Annotation:Holland is a fine place
X:1 T:Holland is a fine place M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Moderate" S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 96 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A dB | A2A2B2d2 | (e^def) (g2ag) | e2 (dB) A2B2 | G6 dB | A2A2B2d2 | (e^def) (g2ag) | e2 dB A2A2 | A6 || (ef) | g2B2d2e2 | (a3f) (g2ag) | e2 dB A2B2 | G6 dB | A2A2B2d2 | e^def (g2ag) | e2 dB A2A2 | A6 ||
HOLLAND IS A FINE PLACE (Is Bread an Ait Tir-Fo-Tuinn). Irish, Air (4/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. O'Neill (1913) classifies this melody in a group with "Willy Reilly" et al (see note for "Willy Reilly (2)"). O'Niell, in Irish Folk Music, A Fascinating Hobby (pp. 72-73) remarks:
In my boyhood days I heard my sisters chant a song commencing "Holland is a fine place where many a fine thing grows" and ending with "The low, low lands of Holland between my love and me." This air, characteristically Irish, bears little resemblance to the "Lowlands of Holland", printed in Dr. Joyce's Ancient Irish Music. The Scotch also have an air, or rather airs of that name for which many claimants contend, according to the editor of Wood's Songs of Scotland. Our melody appears to be unknown beyond a limited district in W. Cork, where I'm sorry to say, as a result of the suppression of the "Patrons" and farmhouse dances, most of the music and melodies of half a century ago, are now forgotten.
See also the variant "Curse the Laws that Gave Me Cause" (O'Neill, Music of Ireland, 1903).
