Annotation:John O'Dwyer of the Glen (1)

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 JOHN O'DWYER OF THE GLEN [1] (Seán Ó Duibhir a' Ghleanna). AKA and see "Sean O Duibir an Gleanna (1)." Irish, Slow Air (3/4 time). D Major or A Mixolydian (O'Neill): D Minor (Stanford/Petrie): G Major (O'Farrell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Stanford/Petrie): AAB (O'Neill): AABB (O'Farrell). O'Neill states: "Versions (of the song) are almost as numerous as the singers of this fine old air," and he says it was very popular in Munster in a variety of forms and titles. According to (the sometimes very unreliable professor) Grattan Flood (1906), the song commemorates the Glen of Aherlow, which hid for a time the brave Anglo-Irish lord James, Earl of Desmond, after his defeat in September, 1600, at the hands of Captain Greame and the Irish. One version of the melody can be found in Bunting's Ancient Irish Airs of 1796 (a collection of 66 airs, mostly collected from performers at the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792). A translation of the lyrics goes: After Aughrim's great disaster When our foe, in sooth, was master It was you who first plunged in and swam The Shannon's boiling flood And through Sliabh Bloom's dark passes You led your Gallowglasses Although the hungry Saxon wolves Were howling for your blood. And as we crossed Tipperary We rived the Clan O Leary And a creacht we drove before us As our horseman onward came With our spears and swords we gored them As through flood and fire we bore them Still Seán Ó Duibhir a Ghleanna You were worsted in the game. Long, long we kept the hillside Our couch hard by the rillside The sturdy knotted oaken boughs Our curtain overhead. The summer sun we laughed at The winter snow we scoffed at And trusted to our long bright swords To win us daily bread. Till the Dutchman's troops came round us In steel and fire they bound us They blazed the woods and mountains Tills the very clouds were flame Yet our sharpened swords cut through them To their very hearts we hewed them Still Seán Ó Duibhir a Ghleanna You were worsted in the game. Here's a health to yours and my king The sovereign of our liking And to Sarsfield, underneath whose flag We'll cast once more a chance For the morning dawn will wing us Across the seas and bring us To take a stand and wield a brand Amongst the sons of France. And as we part in sorrow Still, Sea/n O/ Dibhir, a chara Our prayer is "God Save Ireland" And pour blessings on her name. May her sons be true when needed May they never fail, as we did For Sea/n O/ Duibhir a Ghleanna You were worsted in the game.  Sources for notated versions: "From an old Kerry MS" [Stanford/Petrie]; fiddler Michael G. Enright, a native of County Limerick [O'Neill].  Printed sources: O'Farrell (National Irish Music for the Union Pipes), 1804; p. 21 (appears as "Shaun O'Dhier o glanna. Or John Dwyer of Glinn"). O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 35, p. 7. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 736, p. 184.  Recorded sources:

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