The Lads Of Laoise

reel

Key signature: Eminor

Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 245 tunebooks.

Also known as Lads Of Laois, The Lads Of Laois, Lads Of Laoise, The Lads Of Leith, Sic A Wife As I Hae Gotten, Sir Adam Ferguson's.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• A Mandolin Album by Paul Kelly
• A Tribute To Michael Coleman by Joe Burke, Andy McGann And Felix Dolan
• Across The Pond by Kevin Griffin, Roger Burridge And Others
• Archives #1 by Jean Carignan And Gilles Losier
• Are You Willing? by Tabache
• Bach Meets Cape Breton by Puirt A Baroque
• Celtic Crossing by William Coulter
• Clare Accordion by Seamus Walshe
• Coppers And Brass by Dick Gaughan
• Doctor A's Secret Remedies by Four Men And A Dog
• Familiar Footsteps by Dezi Donnelly
• Gaughan by Dick Gaughan
• Hungry Grass by Hungry Grass
• Irish Women Musicians Of America by Cherish The Ladies
• Last Night's Fun by Last Night's Fun
• Launching The Boat by Siona
• Lead The Knave by Arty McGlynn And Nollaig Casey
• Live It Up by Reeltime
• Memories Of Sligo by Roger Sherlock
• My Love Is In America by Lynn Saoirse
• On TSean - Am Anall by Danny O'Donnell
• Out On The Ocean by Moher
• Over The Straits by Fiddlehead
• Return To Inis Mor by Joe Derrane
• Seisiún Na H-Éireann 2006 Festival CD by Lynn Saoirse
• Sets In The City by Tipsy House
• Sligo Fiddle (Disk 2) by John Vesey
• Soh It Is by Craobh Rua
• Spinndrift by Mooncoin
• The Boys From The Blue Hill by Vinnie Kilduff
• The Branch Line by Jack And Charlie Coen
• The Coming Of Spring by Eitre
• The Fire Aflame by Keane, Molloy, O'Flynn
• The Flooded Bridge by Patricia Clark And Simon Bacon
• Traditional Irish Music by James Kelly
• Traditional Music Of Ireland On Button Accordion by Seamus Walshe
• Two Gentlemen Of Clare by Gerard Commane And Joe Ryan

X: 1
T: Lads Of Laoise, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Emin
|:EB,B,2 EGFE| DA, A,2 DEFD| E2 FD EFGA|B2 e^c d^cBA|
EB,B,2 EGFE|DA, A,2 DEFD| E2 BE dEBE| DEFA BE E2:|
|:eBB2 egfe| defa gfed| Bdef gfea| afdf gfed|
eBB2 GBFA| EBBA Bdef|g2ge f2fd| efed BAFD:|

A tricky reel, this one, but it sounds great.

There's a huge range in this tune. Tin whistle players may have to pass this one up, I'm afraid. An A whistle could handle the range; the the tune doesn't go lower or higher than A in two different octaves, but it would hard to transcribe the tune, and reach all those notes.

For the rest of us, the tune still prevents some problems. There's a lot of movement involved, and some sneaky phrases in the second part. It's worth sticking at it for this tune, though. When it's played right, it rocks.

This tune also works well at a moody, sinister slower pace.

# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy

Whistles, Pipes, Flutes

It's quite easy for whistles etc. to just jump and octave for the first bars. |EB,~B,2 EGFE|DA,~A,2 DEFD| becomes |eB~B2|EGFE|dA~A2 DEFD| or |eB~B2|EGFE|DA~A2 DEFD|
You can also raise the rest of those bars an octave. It all works and gives different effects. Of course it doesn't have the kick of the original but it lets you play this great reel along with the fiddles and boxes.

# Posted on July 9th 2001 by Ah, Surely!

Chords in "Lads of Laois"

Hello,can anybody tell me what chords does Arty McGlynn use when he backs "The Lads of Laois" in the superb recording with Sean Keane, Matt Molloy and Liam O' Flynn: The Fire Aflame. It is the middle tune in the J.B Reel Set.Thanks

# Posted on June 6th 2005 by Rafix

Here's a version i picked from a Session tape.

|:E2EF G2FE |DA, ~A,2 DEFD |1ECEG ADFA |Bgfe dBAF:|2 E2BE dEBE| DEFA B2A
F:||:e3e efge |d2ff gfed |^cdef ~g3e| fBdf gfed |efed BA^GA| BE~E2 Bde
f|~=g3e ~f3f |1efed BABd:|2efed BAFD||

# Posted on June 14th 2005 by Washoo

I LOVE how rose flanagan plays this in the Cherish The ladies cd!!!

# Posted on September 11th 2005 by CELTICCHEF83

A flute tune

This can be worked out on flute and whistle. It's a great tune. You'll spend a while figuring out the octave jumps, but it can be done. The ornaments fit beautifully on the whistle and flute. Don't be afraid of it. It's worth pursuing though it will take a while before it sits comfortably.

# Posted on June 16th 2007 by cocus

Tommy Potts' "Lads of Laoise"?

A few months ago, somebody posted a link to a track of Tommy Potts playing the "Lads of Laoise". I've been looking around, but unable to find a copy of that track.

Is there a chance that someone could re-post that track, or at least tell me from whence it came?

Thanks in advance!

# Posted on November 20th 2007 by Georgi

Re: Tommy Potts' "Lads of Laoise"?

I found this on the net

'It appears that another line of influence for the “Lads of Laois”
stems from Liberties area, Dublin, fiddler Tommy Potts, somewhat altered to make it his own, although it does not appear in his commercially recorded output.'

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/LAD.htm

# Posted on November 20th 2007 by dafydd

Re: Tommy Potts' "Lads of Laoise"?

Yeah, I saw that. But it clearly exists out there somewhere, in some context, since somebody posted it as part of a discussion.

I think it might have been in this thread: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/12620 but I'm not sure. The link to claddagh records in there is dead now.

# Posted on November 20th 2007 by Georgi

It's believed to be Tommy Potts composition.

# Posted on December 18th 2007 by PaddyCmusic

Don't think so...

Not so, Paddy. I seem to remember there's a Scottish tune, much older than Tommy Potts, called "The Lads Of Leith" - the tune and the title both got changed when they got to Ireland.

# Posted on December 18th 2007 by Kenny

Andy McGann played this tune with reel in A major after it (The First Month of Summer) on the great album A Tribute to Michael Coleman. These two tunes have been played together often ever since.

# Posted on December 19th 2007 by FidDLe01

The Lads Of Laoise (reel)

As Kenny says, there appears to be antecedents of this tune; one of these, which was pointed out to me by Jack Campin, is given below.

X:227
T:Sir Adam Ferguson's Reel
T:The Lads of Leith
T:Sic a Wife as I Hae Gotten
S:J.Riddell of Ayr (1718-95)
Z:Nigel Gatherer
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Em
B,EEF E/F/G FE | A,DDE D/E/F ED | GFED EFGA | Bedc B2 E2 :|
eB BA/B/ gfed | Adfa gfed | eB BA/B/ gfed | g>bag f2 ed |
eB BA/B/ gfed | Adfa gfed | g>bge fafd | gfed e2 E2 ||

# Posted on December 19th 2007 by nigelg

Lads of Leith

That's true. I remember hearing of it being related to that tune some time ago. Well, I was just going by the sleeve notes on Seamus Walshe's album "Clare Accordion." Obviously, it is mistaken.

# Posted on December 20th 2007 by PaddyCmusic