Annotation:Dermot and His Lass (1)

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DERMOT AND HIS LASS [1] (Diarmuid agus a chailín). Irish, Air (3/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. O'Sullivan (1983) chose the tune printed in London by Thomas D'Urfey in Pills to Purge Melancholy (vol. IV, 1719, p. 325, beginning "Dermot lov'd Sheela well and strove her heart to gain") set to words collected by Edward Bunting (1773-1843)from his friend (and United Irishman martyr) Henry Joy McCracken [1] of Belfast in 1800, as it is "much older and seems more suited to the words." D'Urfey headed the piece "An Irish Song. Set by Mr. Leveridge."

One Sunday after Mass
Dermot and his lass
To the green wood did pass,
All alone, all alone, all alone.
He asked for one pogue (kiss),
She called him a rogue,
And struck him with her brogue (shoe),
Oh hone, oh hone, oh hone (alas)!

Source for notated version: Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy (London, 1719) [O'Sullivan].

Printed sources: O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 86, pp. 130-131.

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