Annotation:Teddy McShane
X:1 T:Teddy McShane T:O where has the Exile his home M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air B:Howe – Musician’s Omnibus No. 2 (c. 1864, p. 101) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G (G/A/)|B>AG EAA|(A3 A2) (G/A/)|B>AG EGG|(G3 G2)|| (G/A/)|B>GB d2 (B/d/)|e>ce d2 (d/c/)|B>AG EAA|(A3 A2) (G/A/)| (BGB) d2d|ece d2 d/c/|B>AG EGG|(G3 G2)||
TEDDY McSHANE. AKA - "O! where has the exile his home?","Alas! for poor Teddy Macshane." Irish, Air (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The air, originally "Alas! for poor Teddy Macshane." was used by R.A. Smith for his song "The Hopeless Exile," printed in The Irish Minstrel (1825), successor to his successful Scottish Minstrel. Smith wrote in a letter dated March 28th, 1825, "The [air] to the 'Exile' was never printed before. I noted it from the singing of an Irish girl, in the west country. It is a charming air, and I think you will be delighted with it. " The first stanza goes:
O! where has the exile his home?
O! where has the exile his home?
Where the mountain is steep,
Where the valley is deep,
Where the waves of the Ohio foam;
Where no cheering smile
His woes may beguile--
O! where has the exile his home?
Smith thought many of the songs in Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies were unsuitable for women to sing--"[they] are frequently rather too highly coloured, and very few of his songs can be selected for ladies' singing..." and "I do not want comic songs, as the work must be such as ladies can read without blushing."
