Brennan on the Moor

 BRENNAN ON THE MOOR. Irish, Air. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "One of the most celebrated bagpipe tunes in 1770," states Grattan Flood (1906), who identified it as a setting of a song written in praise of a noted Irish Tory or Rapparee named William Brennan. Irish collector P.W. Joyce (1909) had the ballad on broadsheets printed by Haly of Cork in the 1840's, but states that he prints the melody for the first time, taken from a ballad-singer in Trim in the 1850's. Willie Brennan's fame stems from the fact that he was one of the last of the noted highwaymen of the 18th century whose ballywhick was the Kilworth Mountains near Fermoy in Cork. He was a Robin Hood figure in local memory, who is said to had shed no blood in his exploits. Brennan too met a violent end in 1804 when he was captured at Clonmore in northern Tipperary and hanged at Clonmel in the same county. 'Tis of a brave young highwayman this story I will tell His name was Willie Brennan and in Ireland he did dwell It was on the Kilwood Mountain he commenced his wild career And many a wealthy nobleman before him shook with fear It was Brennan on the moor, Brennan on the moor Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor Printed source: Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 379, pp. 186-187.

X:1 T:Brennan on the Moor M:C L:1/8 R:Air S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D D/E/ | FF FF A2 GF | FE D>D D3A | dc ec dF GA | =cB A>F F3A | dc ec dF GA |=c>B AF F3d | cB BB B>c d>B | AB AG F3z || DE D>D D3z | DF A>A A3d |c>B Bc BA F>E | ED D>D D3 ||

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