Demosthenes or Cicero; and contributed not a little towards the great revolution in 1688." It was played by the Williamites (followers of William of Orange who became William III of England) during the Irish War of 1689-1691 and very probably at the battle of the Boyne, according to Winstock (1970). Johnson (Stenhouse ed.) asserts that the tune was derived from "Jumping Joan" (AKA "Joan's Placket is Torn"), but Bayard (1981) and Glen disagree.
The English composer Henry Purcell has been credited with the tune, often described as one of his harpsichord lessons. It was ascribed to him by Playford (1689) and especially later by Chappell (1859), but other musicologists believe there is little direct evidence for this and it is more likely that it was a simply a folk tune; Kidson (1922) states simply the tune was arranged by Purcell for a printing in 1686. That the tune was well-known in the 17th century there can be no doubt, as it is referenced in period literature. Emmerson (1971), for example, reports a description from 17th century literature of a scene in London:
Some were dancing to a bagpipe; others whistling to a Base Violin, two Fiddlers scraping Lilla burlero, My Lord Mayor's Delight, upon a couple of Crack'd Crowds.
Regarding the lyrics, Chapell reports they were ascribed to Lord Wharton and Lord Dorset, but he thinks neither likely to have written them. The words satirize the Irish Jacobite Richard Talbot, Duke of Tyrconnell, and King James' agent in Ireland who was a key figure in the intrigues for returning James to power and involving the French in the struggle for Irish freedom (he ended his life as an exile in France). Though the song appears in numerous publications, Chappell found the earliest printing to be in a collection called The Muses' Farewell to Poetry and Slavery (1689). There is an old song called "There Was an Old Fellow at Waltham Cross" that uses a combination of strains sounding like both "Lillibulero" and "Dargason;" "Waltham Cross" was published in 1640 and Bayard (1981) thinks this suggests evidence of the existence of both "Lillibulero" and "Dargason" before the 1680's. Early versions of the air were published in Henry Playford's The Second Part of Music's Handmaid (1689), Robert Carr's The Delightful Companion, or Choice New Lessons for the Recorder or Flute (1686), set for keyboard by Purcell in Musick's Handmaid (1689), D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, as the bass of 'Jig' in The Gordian Knot Untied (1691) and John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1729, where it appears under the title "The modes of the Court so common have grown") and numerous other ballad operas. Alternate songs set to the tune include "Dublin's Deliverance; or, The Surrender of Drogheda" (Pepys Collection), "Undaunted London-derry; or, The Victorious Protestants' constant success against the proud French and Irish forces" (Bagford Collection), "The Courageous Soldiers of the West" (Bagford Collection), "The Reading Skirmish" (Bagford Collection), "The Protestant Courage" (Roxburghe Collection), and "Courageous Betty of Chick Lane" (Roxburghe Collection).
The version of the words ascribed to Wharton begins:
Ho Brother Teaghe, dost hear de decree?
Lillibulero, bullen a la,
Dat we shall have a new Deputie.
Lillibulero, bullen a la
Lero, lero, Lillibulero,
Lillibulero, bullen a la
Lero, lero, lillibulero
Lillibulero, bullen a la.
In Songs of the British Isles, author Jerry Silverman reports that as late as the American Civil War the English musicologist Francis James Child used the tune for another satire, called "Overtures from Richmond" which ridiculed the Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), 1785, vol. 2, No. 481. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), vol. 2, 1859; p. 58. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 52. Harding Collection (1915) and Harding Original Collection (1928), No. 197. Jarman, 1951; p. 64. JIFSS, XV, p. 13. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2, No. 213 and vol. 4, No. 228. Merryweather (Merryweather's Tunes for the English Bagpipe), 1989; p. 45 (two versions). Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 14. Moffat (202 Gems of Irish Melody), p. 79. O'Lochlainn, 1939; No. 36. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 19. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion), 1780?, vol. 2, p. 13. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 63. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 79. Scott, 1926; p. 6. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1911-22; Set VIII, p. 19. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 373 (appears as "Lilly Bullery"). Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 56. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 503, p. 127. Sweet, 1965/1981; p. 22. Thompson (Hiberian Muse), 1786. Walsh (Compleat Country Dancing Master), 1731; vol. 1, No. 38.
Recorded sources: RCA 09026-60916-2, The Chieftains - "An Irish Evening" (1991).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
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