Byrne's Hornpipe (3)

 BYRNE'S HORNPIPE [3]. AKA and see "Cordick's Hornpipe." Scottish, Hornpipe. B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Robin Williamson (1976) speculates that the title might refer variously to a Border minstrel named Burne the Violer, a famous Irish giant named Charles Byrne (who Williamson says died in Margate at the age of twenty-three after requesting that his coffin, which measured nine feet, four inches, be thrown into the ocean because of his fears his body would be medically dissected), and finally the Irish blind fiddler Michael Byrn (who was hired by the notorious Captain Bligh at the beginning of the ill-fated voyage of The Bounty). All of which seems pure speculation for what is a fairly common name. The melody appears in Irish collector P.W. Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) as "Cordick's Hornpipe." Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 337, p. 36. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 57.

X:1 T:Byrne's Hornpipe [3] M:C L:1/8 B:Kerr - Merry Melodies, vol. 3, No. 337 (c. 1880's) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D A2|dAFA BGEG|FA d4 c2|(Bg)(gf) (fe)(ed)|c2A2 A3G|FABc dAGF| Edcd ecAg|fgaf bgec|d2d2d2::(fe)|dfba gfed|ceag fedc| Bdgf edcd|B2B2B3c|d2 (df) dAGF|Edcd ecAg|fgaf bgec|d2d2d2:||

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