Annotation:McDonnell's Rant
X:1 T:McDonnell's Rant M:9/8 L:1/8 S:O'Farrell's National Irish Music 1797 Z:Paul Kinder K:G c|:BAG GAG GDG|BAG GDG ABc|1BAG GAG GDG| cAF FAF ABc:|2 GBd gag gdB|cAF FAF ABc|| |:ded/2c/2 BGG BGG|ded/2c/2 BGG ABc|1 ded/2c/2 BGG BGG| cAF FAF ABc:|2GBd gag gdB|cAF FAF ABc||
McDONNELL'S (SLIP JIG). AKA - "McDonnell's Rant." Irish, Slip Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'. The tune, which was printed in uilleann piper O'Farrell's National Irish Music, is a member of the large "Swaggering Jig (1) (The)" family of 9/8 tunes. The publication dates for the O'Farrell collection, printed by John Gow in London, England, vary; O'Neill gives 1797, while Pat Sky gives 1804, based on an entry in the Stationer's Hall Registers.
Seán Donnelly, in his article "A Piping MP: Joseph Myles McDonnell (1796-1872), Doo Castle, Ballaghadereen, County Mayo" [The Seán Reid Society Journal, vol. 1, March, 1999], notes that ‘McDonnell the gentleman piper’, was recorded as having performed on stage in County Cork in the 1770's. He believes it is the same 'McDonnell the piper' from whom Edward Bunting collected tunes from in the 1790's, and further believes that O'Farrell's tunes "McDonnell's Rant" and "McDonnell's Hornpipe" were named in his honor. "Like Denis Courtney, John Murphy and O’Farrell himself, McDonnell was to be found playing in London in the 1790s, where they all enjoyed the patronage of the Highland Society of London, and McDonnell and Murphy also visited Edinburgh to give recitals in the late 1790s." McDOnnell's given name was James.
