Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Hen's March To The Midden. A Stern Warning.

I have been fascinated by the tune title 'The Hen's March To The Midden' (or any variant on this journey).
I did a YouTube search and found this:


This what can happen to people who end up taking folk-music far to seriously.
I laughed till I was sat in a puddle.

2 comments:

The City Folk Club said...

I am sternly warned.
Bill's rendition was considerably better than this, and I dispute that it's a morris tune. These idiots are making up 'moves' as they go along.
This is surely an Irish tune.
I would like to believe that it refers to the story of 'Granuaile', (AKA Grace O'Malley,) a legendary Irish pirate queen in the time of the Spanish Armada.
She occupied and successfully defended Caslean-an-Circa (Hens Castle) against the English.
I fantasise that the 'midden' might be where she buried the slain murderers of her (perhaps) lover, Hugh de-Lacey, whom she had rescued from a shipwreck.
Keep playing it, Bill, but don't wave the handkerchief!
It was rather good!

The City Folk Club said...

Bill enters the room -
"It's a Scots tune, Colin, and not a Morris tune by any stretch of the imagination. It's v. kind of you to praise my fiddling (or at least to say that it's better than some-one else's rendition.)"
I still find fantasy more rewarding than reality.