Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on January 17th 2005 by treefrogman.
This tune has been added to 13 tunebooks.
X: 1
T: Merry Plough Boy, The
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Gmaj
BB || d2d2 | e2B2 | d2A2-|A2 AB | c2c2 | d2A2 | B4-|
B2 cB | A2d2 | f2 ff | e2 d2 | A2 dd | d2A2 | c2B2 | G4-| G2 Bc :|
d2>d2 | ee Bc | d2 AA | A2 AB | c2c2 | d2A2 | B4-|B2 cB |
A2d2 | f2 ff | e2d2 | A2 dd | d2 A2 | c2 B2 | G4-|G2 ||
The Merry Ploughboy
Come off it. This is CLEARLY a march. Even if I didn't know the song, it still sticks out as NO polka.
Oh ya maybe to the ABC schmucks. They maybe can't tell the difference.
I'll use this notation in my classes to show pupils WHY one shouln't use Alphabetty spiggetti (ABC, Liniar Alphabet) to write or especially learn tunes.
Oh bugger the spelling, I'm upset that this great web-site that I've promoted so much amoungst friends and pupils should reproduce such ...............balderdash.
Peter O'Connor
# Posted on January 17th 2005 by Peter O'Connor
Find me "march" in the "tune type" box, and I'll gladly remedy. Thing is, there is no "march" option. I tried my best.
p.s. Good word, "balderdash"!
# Posted on January 17th 2005 by treefrogman
Yes, the reason there is no march option is because marches appear in both 6/8 and 2/4 time. The older marches are generally in 6/8...
# Posted on January 17th 2005 by violynnsey
Neither March or Polka
I'm sure this is a song tune and not even Irish, can we have some info please mr. Fogman. It's title suggests it is a song and the tune seems to shout out for words. It neither feels like a tune for dancing to or for marching to for that matter. Croak away Mr Frogman let's have some accompanying info.
# Posted on January 17th 2005 by hetty
Merry Ploughboy
Anyone who was around in the sixties will be familiar with this tune. It was a song (recorded by Dermot O'Brien and the Clubmen) which was sung at every folk club in a similar way to the other ballads in vogue at the time (Black Velvet Band, Holy Ground, I'll tell My Ma, etc, etc). The chorus included "We're all off to Dublin in the Green in the Green where the helmets glisten in the sun......" surely this must jog some memories! Whatever it is, it's definitely not a polka.
# Posted on January 18th 2005 by Bannerman
Peter ... I'm afraid your tirade may have been misdirected. ABC is quite capable of distinguishing between marches and polkas. However, the way Jeremy has set this particular database up limits the number of choices people can make when submitting a tune to the database.
treefrogman is obviously pretty new to submitting tunes to Jeremy's database, since he is unfamiliar with the convention that has arisen over time, i.e. if a person submits a tune and has to submit it to the "next best" tune type, then in the comments suggestion the submitter notes that it is an X, not a Y as the tune type suggests. (see for example http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1422 or http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/1330 )
I wonder if it's really appropriate to have all these corny song tunes posted in the database. Has anyone ever been to a session where people PLAY stuff such as "The Rare Oul' Mountain Dew" and "The Merry Ploughboy"? What next ... "The Fields of Athenry", "The Wild Rover", "Whiskey In The Jar" ...?
# Posted on January 18th 2005 by Aidan Crossey
Sorry, I guess I should get a better idea of what sort of tunes go on this site before I post any more. I was just browsing through the request list looking for tunes I could contribute, unaware that this site was not intended for such tunes.
By the by, are most of the songs played and/or written by Battlefield Band permissable?
# Posted on January 18th 2005 by treefrogman
Well, as they're songs, and not tunes, I guess the answer would probably be no. On the other hand, nobody's going to stop you, although you'll get plenty of whining and there's always the risk of the fearsome hand of Jeremy wiping your submission as if it had never been, but you'd probably have to post "The Rattling Bog" or something to get that to happen.
This site is pretty much about dance music. Stick to that, and you're in business.
# Posted on January 19th 2005 by Jon Kiparsky
The difference between a march and a polka is how you play it--I have heard polkas creep into march sets and fit right in. Also, lots of polkas are the "airs" of songs, so there is no shame in that. And the march/polka difference is a rhythm and speed thing, that doesn't show up in the notes, whether they be dots or abcs. (If a military unit tried to march to a polka, they would suffer mightily, and if a set of dancers tried to polka to a march, they would complain that it is too slow.)
AL Brown
# Posted on January 19th 2005 by AlBrown
Right! Sorry, I meant tunes. Two examples of Battlefield Band tunes:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/4108
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/4119
Those good?
# Posted on January 19th 2005 by treefrogman
I'm new here so I can't speak for the group, but it seems to me that a data base should be as inclusive as possible. If you don't need or like a particular tune, just ignore it. I found this site after googling "Off to Dublin in the Green." I recalled the tune from my youth and wanted to learn it. This site is, so far, the only on listing the tune with a cross-reference to a more common name. Thanks for helping me find a long-forgotten tune.
# Posted on November 11th 2006 by walrus