Annotation:Glân meddwdod mwyn
X:1 T:Glàn meddwdod mwyn T:Good humour’d & Fairly Tipsey M:3/4 L:1/8 Q:"Tempo do Minuetto" R:Air B:Edward Jones – Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1784, p. 149) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:C V:1 C2|E2F2G2|c2B2A2|(G3A)GF|[C4E4]C2|E2F2G2| A2B2c2|{e}d2c2B2|c4:||:cd|[c2e2][c2e2][B2d2]|[E4B4][G2B2]| c2 cedf|T(e4d2)|c2 c>dB>c|A2 A>BG>A|FEFAGF| EFED C2|E2F2G2|A2B2c2|d>e c2 ~B2|[E4G4c4]:|] V:2 clef = bass z2|z6|[C,,6C,6]|C,2G,2G,,2|C,2 G,F,E,D,|C,2D,2E,2| F,2D,2D,2|F,2G,2G,,2|[C,4C4]::z2|C,D,E,F, G,2|A,2D,2G,2| E,2C,2G,2|C,2C,2G,2|A,4E,2|F,4C,2|D,4G,,2| C4z2|C,CD,DE,E|F,F D,DE,E|[F,2F2]G2G,2|[C,4C4]:|
GLÂN MEDDWDOD MWYN ("Good Humoured & Fairly Tipsy" or "Sweet intoxication"). AKA - "Glân feddwdod mwyn." Welsh, Air (3/4 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears in Edward Jones' (1752-1824) Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards, a volume first published in 1784, and subsequently released in further, ever expanding editions into the 19th century. Jones was born at Lladerfel, near Bala in north Wales, but at the age of twenty-two he moved to London, where he established a musical career for nearly half a century. In a letter dated Oct. 5, 1819, on Welsh music written to the The Cambro-Briton (1820, vol. 1, p. 96), John Parry says:
"Glân Meddwdod Mwyn" or "Good humoured and fairly tipsy".--It is impossible to give a faithful translation of "Glân meddwdod mwyn." The air is a very beautiful one, and very frequently sung in Wales; as a two-part song it is exceedingly effective. Many Pennillion on various subjects are chaunted to this tune, the metre of which is long, consisting of eleven syllables: e.g.
"If friendship and love be not blessings divine,
In life there's no pleasure, no music in song."
It was one of several melodies, with appropriate verses, used to close proceedings at Eisteddfodau [1] when they were revived in the mid-19th century. The tune appears in Blind Parry's collection of Twelve Airs for one and two Guitars (1760-65), republished in an edition of 1781. Frank Kidson (Groves) says the tune is a "slight deviation" from a once popular song called "The Women all Tell me I'm False to my Lass," sung originally at Vauxhall in 1750. The song (which relates the forsaking of love for drink) was printed in the June supplement to the Universal Magazine (London) for 1751 (p. 318), under the title "The Jolly Topper. A New Song" and begins:
The women all tell me I'm false to my lass,
That I quit my poor Chloe, and stick to my glass;
But to you men of reason, my reasons I'll own,
And if you don't like them, why, let them alone.
Altho I have left her, the truth I'll declare,
I believe she was good, and I'm sure she was fair;
But goodness and charms in a bumper I see
The makes it as good and as charming as she.
