Tabhair Dom Do Lámh waltz

This is of course also known by its Irish title, “Tabhair Dom Do Lamh”.

The tune is by Ruairi Dall O’Cathain, c. 1570-c.1650, an Irish harper who emigrated to Scotland. James I/VI sent for O’Cathain due to the popularity of this tune. Dated in the Bunting collection to about 1603.

O’Cathain and O’Carolan (the blind harper considered by many to have been Ireland’s greatest composer of the time, and some say even still) were great rivals and reportedly couldn’t stand each other. There’s a story told that O’Cathain was attending a great festival. One evening there was a gathering, and O’Cathain was roaring out insults about O’Carolan, who was, unbeknownst to O’Cathain, present at the time. O’Carolan left his guide and, using his hearing alone, slowly came up behind O’Cathain and then grabbed him by the throat in mid-insult and began to throttle him. It took, reportedly, five or six men to pull the harpers apart.

I’ve read the following regarding this tune: Note that the tune is pentatonic until the final phrase. The mixolydian seventh appears four measures from the end, while the fourth does not appear until the final measure.

Great story, Zina!

Planxty played this with the raggle-tagle gypsy and the break between the two tunes is wonderful. I’ve not found a recording of it recently, but I remember it as one of Christy Moore’s favourite combos.

Sorry about this, but I was under the impression that Ruari Dall, (Blind Ruari) was a fiddler, not a harpest. Also that this tune, Tabhair dom do Lamh, is a O’Carolan compositon, at least it was according to my school text book!
Mind you nice story about the two blind men trying to beat up each other!

I looked this up in my copy of “Carolan: The Life Times and Music of an Irish Harper” by Donal O’Sullivan (new edition, 2001, Ossian Publications Ltd., Cork Ireland). Arthur O’Neill tells this story about Rory Dall O Cathain (Blind Roger O’Keane) in chapter 4 of his memoirs, reprinted in the O’Sullivan book (p.321):

“He [Rory Dall] took a fancy to visit Scotland, where there were great harpers. He took his retinue (or suite) with him. Amongst other visits in the style of an Irish chieftain he paid one to a Lady Eglinton, and she (not knowing his rank) in a peremptory manner demanded a tune, which he declined as he only came to play to amuse her, and in an irritable manner left the house. However, when she was informed of his consequence she eagerly contrived a reconciliation and made an apology, and the result was that he composed a tune for her ladyship, the handsome tune of ‘Da mihi manum’ (‘Give me your hand’), for which his fame reached through Scotland and came to the ears of the Gunpowder Plot prophet James the First of England (then the Sixth of Scotland)…”

Get hold of the book and read the rest of the memoir – you’ll enjoy it!

Sarah

I found this tune in a tin whistle book by Robin Williamson. I like it very much.
When I play this I like to speed up slightly in measures 33 and 34, and then slow down in measure 35 and hold the note in measure 36.

Primarily because O’Carolan wasn’t born until twenty years after the death of O’Cathain–at least according to the dates given above for O’Cathain.

macfion, I’m sorry to do this, but you are very wrong on both counts. ZinaLee was spot on about Ruari Dall O’Cath

The Chieftains also recorded this, I think it was on Chieftains 5, if my memory serves me right. I loved the story about the two harpers fighting! lol

Silver

wonderful version of this on Sean O Riada’s record “O Riada” with Ceoltoiri Chualann.

There is an error in transcription near the end of the piece. It brings up the dialog “illegal colon”. Easy to fix.

I love this piece.

thats so funny,,,,
i love this song!
one of my favorites!!!!
🙂

where I first heard this song, is from my first irish cd, and where I first fell in love with the music. the cd is called Celtic Pride and the recording was done by Column MacOireachtaigh, a name wich I will never ever ever attempt to pronounce.

anyways, the song we have listed here was played after all the lyrics were finished in the song white orange and green wich I believe is track 2. It was very pretty and if anyone wants a copy of the song just contact me.

anyways, the lyrics for it where (and forgive spelling and all I just listened to the words some may even be innacurate but…)

in the bulgaldi mountains so far far away, I’ll tell you a story that
G A B B B B A G E G A G G G B D’ D’ B G
happened one day, about a young girl, her age was sixteen,
B A G A G G B D’ D’ B D’E’ D’ B A
and she carried a banner white orange and green.
A B —— A B DE–– D E G G G

And a young english soldier was passing that way, and he saw the young girl with her banner so gay, he laughed and he joked and got off his mashien, determined to capture, white orange and green.

“Oh you can’t have my banner,” the young girl replied, “to your blood and mine on the bulgaldi’s lyde, for I am a rebel and thats nothing mean, and I’d lay down my life for white orange and green”

And the young english soldier turned white as the snow, got on his mashien and away he did go, for there is no use in fighting a girl of sixteen, who would die for a banner, white orange and green.

you will note that I have the notes below the words, in the first verse, to the best I could do anyways, I learned it by ear so it could be off. ’ <- that will signify a high octave note on the whistle like D’ or G’ each verse is same as far as the music goes. at the end of the verses the song then continues on using the music that is provided here for Tabhair Dom Do La’mh

crap the notes didn’t keep their spaces, I’m very sorry =(

The Yellow area here doesn’t allow for spacing of letters, I know, I’ve made a few daft attempts at alphabet art, it was disasterous. Let’s see if another couple of ways for spacing gets closer to your intentions ~

in the bul-gal-di moun-tains so far far a-way,
G–A—B—B–B—B——A––G–E—G–A-G-,

in the bul-gal-di moun-tains so far far a-way,
G_A__B__B__B__B____A___G__E_G__A_G_,

It seems the hyphens remain closer to the mark…

If I’ve messed anything up you’ll now have the means to correct it ~

In the bul-gal-di moun-tains so far far a-way,
G–A—B—B–B—B——A—–G–E—G-A-G-,

I’ll tell you a stor-y that hap-pened one day,
G–G—B–D’-D’–B–G––B—A—––G––A-,

a-bout a young girl, and her age was six-teen,
G-G––B-D’——D’—B––D’—E’––D’––B—A-,

and she car-ried a ban-ner white orange and green.
A––B––A—B––D-E––D––E—–G––––G––G-.

Fingers crossed X…

This is just another attempt using underscore. I had first did a cut and paste, not the best idea, as it centers better here in the yellow space before hitting the button below ~ [ post ]

in the bul-gal-di moun-tains so far far a-way,
G_A__B__B_B__B____A__G_E_G_A_G_,

Both ways work, but the hyphen being smaller it gives you more capability of assigning a note to a syllable of the lyric…

Just found confirmation of Carolan’s birth date (1670) - see http://turloughocarolan.net/ - so that he would have required access to a time machine to have attempted to throttle Ruari daill Ó Cathain! Interesting though is the similarity between their music and the number of people who believe that Give me your Hand was a Carolan composition.

I could be wrong but when you compare the sheetmusic to the abc format in the second line of this tune there seems to be some differences.Can anybody rectify these for me?????Im dyin to get this tune off to a T.

What I want to know is where or what are the Bulgadi mountains?

I attended a great concert by Noel Hill here in Portland, Oregon, tonight. He said that “Give Me Your Hand” is often played at Irish weddings. He also said not to confuse it with another tune played at Irish divorce proceedings: “Give Me Your House!”

I was playing this tune on a porch at a party with a friend. He was playing it on the uillean pipes, I on the fiddle, and another on the guitar. After we finished playing, we noticed a girl standing in front of us, nearly weeping. She thanked us for playing and mentioned that this tune is a popular and well-loved tune in Newfoundland. She said she had many relatives in Newfoundland was crying because the tune reminded her of home. Does anyone else know anything about this newfoundland connection?

http://www.tonyhinnigan.com/
http://www.tonyhinnigan.com/whistles.php#

5.) Low Whistle ~ Chieftain Gold (brass) by Phil Hardy ~ “Give Me Your Hand”
http://www.tonyhinnigan.com/movie.php?pageName=tony6.mov

It’s “Si beag si mor” meets “Ashokan Farewell.”

“It’s “Si beag si mor” meets “Ashokan Farewell.””

How very dare you?

Tabhair Dom Do Lamh is a great tune. 🙂

Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) n’a pas pu rencontrer ni étrangler Ruairi Dall O’Cathain, (1570-1650). Mais l’air est très joli, je l’ai appris à partir du disque 5 des Chieftains. Je le joue souvent en session à Strasbourg.

I did read, years ago, that this tune was thought to be by by Ruari Dall but was actually now known to be written by someone else with the same name. I do love the way the tune goes from antagonism to reconcilliation. I don’t see how it could be taken for a Carolan tune though. Totally different style.

Surely this tune should be filed first and foremost as ‘Tabhair dom do lámh’. In all my years, I’ve never heard it referred to by the translated title.

This (in posts above) isn’t the only tale of epic animosities between bardic giants. I heard one recently about the Mediaeval Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym. He was staying with a lord when another poet/bard turned up, and was duly invited to perform. He launched into extempore verse belittling Dafydd ap Gwilym and furthermore insinuating that Dafydd was having an affair with his host’s wife. Dafydd kept his counsel until, in time, his moment came. His verbal retaliation had the effect on the visiting poet of causing the latter to die on the spot of apoplexy.

Unfortunately I have forgotten - if I ever knew, or if it was ever recorded - what Dafydd ap Gwilym actually said on this occasion. But he got the reputation of someone who could kill with a word, and was better not messed with 🙂.

As for the composer of this tune, well, there were actually two harpers in Scotland named Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin (Rory Dall O’Kane) and Ruaidhri Dall Mac Mhuirich (Rory Dall Morrison.) O’Kane died before Morrison was born. It is Likely that O’Kane wrote Give Me Your Hand, (or “Da Mihi Manum” as it was originally called) since as far as we know Morrison didn’t write melodies at all- instead he wrote lyrics and set them to older Gaelic airs. Hence the confusion about whether “Rory Dall” wrote the tune at all- it just depends on which Rory Dall you’re talking about.
As for the O’Carolan anecdote, well, it’s probably false. Morrison and Carolan were alive around the same time, but I don’t believe Morrison traveled in Ireland much.
I hope that clears things up a bit. Here is an interesting set of articles comparing the lives of the two men: http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/rorydall/ and here is an interesting set of articles about the history of this tune: http://www.earlygaelicharp.info/tunes/damihimanum/

I have heard the story of the fight, posted by Zina Lee, with slight variations which solve the timeline puzzle. The harper insulting O’Carolan was David Murphy, a famed contemporary and composer of the popular “Lord Mayo”. Murphy stated that O’Carolan’s compositions were inferior to his own, characterizing them as “bones with no beef”. O’Carolan seized Murphy, exclaiming “Put some beef on these bones, you puppy!”, and proceeded to pound him around the room.
A more thorough version of this tale may be found under “Lord Mayo” in the Traditional Tune Archive.

https://youtu.be/RQ3EPE4cLzo

play video

Played on the low D whistle… lovely rendition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLE8fSzY7To&list=RDMM&start_radio=1&rv=PbUM8mn0_Hk

play video

Here it is with some chords.