Saturday 30 January 2021
Tune of the Day: The Humours of Listivain
Traditional Irish tune
The earliest known appearance of this tune is in Jackson's Celebrated Irish Tunes, a collection from the famous 18th-century gentleman piper Walker “Piper” Jackson of the townland of Lisduan, County Limerick, first printed in Dublin around 1775. However, the tune seems to be even older. According to Lewis Winstock (Songs and Music of the Redcoats, 1970), it was known under the title “The Humours of Bandon” as far back as 1690, when the Irish (who had learned it from the supporters of William III) played it when they sacked Kilbrogan.