Saint Patrick's Day

Glauber started a discussion on set dances, so I thought it would be appropriate to post onee of the more popular set dances, Saint Patrick's Day. The dancers here request it frequently. Some dancers want the B Part repeated (AABB)...other's expect to hear it only once before returning to the A Part (AABAAB). It never hurts to ask first, though many dancers won't know until you actually play it for them.

Watch for those "extra" bars in the B Part--remembering where you are is the trickiest part of playing this tune.

# Posted on November 20th 2001 by Will Harmon

Aaaand, for your edification, here are the words to St. Patrick's Day -- at least, one set of them.

Thomas Moore, from Irish Melodies, vol. 4
"This song was written for a f�te in honour of the Prince of Wales's Birthday, given by my friend, Major Bryan, at his seat in the county of Kilkenny." - from Irish Melodies.

Though dark are our sorrows, today we'll forget them,
And smile through our tears, like a sunbeam in showers:
There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them,
More form'd to be grateful and blest than ours.
But just when the chain,
Has ceased to pain,
And hope has enwreathed it round with flowers,
There comes a new link,
Our spirits to sink
Oh! the joy that we taste, like the light of the poles,
Is a flash amid darkness, too brilliant to stay;
But, though 'twere the last little spark in our souls,
We must light it up now, on our Prince's Day.

2. Contempt on the minion who calls you disloyal!
Though fierce to your foe, to your friends you are true;
And the tribute most high to a head that is royal,
Is love from a heart that loves liberty too.
While cowards, who blight
Your fame, your right,
Would shrink from the blaze of the battle array,
The Standard of Green
In front would be seen
Oh, my life on your faith! were you summon'd this minute,
You'd cast every bitter remembrance away,
And show what the arm of old Erin has in it,
When roused by the foe, on her Prince's Day.

3. He loves the Green Isle, and his love is recorded
In hearts which have suffer'd too much to forget;
And hope shall be crown'd, and attachment rewarded,
And Erin's gay jubileee shine out yet.
The gem may be broke
By many a stroke,
But nothing can cloud its native ray;
Each fragment will cast
A light to the last
And thus, Erin, my country, though broken thou art,
There's lustre wiithin thee, that ne'er will decay;
A spirit which beams through each suffering part,
And now smiles at all pain on the Prince's Day.

# Posted on November 20th 2001 by Zina Lee

St.Patrick�s Day

I have heard that this tune was played by the pipers of the Connaught Rangers at the battle of Waterloo in 1815, and that it was also played by Irish piping regiments in the Duke of Marborough�s campaigns in Europe in the early 18th century.

# Posted on July 27th 2002 by murfbox

Saint Patrick's Day

I know this tune as Saint Patrick's Day in the Morning

m

# Posted on October 22nd 2002 by Trevor Jennings

St. Patrick's Day In The Morning in the Argentine Navy

This tune was made play by the Captain William Brown (born in Foxford, County Mayo, Ireland) in the Montevideo's naval combat in May 17, 1814, between the Spanish and Independentist ships. The Admiral William Brown is the father of the Argentine Navy. A version can be found in http://www.ara.mil.ar/historia/marchas/marchas.htm

PD. Sorry my bad english

# Posted on July 11th 2005 by bouchard_corsario

St. Patrick's Day in the Morning

This tune can be documented in printed sources back to 1740s and it must be older than that. Definitely "an oldie but a goodie."

# Posted on December 24th 2005 by The Merry Highlander

PVB Session Playlist

# Posted on July 3rd 2006 by Rune Stone

Nice one Rune, I like the N: ~ a great way to show the set you guys play it in. Thanks, much appreciated and valued... :-)

# Posted on July 3rd 2006 by ceolachan

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir here, but the way I've heard it has always been AAAB- prep 8 bars, right foot, left foot, The Set- at feiseanna and on my practice CD's ;) . It was the first hardshoe I learned... Since it's a traditional set, though, I've never heard the B part repeated. The Set isn't done on the left foot.
If it's going to be played for dancers, I'd say be sure to include the extra 8 bars for every repeat of it AAABAAAB, etc. Otherwise there's no time to count/prepare and you end up losing half the right foot- which isn't pretty ;)

# Posted on March 17th 2007 by wathgwen

Another way

# Posted on March 18th 2007 by The Merry Highlander

That was just the b part with repeats....

THe "A" isn't much different than whats already here.

# Posted on March 18th 2007 by The Merry Highlander

"St. Patrick's Day" ~ duplication rescue

# Posted on July 29th 2007 by ceolachan

"St Patrick's Day"

It's a set dance in 6/8 time. In other words there's a specific dance which goes with the tune which explains why there are only 14 bars in the turn rather than the 8 or 16 most musicians would expect - ie a conventional jig wil have 8 bars that are normally repeated in each part.

# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Bannerman

# Posted on July 29th 2007 by ceolachan

Here's yet another setting in the key of F from a 1909 edition of "The Remick Favorite Collection of Old Home Songs".

X:1
T:Saint Patrick's Day
C:Barry
C:Arr by George Rosey.
M: 6/8
L:1/16
N: From "The Remick Favorite Collection of Old Home Songs" (1909) Price 50¢ p. 58
K:F
C2|F3 G F2 F2 G2 A2 |c3 d c2 c2 A2 F2 | G3 F G2 A2 F2 C2 | D3 E D2 D4 C C|
F3 G F2 F2 G2 A2 | c3 d c2 c2 A2 F2 | G3 F G2 A2 F2 C2 | D4 E2 F4 c2 |
c2 d2 e2 f4 d2| e4 c2 d4 A2 | c2 d2 e2 f2 e2 d2 | e2 d2 c2 d4 c c |
c2 d2 e2 f4 d2 | e2 d2 c2 d4 ef | F3 G F2 F2 G2 A2 | c3 d c2 c2 A2 F2 |
G3 F G2 A2 F2 C2 | D3 E D2 D4 C2 | F3 G F2 F2 G2 A2 |
c3 d c2 c2 A2 F2 | G3 F G2 A2 F2 C2 | [D4B,4] [E2B2] [F4A,4] |]

Oh! blest be the days when the Green banner floated,
Sublime o'er the mountains of free Innisfail,
When her sons to her glory and freedom devoted,
Defied the invader to tread her soil.
When back o'er the main they chased the Dane,
And gave to religion and learning their spoil,
When valor and mind, together combin'd,
But wherefore lament o'er the glories departed?
Her star shall shine out with as vivid array,
For ne'er had she children more brave and true hearted
Than those she now sees on Saint Patrick's Day.

Her scepter, alas! passed away to the stranger,
And treason surrender'd what valor he held,
But true hearts remain'd amid darkness and danger,
Which, spite of her tyrants, would not be quell'd.
Oft, oft thro' the night flash'd gleams of light,
Which almost the darkness of bondage dispell'd;
But a star now is near, her heaven to cheer,
Not the the wild gleams which so fitfully darted,
but long to shine down with its hallowing ray,
Oh daughters as fair, and sons as true hearted
As Erin beholds on Saint Patrick's Day.

Oh! Blest be the hour when he girt her by cannon,
And hail'd as it rose by a nation's applause,
That flag waved aloft o'er the spire of Dungannon,
Asserting for Irishmen Irish Laws.
Once more shall it wave, o'er hearts as brave,
Despite of the dastards who mock at her cause
And like brothers agreed, whatever their creed,
Her children, inspired by those glories departed:
No longer in darkness desponding will stay,
But join in the cause like the brave and true hearted
Who rise for their rights on Saint Patrick's Day.

# Posted on March 17th 2008 by fidkid

Discussion: St. Patrick's Day as a ceili dance for 4 couples
# Posted on May 8th 2008 by C. Nicolas
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/17725

# Posted on May 9th 2008 by ceolachan

Another version using a g#

This comes from a CD collection by Billy Furlong who plays for many of the feiseanna. The g# going back to the G natural give it a nice lilt

X: 1
T: Saint Patrick's Day
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
S: Billy Furlong
D: Strings for the Sets
Z: Daniel Bradbury
K: Gmaj
D|:GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|EFG AFD|
|GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|Ez FG2 D|
|GAG GBc|ded dBG|A^GA B=GD|EFG AFD|
|GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|Ez FG2D|
|GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|EFG AFD|
|GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|Ez FG2 B|
|def gfe|{a}fed edB|def gfe|{a}fed e2 B|
|def gfe|fed efg||GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|EFG AFD|
|GAG GBc|d3 dBG|A^GA B=GD|1Ez FG2 D:|2Ez FG3||

# Posted on September 10th 2008 by DanielB

Holy Lyrics

We sing this tune in church every year on St. Patrick's Day, but the lyrics are different (and there seems to be a difference in the center of the tune). These are the lyrics we sing:

All praise to St. Patrick, who brought to our mountains
the gift of God's faith, the sweet light of his love!
All hail to the shepherd who showed us the fountains
that rise in the heart of the Savior above!
For hundreds of years, in smiles and in tears,
Our saint has been with us, our shield and our stay;
All else may have gone, Saint Patrick alone,
He hath been to us light when earth's lights were all set,
for the glories of faith they can never decay;
And the best of our glories is bright with us yet,
In the faith and the feast of Saint Patrick's Day!

There is not a saint in the bright courts of heaven
More faithful than he to the land of his choice;
Oh, well may be nation to whom he was given,
In the feast of the sire and apostle rejoice!
In glory above, true to his love,
He keeps the false faith from his children away;
The dark false faith far worse than death,
Oh, he drives it far off from the green sunny shore,
like the reptiles that fled from his curse in dismay;
And Erin, when error's proud triumph is o'er,
will still be found keeping Saint Patrick's Day.

# Posted on April 4th 2009 by Terence Judge

For Dancers

At my dance school, we always do the B part of St. Patrick's Day once. The AAAB seems to be fairly standard from what I've seen. Of course, if I wasn't playing for dancers, I'd do the B part as many times as I could get away with it, it's a lot of fun to play.

# Posted on March 22nd 2010 by aj.dancer

Online Fiddle Tutorial

Useful online fiddle tutorial here from Ian Walsh:

http://www.diylife.com/videos-partner/how-to-play-st-patricks-day-on-an-irish-fiddle-126853206-163

# Posted on March 21st 2011 by Mix O'Lydian

Dont forget the Ceili!!

While when playing the traditional set many dances only want the B played once, when playing the tune for the ceili dance, the B part is repeated

# Posted on August 30th 2011 by vivace1