Annotation:Dear Little Island (2) (The)
X:1 T:Dear Little Island [2], The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:March S:O'Neill - Music of Ireland (1903), No. 1831 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G d/c/ | B2B Bgf | e2e efg | d>ed dcB | BAA A2 d/c/ | B2B Bgf | e2 e efg | ded cBA | AGG G2 || g/a/ | b2g a2f | gfe dcB | cde dgB | BAA A2 g/a/ | b2g a2f | gfe agf | bag fge | dgf edc ||
DEAR LITTLE ISLAND [2], THE.AKA and see "Ap Shenkin," "Even and Odd Like Tom with His Hod," "Tempest (1)." Irish, March (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The first strain is cognate with "Dear Little Island (1) (The)" but the second strains are different. Despite that the tune is sometimes labelled with an 'Irish' provenance, it was originally as a three-part Welsh tune that can be dated to at least the early 19th century when it was included as "Ap Shenkin" in Blind Parry's The Welsh Harper (vol. 1, p. 105). It that volume it is claimed, "Composed by J. Parry, 1803," along with a complaint that the melody had been pirated by other publishers in the British Isles and the Continent.
"Dear Little Island" is the first two parts of "Ap Shenkin." Boston publisher Elias Howe printed the same first two parts as "Tempest (1)" in the mid-19th century. See also P.W. Joyce's version, "Even and Odd Like Tom with His Hod."
