Sunday 4 April 2021
Tune of the Day: Ligrum Cus
Traditional Irish tune
This oddly-named jig dates back to the late 18th century. A tune by this name (“Ligurum Cuss”) was the indicated tune for a song by Kane O'Hara for his opera Midas (1762).
In his collection Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), Francis O'Neill remarks:
The expression “Ligrum Cus”, evidently corrupt Gaelic, may be translated “Let go my foot”. It may also relate to the rent question. We can hardly blame the Scotch, while Irish titles in Moore's Melodies present similar difficulties.
“Ligrum Cus” (and its spelling variants) may be an anglicized version of the Irish gliogram cos, gliogram meaning “rattling noise”.