{"id":3958,"date":"2020-07-01T20:17:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T20:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=3958"},"modified":"2023-08-26T21:54:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T21:54:06","slug":"lannigans-ball","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/lannigans-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"Lannigan’s Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Lanigans Ball
Lannegan’s Ball
Jimmie Lanigan
Flanagan’s Ball<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1863<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>DK Gavan<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td>John Candy?<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN3011<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source Singers<\/strong>
Berthold Chickering, nd, Michigan USA
George Piper, ca. 1869, ‘Europa’ ship, USA
Bateese Lapensier, 1885, Ontario Canada
Annie Ritchie, 1906, Scotland
Alexander Robb, 1906, Scotland
Patrick Halley, 1937\/38, Co Waterford Ireland
Warde Ford, 1939, California USA
James Kneeland, 1941, Maine USA
Lena Bourne Fish, 1943, New Hampshire, USA
Michael Barden, 1947, Massachusetts USA
Bernard Young, 1951, Nova Scotia Canada
Elizabeth Cronin, 1954, Cork Ireland
Angelo Dornan, 1955, New Brunswick Canada
Eddie Butcher, 1968, Derry, Northern Ireland
Robin Hutchinson,1960s-80s, Scotland
Ulrick McDonald, ,1960s-80s, Co Galway Ireland

Modern performances<\/strong>
Christy Moore and many others
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In the town of Athy one Jeremy Lannigan\nBattered away \u2019till he hadn\u2019t a pound\nHis father died and made him a man again\nLeft him a farm and ten acres of ground\nHe gave a grand party for friends and relations\nWho hadn\u2019t forgot him when sent to the wall\nIf you just listen, I\u2019ll make your eyes glisten\nAt the rows and the ructions of Lannigan\u2019s Ball\n\nMyself, to be sure, got free invitations\nFor all the nice boys and girls I\u2019d ask;\nIn less than a minute, the friends and relations\nWere dancing as merry as bees round a cask\nMIss O'Hara the nice little milliner,\nTipp'd me the wink to give her a call,\nAnd soon we arrived with Timothy Gleigan\nJust in time for Lannigan's Ball.\n\nThere was lashings of punch, and wine for the ladies\nPotatoes and cakes and bacon and tea\nThere were Nolans and Doolans and all the O\u2019Gradys\nCourtin\u2019 the girls and dancin\u2019 away.\nSongs they were as plenty as water,\nFrom the \"Harp that once thro' Tara's ould Hall,\"\nTo sweet \"Nelly Gray\" and \"The Ratcatcher's Daughter\"\nAll singing together at Lannigan's Ball\n\nThey were doing all sorts of nonsensical polkas\nAll round the room in a neat whirligig\nBut Julia and I soon banished their nonsense\nAnd tipp'd them the twist of a real Irish jig.\nOch mavrone! \u2018twas she that was glad o\u2019 me,\nAnd danced \u2019till you'd think the ceilin\u2019 would fall\nFor I spent three weeks at Burke\u2019s Acadamy\nLearning to dance for Lannigan\u2019s Ball\n\nThe boys were all merry, the girls were all hearty\nDancin\u2019 away in couples and groups\nTill an accident happened, young Terence Macarthy\nHe put right leg on Miss Flaherty's hoops.\nThe creature, she fainted and roared \u201cMillia Murther\u201d\nCalled for her friends and gathered them all,\nNed Carmody swore he\u2019d go no further\nBut have satisfaction at Lannigan\u2019s Ball\n\nIn the midst of the row, Miss Kerraigan fainted\nHer cheeks all the while being red as the rose\nSome of the ladies declared she was painted\nShe took a small drop too much I suppose\nHer sweetheart, Ned Morgan, so powerful and able\nWhen he saw his fair colleen stretched by the wall\nHe tore the left leg from under the table\nAnd smashed all the chaney at Lannigan\u2019s Ball\n\nOh boys, there was the ruction\nMyself got a lick from big Phelim McHugh\nBut I soon replied to this kind introduction\nAnd kick'd up a terrible Phillabaloo\nOuld Casey, the piper, was near being strangled,\nThey squeez'd up his pipes, bellows, chanters and all\nThe girls in their ribbons, they got all entangled\nAnd that put an end to Lannigan\u2019s Ball<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
This song was 1st made popular by Harry Clifton<\/a>, and probably dates from the time he spent touring in Ireland in the years 1855 to 1861. It was later published by Clifton’s regular publishers Hopwood and Crew, while the sheet music is unfortunately undated, the publishers first advertised it in 1863. The sheet music gives credit as follows: by D.K. Cavan, the Galway poet ; [arranged by] John Candy ; [sung by] Harry Clifton.<\/em> The American sheet music published in 1863 claims that Tony Pastor wrote the lyrics, but I wouldn’t take that too seriously, as Pastor was in the habit of claiming the authorship of most of the hundreds of songs that he imported from the Music Halls of Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was some confusion in Britain about the authorship of the song at the time, which may be related to the claims that were often made that Clifton wrote all his own material. Clifton cleared up the confusion with this announcement he made in The Era,<\/em> the Music Hall trade newspaper in 1863. [I think that  The Era <\/em>is correct and the spelling of the author is almost certainly Gavan not Cavan].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"This
The Era, Feb 22 1863<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
DK Gavan “The Galway poet” is a bit of a mystery.  [more to come]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The music may have been borrowed from an older source, and may be related to a tune called Hurry the Jug.<\/em> In any case the tune is often used in Irish dance music and has been recorded under various other titles including The Bullockies\u2019 Ball, Domhnull An Dannsair, Domhull An Dannsair<\/em>,  Paddy O\u2019Rafferty, Unplugged And Plowed.<\/em> The complex story of the tune is summarised in the Traditional Tune Archive entry given in the sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its a song which is hugely popular in the Irish tradition, and has been collected from source singers all over the English-speaking world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n