“Fogan MacAleer”

Description

"There lived in bonny Scotland a man named MacAleer ... he had the queerest notions ... don't you know what I mean?" He asks the blacksmith's help to buy Lauchlan Ban's mare. The blacksmith tricks MacAleer so that he marries Ban's daughter Mary instead.

Notes

Ives-DullCare refers to "the Scottish custom of having a go-between approach the prospective bride's father to arrange for a marriage." Ives finds a manuscript of "a song called 'The Jolly Barber' which was clearly Doyle's model for this song." The key fragment here is "don't you know what I mean?"; the song is apparently indexed here as "The Jolly Barber Lad."- BS

Cross references

Recordings

  • Joseph Walsh, "Fogan MacAleer" (on MREIves01)

References

  1. Ives-DullCare, pp. 156-159, 245, "Fogan MacAleer" (1 text, 1 tune)
  2. Roud #13989
  3. BI, IvDC156

About

Author: Lawrence Doyle
Earliest date: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
Found in: Canada(Mar)