Annotation:Ale Woman (The)
X:1 T:Banalanna T:Ale Woman, The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air B:Elias Howe - Musician's Omnibus Complete (1864, p. 505) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C c>d|e2 fedc|BGc>BGF|G2G2 AF|G2G2 c>d|e2 fedc|BGc>BGE| F2F2 GE|F2F2 G>F|EDEFGA|BGc>BGF|G2G2 AF|G2G2 GF| EDEFGA|BGc>BGF|G2G2 AF|EDEFGA|BGc>BGE|F2F2 GE|F2F2||
THE ALE WOMAN (Banalanna). Irish, Air (3/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. P.W. Joyce remembered the tune from the singing of his father, presumably when a boy in the 1840's growing up in County Limerick. "I recollect hearing an Irish song to it, every verse of which ended with the words "Banalanna, banalanna!" [Joyce] (banalanna is a phonetic rendering of the Irish bean a' leanna). The melody is also printed (in 'C' major) in Boston publisher Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus Complete (1864) and his 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867; p. 25). See also versions under "Alewoman (The)."
