I’ve applied myself to the songs that May Brannan might have sung, and here are some suggestions – which I hope other people will correct as I may have included some songs that were written after 1913.
The 1798 rebellion was widely commemorated in 1898, as a result of which many of the songs about that rebellion were probably still popular in 1913:
The Croppy Boy (this appeared on broadsides shortly after the rebellion);
The Wind that Shakes the Barley, written by Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836-1883);
The Rising of the Moon - to the air of
The Wearing of the Green – the lyrics were written by John Keegan Casey about 1865;
Young Roddy McCorley, written by Ethna Carbery (1866-1902):
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-i ... -1.2890872.
Bold Robert Emmett, the Darling of Erin (1803 rebellion), which appeared on broadsides from around 1900, can be added to those. Also,
She is far from the Land, written by Thomas Moore (1779 – 1852). He wrote many other songs including
Let Erin Remember and
The Meeting of the Waters. Thomas Moore’s songs were called melodies and were sung by John McCormack (tenor, 1884-1945) – Moore’s songs would give an air of respectability to any kind of gathering.
Then there are the well-known songs written by Thomas Davis, the Young Irelander (1815 - 1845):
A Nation Once Again (more an anthem than a ballad, maybe),
The West’s Asleep,
Tone’s Grave (
In Bodenstown Churchyard):
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... amahon.htm.
Then come the songs about the Fenians:
Deep in Canadian Woods We Met, written by T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914):
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-i ... ry-1.10914;
My Old Fenian Gun:
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... enihan.htm
I think May Brannan would have included some Percy French (1854 – 1920) songs for a bit of light relief. Among his many songs are
The Mountains of Mourne, 1896,
Are Ye Right There Michael (about the West Clare railway),1897, and
Come back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballyjamesduff, 1912. Also
The Darling Girl from Clare, but I don’t know when that was published. I’m sure May included some sentimental songs, ie.
Danny Boy, the words of which were put to The Derry Air by Frederic Weatherly in 1910,
The Moon Behind the Hill, by T. Brigham Bishop (1835 – 1915) and
Come Back to Erin, Mavourneen, written by Charlotte Alington Pye Barnard in the 1860s:
https://hundredyearslate.wordpress.com/ ... k-to-erin/
If May Brannan came from Clare, I’m sure she had some Clare songs. I doubt that
The Fair of Spancil Hill was well known at that time – the story goes that the words were written by Michael Considine (1850 -1873) in California and sent to his nephew, John, but John seems to have kept the song to himself until about 1930. Maybe she sang
Nora Daly, and
Farewell to Miltown Malbay – these are among the songs written by Tomas O’Aodha (Thomas Hayes 1866 – 1935).
Finding out (by googling) when songs were written is one thing (I was surprised to find that
The Bold Fenian Men was not written til 1916), but finding out the dates for the airs to which they were sung is quite another thing. Thomas Moore, I gather, borrowed old Irish airs, but I don’t know where the airs for the Thomas Davis songs came from, for instance. Some airs were used again and again.
May Brannan would not have used the old style of singing called “Sean Nos” (examples in the last two postings), which has a lot of what are called grace notes. Tom Munnelly, who collected songs for forty years (about 1965-2005), did not find many examples of this style of singing in Co. Clare: “In spite of its proximity to Galway and Connemara with its highly ornate sean-nos tradition, singing styles in Clare show little preference for pronounced ornamentation” (p. 323). There may be recordings, made in America, which show the singing style of the period around 1913, and, indeed, the songs that were sung, but there are no such recordings (which have survived) in Ireland. The earliest surviving recording of singing in Clare was made in 1930 and, when recording began, it was considered most urgent to preserve songs that were in the Irish language (fast disappearing), so songs in the English language were neglected somewhat. During his time as a collector, Tom Munnelly tried to make up for this.
*‘Tom Munnelly: Collected Essays and Lectures, 1990-2007’, Ed. Anne Clune, published by the Old Kilfarboy Society, Miltown Malbay Co. Clare, 2014. In his lecture given to the Merriman School, held in Lisdoonvarna, 1999, entitled “Narrative song in Clare", he says he collected more songs in Clare than in any other county (p. 319).
P.S. To learn a bit more, I am doing a re-read of ‘Flowing Tides: History and Memory in an Irish Soundscape’, by Gearoid O hAllmurain, Oxford University Press, 2016. It’s mostly about the music of Co. Clare, but I seem to remember that it includes singing too.
Sheila