Annotation:Bard of Armagh (The)

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X:1 T:Bard of Armagh, The M:3/8 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Plaintive" S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 363 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D A|dfd|ea>g|fed|cA>A|dfd|ea>g|fde/f/|g2 f/g/| afa|gfe|d>fe/d/|cA>A|d>ef/d/|ea>g|fde/f/| g2 f/g/|afa|gfe|ded|cA>A|d>ef/d/|ea>g|fde|d2||

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BARD OF ARMAGH. AKA and see "Phelim Brady." Irish, Air (3/8 time, "plaintive"). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. 'The Bard of Armagh' was the name given to an early 18th century harper, Phelim Brady. Paul de Grae explains: "After the passing of the Popery Act in 1697, the South Armagh bishop Dr. Patrick Donnelly adopted the name and persona of Phelim Brady in order to be able to visit his flock in disguise". "The Bard of Armagh" has been attributed Dr. Donnelly, but also to Thomas Campbell, who wrote a version of "The Bard of Armagh" in 1801. However, there was more than one song by this title extant at the same time. Other songs set to the tune are, in Ireland, "The convict of Clonmel" and "When I was on horseback," and in America, "The Streets of Laredo", "The Cowboy's Lament" and "St. James Hospital" (in Sharp and Karpeles' English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians). English derivations of the song can be be found printed in broadsides from the mid-19th century, including "The unfortunate lad" and "The bad girl's lament." A Scottish version is "Road to Dundee (The)."

Oh, list to the lay of a poor Irish harper,
And scorn not the strains of his withered old hand,
Remember his fingers, they once could move sharper,
To raise up the mem'ry of his dear native land.

The air can be found throughout Britain and Ireland, and is the same as that of "Unfortunate Rake (3) (The)," an 18th century lament which tells of a dying young man.