Annotation:Some Say the Devil's Dead
X: 1 T:Some Say the Devil's Dead C:trad. S:John Erdman <jperdman:earthlink.net> scots-l 2001-6-20 M:4/4 I:speed 250 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/Scotland/reel/SomeSayTheDevilsDead_1.abc K:G |:D2DE GABA | GEED GEE2 | D2DE GABc | dedB A2G2 :| |:B2BA Bcd2 | e2ed efg2 | B2BA BcdB |GABG (3ABA G2 :|
'SOME SAY THE DEVIL'S DEAD. AKA - "Braes of Mar (1) (The)," "Love Won't You Marry Me?." Irish, English; Fling, Jig or Strathspey. D Major (Kennedy, Raven): G Major (Sullivan). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Kennedy, Raven): AABB’ (Sullivan). The title appears (as "Some Say the Diel's Dead and Buried in Kirka'dy") in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Variants of the following ditties are frequently sung to the melody:
Some say the Devil's dead
And buried in Kilarney.
Some say the deil's dead, the deil's dead, the deil's dead,
Some say the deil's dead and buried in Kirkaldy.
And others say he rose again, he rose again, he rose again,
And others say he rose again and danced the Hielan Laddie.
or, as the last two lines have sometimes been heard in Ireland:
More say he rose again, rose again, rose again,
More say he rose again and joined the British army!
Percy Sherrell (1873-1958) mentions hearing a version of the ditty sung, in his reminiscences of his boyhood in Eastdean, Sussex, England:
Harvest and Hay making were very busy times, also hoeing times. Great numbers of men and women too would be working in the fields hoeing the Turnips, etc., even old men. Old men over 70 would be seen working hard on the roadsides breaking up stones. I remember one old man whose name was Button Hewson, he was a very energetic man and would break up the stones very small, and sing whilst he was working,
Some say the devil’s dead and buried in Gold Arbour;
Some say he’s risen—and tidily winks the barber.
This old man could be heard singing this song very often.
The tune was recorded several times in the 78 RPM era under the title "Love will/won't you marry me?."
