Annotation:Two William Davises
TWO WILLIAM DAVISES. AKA - "Ta dha Uilliam Dáibhis Annsan áitse/There are two William Davis's in this place." Irish, Air (whole time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. While the words to this song have been attributed to Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), the tune was historically not considered his work, although Carolan is often listed nowadays as the composer. As O'Sullivan (1958) points out, however, the tune is a variant of the Scottish air "Killicrankie", dating to the late 17th century soon after the famous battle of that name (fought in July, 1689). Hardiman attributed the tune, called "Planxty Davis", since known as "The Battle of Killiecrankie," to an earlier harper, Thomas Connellan[1], and O'Sullivan believes this may be correct (although he says Hardiman errs in stating that the 'Davis' title preceded the 'Killiecrankie' one).
- ↑ Connellan was originally from County Sligo, but he is known to have lived in Scotland. The earliest manuscript version of the tune is in the Atkinson ms. (1694) where it appears as "The Irish Gillycranky", suggesting that Connellan was the composer.