Annotation:Paddy Will You Now?
X:1 T:Paddy, Will You Now M:2/4 L:1/8 B:Thomas Kiernan MS (c.1844-80, ref LK.050), Co Longford, Ireland B:https://eprints.dkit.ie/id/eprint/734/ N:Thomas Kiernan (c1807-87) was a fiddle player and teacher from N:Drumlish, Co Longford. N: Likely this tune was transcribed from a printed source Z:Conor Ward K:F ((3c/d/e/)|fA !mordent!(AG)/F/|Dd dc/B/|Ee !mordent!ef/g/|af f (3c/d/e/| fA (AG)/F/|!mordent!Dd dc/B/|!mordent!Ee ef/g/|af/f/ f2|| cA cd/e/|fe dc|cA cd/e/|fe dc| d/d/d/d/ dc|fA AG|F/F/F/F/ FG|AG FD| F/F/F/F/ F2|G/G/G/G/ G2|Ff ed|cB AG| F/F/F/F/ Fz|G/G/G/G/ Gz|ed fe|c2 !fermata! c2||
X:1 T:Paddy Will You Now? M:2/4 L:1/16 S:Capt. F. O'Neill Z:Paul Kinder R:Air K:G (3def|g2B2 B2AG|F2A2 A2BA|G2g2 gfga|b2g2 g2(3def| g2B2 B2AG|F2A2 A2BA|B2g2 gfga|b2g2 g2:| |:Bc|d2B2 d2ef|g2f2 e2d2|d2B2 d2ef|g2f2 e2d2| eeee e2d2|g2B2 B2A2|GGGF G2A2| B2G2 E2D2|GGGF G2B2|AAAB A2B2|B2g2 f2e2| d2c2 B2A2|GGGG G2B2|AAAA A2B2|B2g2 f2a2|g4 g2:||
PADDY WILL YOU NOW? AKA - "Paddy Will Ye Now." AKA and see "It is Day," "Johnny will you now?," "Royal Irish Quadrilles" (see No. 5), "Ta na la," "Thaunalaw," "Tow row row (2)." Irish, March (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. O’Neill (1922) says: “The above setting differs not materially from that in Clinton's 200 Irish Melodies for Flute, Dublin 1840. Under the same name a much simpler version appears in Haverty's 300 Irish Airs, New York 1858, having but the exceptional number of 13 bars altogether. To the editor this strain was known in boyhood days as ‘Tow Row Row’ both names being taken from the first line of the song 'Tow Row Row, Paddy, will you now', which song by the way cannot be found in any Irish collection at present available. ‘Ta na la’ or ‘It is day’ one of three tunes of that name in Stanford-Petrie Collection is obviously the same strain. The arrangement however is quite different; the melody and chorus together consisting of but 17 bars. To add to the diversity, we find that the arrangement of ‘Paddy will you now’ to which is set Gavan Duffy's poem ‘Watch and Wait’ in Ballads and Songs by the Writers of The Nation Dublin, 1845, is limited to 14 bars.” The song can be found in varying degrees of vulgar as well as lullaby versions. One rather sanitized version goes:
As I was kissing the daughter so fair,
Who should come in but her blanked old mother;
Caught me in her daughter's lap,
Slapped my face, and shouted murder.
CHO:
Tow, row, row! Paddy, will you now?
Take me now, while I'm in humor;
And that's just--now!--tow-row-row.
As I was tripping down the stairs,
Who should I meet but her blanked old father;
With a brace of pistols in his hand,
To shoot the man that kissed his daughter.
The song was quoted by Charles Dickens (Household Words: A Weekly Journal, 1858) and Thomas Hardy (in his poem "Sitting on the Bridge" from Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses). A version in Charles Villiers Stanford's Complete Collection of Petrie's Irish Music (1905) appears under the title "Ta na la" (It is day), and the melody was the vehicle for the songs "Watch and Wait," Charles Gavan Duffy's "Sady as a muffled drum" and others.
The 19th century conductor/composer/performer Julien incorporated "Paddy Will You Now" into his "Royal Irish Quadrilles" where it appears as "No. 5," or the fifth figure of his quadrille set. The tune can also be found in the mid-19th century music manuscript of William Winter (1774-1861), a shoemaker and violin player who lived in West Bagborough in Somerset, southwest England.
