Annotation:Meentogues Lad (The)
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MEENTOGUES LAD, THE. AKA and see "Mick Duggan's Slide (2)." Irish, Slide (12/8 time). Ireland, Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Similar to and possibly derived from J. Scott Skinner's "Lovat Scouts (The)."
Editor Terry Moylan (1994) explains 'The Meentogues Lad' is a euphemism for the famous Munster poet and hedge schoolmaster Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin [1] (Owen Roe O'Sullivan, 1748–1784), born in Meentogues in the Sliabh Luachra region of County Kerry. He became a folk-hero for his philandering and wildness and was also known as Eoghan an Bhéil Bhinn (Owen of the Sweet Mouth) from the the musicality of his verse. He was admired for the wit and skill of his satires and lyrics, but this proved his undoing as well, for on a visit to Killarney he was accosted in a tavern by an assailant, the servant of a local Anglo-Irish landowner and yeomanry colonel whom he had satirized. The man delivered a blow to O'Sullivan's head with a fireplace iron, from which he fell into a fever and died.
Source for notated version: accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra, Kerry), recorded in February, 1973, at Ballydesmond [Moylan]; fiddler Mick Duggan (Co. Kerry) [Breathnach].
Printed sources:
Breathnach (CRÉ 2), 1976; No. 89, p. 47 (appears as "Gan Ainm" {untitled}).
Moylan (Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 24, pp. 14–15.
Recorded sources:
Magnetic Music MMRCD1032, North Cregg – "mi.da:za" ().
See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]