Hornpipe, Em, Irish, English, Scottish.
Attributed to James Hill (1811 – 1853)
This tune takes its name from Thomas Paine’s book Rights of Man, published in 1791. The tune, sometimes attributed to James Hill (1811 – 1853, Newcastle, England), is one of the most popular of hornpipes played in Irish sessions.
The writings of of Thomas Paine influenced the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the 1798 Irish Rebellion. The Portrait of Thomas Paine in the illustration above comes from a painting by George Romney (1734-1802).
“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”
― Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Recordings
- Audio – Comhaltas: Rights of Man – session recording from the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 2
- Video – Charles Monod (Tunes from Doolin): The Rights of Man (hornpipe) | Irish Music Tunes on Concertina – with a link to sheet music and ABC notation
- Video – Dulahan Ireland: The Rights Of Man and Walsh’s Hornpipes – fiddle with rhythm guitar. (Dulahan is the duo of Joe and Adele Green, County Mayo, Ireland.)
“Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.”
― Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Sheet Music
As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference. The version here does not include ornamentation — refer to the linked recordings and lessons for examples of triplets and other ornamentation.
Play-along Tracks
Sets
Examples of sets that include this tune.
- Bluehill Rights Hornpipe Set: The Boys of Bluehill / (D) The Rights of Man (Em)
- The Pride of Petravore / The Rights of Man
- Off to California / The Rights of Man
References and Resources
For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.
- More Recordings
- Audio – Castlerock: Hornpipe – The Rights of Man – played slowly on fiddle and flute. From the album Session Tunes volume 1 (Mt. Vernon, Washington, USA)
- Audio – John Weed and Stuart Mason: The Rights Of Man – played slowly on fiddle with rhythm guitar. From the album Slow & Easy Volume 1.
- Books
- Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 2 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann
- Book – John Weed and Stuart Mason: Slow & Easy Volumes 1 and 2
- Lessons
- Lesson – Chris Haigh (The Fiddle Channel): Rights of Man- fiddle tutorial – video lesson with sheet music in video.
- Lesson – Baron Collins-Hill (Mandolessons): The Rights of Man – video lesson for mandolin with play-along tracks and downloadable sheet music and tablature.
- Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): The Rights of Man (Hornpipe) Tin Whistle Lesson – video lesson
- Lessons – Online Academy of Irish Music – lessons for tenor banjo (melody) and guitar (backup) – requires a subscription to OAIM.
- Additional Resources
- Article – Wikipedia: Rights of Man – about Thomas Paine’s book, The Rights of Man
- Audio – Alex Sturbaum: Tom Paine’s Bones – song performed by Alex Sturbaum; written by Written by Graham Moore; from the album Loomings (Seattle, Washington, 2020)
- Webpage – The Session: The Rights of Man (Hornpipe) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments and more
- Webpage – Irishtune.info: Rights of Man – archival information about the tune, curated by Alan Ng
- Webpage – The Traditional Tune Archive: Rights of Man – archival information about the tune, its source, and about Thomas Paine’s book Rights of Man
- Article – Wikipedia: James Hill (folk musician) – biography of the composer (perhaps) of The Rights of Man