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Annotation:All Alive (1)
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ALL ALIVE [1]. AKA - "I'll never gan to the dark cellar ne mair." AKA and see "Breeches Loose (2)," "Breeches Maker (The)," "Breeks are Loose and the Button's Awa' (The)," "Northumberland Lady," "We'll all take coach and trip it away," "You're Welcome to Waterford." Irish, English, Scottish; Jig and Air (6/8 time). G Minor (John Bell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is attributed to blind Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), although Donal O'Sullivan in his definitive work on the bard (Carolan: Life and Times of an Irish Harper, 1958) could find no incontrovertible evidence of its origin. O'Sullivan set the tune in 'F' minor. Uilleann piper O'Farrell printed the tune as "We'll all take coach and trip it away" around the turn of the 18th century. See also the closely related "Old Grey Goose (The)" and also "Rakes of Kinsale (The)." O'Neill gives "You're Welcome to Waterford" as an alternate title.
English and Scottish versions are of some antiquity as well. The jig was printed by London publishers Charles and Samuel Thompson in 1757 as "Breeches Loose (2)," and William Vickers (1770) has it as "Northumberland Lady." The melody was entered into the c. 1812 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician John Bell [1] (1783-1864) as "I'll never gan to the Dark Cellar ne mair," and Scottish bandleader and composer Nathaniel Gow printed an elaboration of the melody as "Breeches Maker (The)."
Source for notated version: O'Sullivan had his version of the tune from the music manuscripts of Irish collector George Petrie; George Petrie obtained the tune from "Tighe's old M.S. book".
Printed sources: Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 181, p. 127. R.M. Levey (Dance Music of Ireland, 2nd Collection), 1873; No. 42, p. 18. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1105, p. 208. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 295, p. 64. O'Sullivan (Carolan: The Life, Times and Music of an Irish Harper), 1958; No. 181, p. 205. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 450, p. 113.
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