McNamara's Band

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Shamus O'Connor (arr. Briegel)


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General Info

Year: 1889 / 1917
Duration:
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Larway
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.


Instrumentation

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Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

McNamara's Band (originally "MacNamara's Band") is a popular song composed in 1889 by Shamus O'Connor (music) and John J. Stamford (lyrics). Stamford was then the manager of the Alhambra Theatre in Belfast, and the song was written expressly for the theater's owner, the Irish-American music hall veteran William J. "Billy" Ashcroft. Ashcroft had earlier in his career in the U.S. performed a blackface routine called The Lively [or 'Musical'] Moke, which interspersed comic song and dance with brief performances on multiple instruments. McNamara's Band gave him scope for a similar Irish "character song."

It has been claimed that the song was inspired by an actual band, the St Mary's Fife and Drum Band, formed in Limerick in 1885. In the late 19th century the band featured four brothers, Patrick, John, Michael and Thomas McNamara, and became famous for playing shows all across Ireland.

Modern listeners associate the song with the version recorded on December 6, 1945 by Bing Crosby, with a set of lyrics credited to "The Three Jesters."

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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  • Cary (N.C.) Town Band (Stuart Holoman, conductor) – 27 February 2017


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources