Annotation:Lasses of Melross (The)
X:1 T:Lasses of Melross, The M:6/8 L:1/8 S:Aird, vol. II (1785) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G d | B>AB GAB | c>Bc ABc | BAB GAB | AFD D2c | BAB GAB | cBc ABc | (Bcd/)B/ cAF | G3 G2 :| |: f | gbg gbg | ac'a ac'a | gbg gbg | afd d2f | gbg gbg | ac'a abc' | bag agf | g3 g2 :|]
LASSES OF MELROSS, THE. AKA and see "Bliven's Favorite," "Butchers of Bristol (1) (The)", "By Your Leave Larry Grogan," "Coppers and Brass (2)", "County Limerick Buckhunt," "Finerty's Frolic," "Greensleeves (3)," "Groom," "Hartigan's Fancy," "Humors of Ennistymon (1) (The)," "Humours of Milltown (2)," "Larry Grogan (1)", "Lasses of Melrose," "Little Fanny's Fancy," "Lynn's Favourite," "Lynny's Favourite," "Pingneacha Rua agus Pras," "Queen of the Rushes," "Smithfield Lane," "Waves of Tramore (The)," "Willie Clancy's." Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune belongs to the two tune families known usually as "Larry Grogan (1)" and "Humors of Ennistymon (1) (The), each having derivatives and variants, and each having considerable overlap with each other. As "Groom" the tune is attributed by Goodman to the 18th century gentleman-piper Walker 'Piper' Jackson, of the townland of Lisdaun, parish of Ballingarry, Aughrim, County Limerick. Breathnach remarks that a version was originally printed (by John Walsh before 1736 in Country Dances Book the Second) under the title "Larry Grogan," named for another gentleman piper of the early-mid 1700's, this one from County Wexford. See notes for "Groom" and "Larry Grogan (1)".
See also the cognate version "Smockfield Lane" from the c. 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers. The first strain is a reworking of melodic and harmonic material found in the "Well May the Keel Row" family of tunes.
