Annotation:Bargain is Over (The)
X: 1 T:Bargain Is Over (j) B:NFID.181004barg_o S:DOD N:Variant of "Behind the Bush in the Garden" L:1/8 M:6/8 R:jig Q:320 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/contrib/Tunes/GandersStrutH.abc K:Am B|c2A AGE|c2A AGE|edc dcB|cBA GAB| c2d e2a|g2e ded|cBA BAG|[A3E3] [A2E2]B| c2A AGE|c2A AGE|G2G GAE|G3 E2G| c2d e2a|g2e ded|c2A BAG|EA2 A2|| B|c2B c2d|ege e2d|c2B c2d|e3 GAB| c2B c2d|ege e2d|cBA BAG|[A3E3] [A2E2]B| c2B c2d|e2e e2d|c2B c2d|e3 GAB| c2d e2a|g2e ded|c2A BAG|EA2 A2||
BARGAIN IS OVER, THE. AKA and see "Match Has Been Made (The)," "Tá mo chleamhnas deanta," "Tá do mhargadh deanta." Irish, Air and Jig (6/8 time). A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. In County Donegal the tune is a ‘hauling home’ tune, played after the ceremony to bring the newlywed couple to their home. See also note for “annotation:Wedding Jig (1) (The).” The air contains complete verses in English and Irish Gaelic, although according to Sean Ó Boyle (1976) the English ones are usually a translation or adaptation of the preceding Gaelic ones. O Boyle contents the song reflects the bilingual period in the historical process of the supplanting of Gaelic by English in Ireland. The words (as recorded by the band Altan) begin:
Tá mo chleamhnas ‘a dhéanamh inniu agus inné
‘S ní mó ná go dtaitníonn an bhean udaí liom féin
Ach fuigfidh mé mo dhiaidh í, ‘s rachaidh mé leat féinv Síos fána coillte craobhaigh.
A match was a-making here last night
And it isn’t with the girl that I love the best
I’ll leave her behind and I’ll go along with you
Down by the banks of the ocean.
The tune is a variant of the better-known "Behind the Bush in the Garden (1)," although it is also the Scottish jig called "Royal Charlie" (which is also the name of a dance). "The Bargain is Over" was entered into the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of W.H. Lister of East Boldon, Northumberland. It is not know how this tune entered his repertoire, but East Bodlon is near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which has long had a large Irish population who came for work on the docks and in the nearby mines.
