Thursday 22 October 2020
Tune of the Day: Long John's Wedding
Traditional Irish tune
This jig is taken from Francis O'Neill's collection Music of Ireland, published in 1903. The oldest appearance of the tune is probably in the Patrick McDonald Collection of 1784, under the title “Posadh peathar In bhain” (“John Bain's Sister's Wedding”). The melody seems to be based on an old Scottish strain known as “My Home” (“Mo Dhachaidh”).
Scottish singer Belle Stewart's comic song “The Bonnie Wee Lassie frae Gourock” employs this tune, although it is an adaption of music hall star Harry Lauder's “Piper MacFarlane” (1906).