Annotation:Blood Red Rose (The)
X:1 T:Blood-Red Rose, The M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 383 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Dmin A>^c|d2 G<A G2 c<B|A<BG<A F2 f<g|a>gfd fdcA|AGG>A B2 A>^c| d2 G>A G2 c>B|A>BG>A F2 f>g|a>gfd fdcA|G2 F>F F2|| A>G|F2 f>g f3g|a>gfd c2 f>e|d2 g>a g2 a|bagf d2 f>g| a2 b>a g2 a>g|f>gfd c>dfg|a>gfd fdcA|G2 F>F F2||
BLOOD-RED ROSE (To Daunton Me). AKA and see "Moran's Return," "This Wife of Mine," "To Danton Me," "What will I do with this thing of mine." Irish, Scottish; Slow Air (4/4 time). D Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. In 1788 Robert Burns (1759-1796) composed a song to this old melody by the title “To Daunton Me,” printed in Thompson’s Scots Musical Museum (1797), which begins:
The blude-red rose at Yule may blaw,
The simmer lilies bloom in snaw,
The frost may freeze the deepest sea;
But an auld man shall never daunton me.
O'Neill's title is apparently taken from the first line of the Burns song. See also O'Farrell's "To Danton Me" (a near match for the air in the 'Musical Museum'), of which O'Neill's air seems to be a direct development of, although O'Neill may also have been aware of "What will I do with this thing of mine," as the tune (set ambiguously without tempo or dotted rhythm) appeared in Boston music publisher Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 (1880-1882). As "To Danton/Daunton Me" the tune was the vehicle for an older song or songs, printed under that title in the mid-18th century in instrumental versions by McGibbon and Oswald. Northumbrian musician Henry Atkinson entered a version called "This Wife of Mine" in his 1694 music manuscript.
The "Blood Red Rose" title may be Francis O'Neill's, who obtained the tune from County Down-born Chicago Police Sergeant James O'Neill (no relation to Francis), his assistant. James had a rich repertory gathered in large part from his father, who had a large store of Scottish and English tunes. A few years after O'Neill published "Blood Red Rose" in Music of Ireland (1903), P.W. Joyce published his own version of the melody as "Moran's Return," which he said he had collected from a singer in 1844.
