Hornpipes

 I woke in the middle of the night with my internal voice clearly stating, "It's a hornpipe."

I knew immediately what this meant, but you, dear reader, obviously would not, so I must explain.

A few weeks ago, I put music to W B Yeats' poem "The Song of the Wandering Aongus," and released the song on Spotify and the other streaming channels. The other day, I finished putting music to  James Clarence Mangan's poem, "A Vision of Connaught in the Thirteenth Century," or, rather to my adaptation of it, "Bertie of the Golden Hand." 

Mangan describes a vision of a prosperous and happy Connaught under the reign of Cathal More Of The Wine-Red Hand, and then a return visit to a desolate country under a later regime. I have lived through a prosperous and happy Ireland ("The Celtic Tiger") under Bertie Ahern, followed by a desolate country under an economic recesion; and now a renewal of Covid 19 lockdown brings Mangan's poem to mind.

I found, when the job was done, I had used the same air, (though  with a swifter tempo), as Wandering Aongus. I was surprised because it had never occurred to me that the two poems have the same structure and meter.

I tried putting new airs to Bertie in my head, but failed.

Now, how I put an air to a poem is this: I recite the poem rhythmically and it naturally falls into a tune as I recite. So Bertie fell into the same tune as Aongus and would not give up.

It was in this state of mind that I went to bed, and the subconscious worked on the problem when I was asleep. It cracked the problem and, waking me up, presented the solution to my waking mind with the cryptic phrase: "It's a hornpipe," even though I had set Aongus to a 3/4 rhythm, like a waltz).

This dream insight provided me with a store of airs to  consider for Bertie Of The Golden Hand. I chose The Derry Hornpipe and adapted this to my purpose. Having run through the song a number of times, I decided that my best presentation was as a recitation over an orchestra playing the tune. and so this was how I recorded it and present it now on Spotify, Amazon Music, Deezer, etc.

Links to these songs on Spotify:

Wandering Aongus

Bertie of the Golden Hand