manx celtic music and dance

Tommy the Mate

31 May 2011


“TOMMY THE MATE”

 A NOTE ON THOMAS CRELLIN by Stephen Miller

 We have few likenesses of Manx traditional singers but here we can see Thomas Crellin standing, somewhat stiffly it must be said, as part of a group photograph of the Peel Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting that was reproduced in the Examiner Annual for 1903 (published in 1902). He is standing in the back row, second from the right. Crellin sold coal off the quayside at Peel, though earlier he had been a Master Mariner and so gained the nickname “Tommy the Mate” as a result.

He was a singer for both Harry Bridson (collecting on behalf of A.W. Moore) and the Gill brothers showing that he had a recognised reputation. Seven tunes of his were used in Manx Ballads and Music (1896), namely, “Graih my Chree” (with words), “Inneenyn Eirinee,” “Juan y Jaggad Keear,” “Mannin Veg Veen,” “Marrinys yn Tiger,” “Snieu Wheeyl Snieu,” and “Ushtey Millish.” His words for “My Callin Veg Dhone” were also used, though not his tune. The Gill brothers collected from him on three occasions, twice in 1895 and again in 1898, their last joint collecting tour. They took down “The Farmer’s Daughter,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Juan y Jaggad Keear” (x2), “Yn Shenn Dolphin,” “Spinning Wheel Song” [ie, “Snieu Wheeyl Snieu”], and “Yn Stroieder.”

Crellin provided the Gills with six tunes (with one variant) and Moore with seven tunes. They only overlap twice (“Juan y Jaggad Keear” and “Snieu Wheeyl Snieu”). As regards the two sets of words supplied by Crellin, as the tune for “Graih my Chree” was taken down as well as the text it is reasonable to assume that the tune for “My Callin Veg Dhone” was also collected. In the case of “Graih my Chree” Crellin’s tune appeared, for “My Callin Veg Dhone” the tune was taken from Mona Melodies (1820).

Overall then, we have a recorded repertoire of eleven tunes and two sets of words; that there was only an overlap of two tunes poses the question as to how Bridson and the Gills ellicted their material, one now unlikely to be answered. Also, the presence of “The Farmer’s Daughter” makes one speculate how many other songs with English titles did Crellin know but were filtered out as not being felt to be Manx at all.

 

 

 

 

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