Annotation:Home Ruler (The)

Back to Home Ruler (The)

X:1 T: Home Ruler, The M: 2/2 L: 1/8 C:Frank McCollam R: Hornpipe K: D D2FA DAFA|dfed B2dB|~A3B AFDE|(3FED ED B,DA,B,| D2FA DAFA|dfed BGdB|AFAB AFDE|F2D2 D4:| |:Addc defg|afbf afdf|efed BA 3)Bcd|fded 3)Bcd AB| ~d2dc ~d2df|afbf afed|efed BAdB|AFEF D4:||

HOME RULER. AKA and see "Daniel O'Connell the Home Ruler," "Frank McCollum's (2)," "Hangman's Noose (1)," "McCollum's Hornpipe," "Pat Galvin's Hornpipe," "Seán Ryan's Hornpipe (1)." Irish, Hornpipe. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was composed in the 1960's by Frank McCollam (Ballycastle, County Antrim) and dedicated to his wife (the real "Home Ruler"), although perhaps the political association was a kind of joke. In the political sense McCollum's title is usually presumed to reference James Brown Armour (a nineteenth-century Antrim Home Rule champion), however, an alternate title has emerged (sourced to the album "Chieftains 9") called "Daniel O'Connell, the Home Ruler" referencing another Irish political champion, and it has been mistakenly thought by some that even Charles Stuart Parnell was meant to be honored. Especially when the 'A' and 'B' parts are reversed, the tune is called "Hangman's Noose (1)" (as, for example, found in Bulmer & Sharpley's Music from Ireland vol. 4, collected from fiddler Pat Neilly, although "The Hangman's Noose" is correctly the name of another composition of McCollum's--see "Hangman's Noose (2)").

Frank McCollum was a fiddler, song and music collector, and composer and was a one-time 'master' of the Ballycastle, Co. Antrim Orange Lodge [and perhaps, as Paul de Grae points out, broadminded as he might have been, unlikely to have dedicated a tune to a hero of Catholic Emancipation]. According to his daughter Catherine (who confirmed that the title reference McCollam's wife, Sally), McCollum composed many tunes, and he and County Offaly fiddler Seán Ryan were quite friendly and used to exchange tunes (Miller & Perron). "Home Ruler" became part of Ryan's repertoire, and one of the alternate titles comes from association of the tune with his playing. McCollum's hornpipe is often paired in sessions with the hornpipe "Kitty's Wedding (1)." Traces of melodic similarity can be found in the 'B' part of William Bradbury Ryan's "Erie Hornpipe."

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - set dance music recorded live at Na Píobairí Uilleann, mid-1980's [Taylor]; fiddler Seán Ryan [Miller & Perron]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Co. Kerry) [Moylan].

Printed sources : - Mallinson (100 Enduring), 1995; No. 74, p. 30. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 3, No. 18 (appears as "McCollum's Hornpipe"). Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 117. Moylan (Johnny O’Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 283, p. 162 (as "Seán Ryan's Hornpipe (1)"), Sullivan (Session Tunes', vol. 2); No. 45, p. 19. Taylor (Crossroads Dance), 1992; No. 57, p. 43. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 24. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 14.

Recorded sources: -CBS 34601, Chieftains - "Boil the Breakfast Early." Shaskeen - "My Love is in America." Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD 161, Chris Droney - "Down from Bell Harbour" (2005). Outlet SOLP 1012, Sean Ryan (as "McCollum's Hornpipe").

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
thesession.org [3]
Hear the tune at the Comhaltas archive [4]

Back to Home Ruler (The)