Tommy Peoples’ reel

This is, I think, one of the most popular and important session tunes in Ireland.
It comes from the repertoir of Tommy Peoples’, but not his composition.

To be honest, I don’t have enough ability to learn the whole tune by ear yet, so I made up this version referring to several versions available online and some actual recordings.

I’ve recently learned the tune and been playing for around a couple of weeks, but never been sick of it. What a simple and pleasant tune! It is very nice to start a set with this tune, as many do.

There’re several tunes known as Tommy Peoples’, but this is the one which appears on “Ceol Aduaidh” (Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy), “In Good Company” (Kevin Crawford), “Frost is All Over” (Paul McGrattan), and “Three Shouts from a Hill” (Cian), as far as I know. Probably many more.

I found this tune as “The Roving Bachelor” in one of the “Kerr’s” Collections of tunes a few years ago, quite by chance.
It’s generally been known as “Tommy Peoples’ Reel” since Frankie and Mairead recorded it.

I’ve just found “The Roving Bachelor” is the second tune on the first track of “Ceol Aduaidh” by Frankie and Mairead. This “Tommy Peoples’” is the very first tune of the recording and played by Tommy Peoples himself in his “Waiting for a Call.”

My apologies, slainte - you’re quite correct. The second tune of the set is the one I found in Kerr’s, called “The Roving Bachelor” . I will post it soon , as you request.

Don’t worry, Kenny. Your mistake is much better than mine, like posting the tunes which were already on this site or misattributing the tunes to someone else.

Altough this is a truly nameless tune, but I think there is no problem if we play it as “Tommy Peoples’,” simply because so many musicians including Tommy Peoples himself called that way.

this great reel is the third of the humours of carigaholt set in liam o’flynn’s pipers call album. he plays it on a flat set of pipes in b and its just very nice. in the sleeve notes he states he has never seen a name associated to this tune.

Another interpretation of the tune:

K: Gmaj
~G3B cABG|ADDE FGAF|~G3B cABG|1 Addc BGGF:|2 Addc BGGf||
g2dg egde|g2dg eaaf|g2dg egdB|1 cBAc BGGf:|2 cBAc BGGF||

The first part comes from the version recorded by the band Cian: it works well as a variation. The second part is mostly based on Tommy Peoples’ playing but with a different ending, which is actually more common than that of the version I’ve already submitted.

The ancestor of this tune is thought to have been a Scottish reel called Clean Pease Strae https://thesession.org/tunes/6930.

For comparison:

X: 1
T: Clean Pea Strae
S: Memory
N: Transposed from A for comparison
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: G
G2 BG cGBG | ADDE =F2 ED | GABG cABG |1 AcBA G2 G2 :| 2 AcBA GABc ||
dBGB dBGB | ADDE =F3 B | dBGB dBGB | AcBA G3 B |
dBGB dBGB | ADDE =F3 B | dBcA BGAF | DcBA G2 G2 ||

Here’s the group Cian playing this tune, it’s the second one….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn2IVLFdu1c

play video

This is the first tune https://thesession.org/tunes/6321
and this is the last https://thesession.org/tunes/3948

and and here it is in a Longford session http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H2jKI87mdA

play video

First tune is the Duke of Leinster and the second is Bag of Spuds

|:g2dc BG(3BCd|g2dg eaaf|g2dc BG(3BCd|1 cADF AGGf:|2 cADF AGGF||
One of our children got this version for the second part at Willie Week this year, from Maureen McGrattan.

I also hear the second part played as:
g2dg egde|g2bg eagf|g2dg egdB|1 cBAc BGGf:|2 cBAc BGGF

and as

g2dg egde|g2bg age2|g2dg egdB|cBAc BGGf|g2dg egde|g2bg agef|gfga gedB|cBAc BGGf|

That last bar as
g2dg egde|g2bg age2|g2dg egdB|cBAc BGGf|g2dg egde|g2bg agef|gfga gedB|cBAc BGGF|

both above by local session players

Ennis box player Johnny McCarthy, so much so that Pat Mullins named it “Johnny McCarthy’s”.

However, Johnny himself calls it “St. Johnston’s Reel” after Tommy Peoples’ home place. It appears in CRÉII no. 166 as gan ainm with “Tommy Peoples’ “ and “Mooney’s” in the index.

David

Rescued from Gan Ainm
“Tune Learned At Matt Molloy’s 2”
Taped by Lara Feldmann at Matt Molloy’s in Westport.
Transcribed by Brendan Walsh.
Loved at the Lucerne Session.

Watch Frankie Kennedy and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh play the famous set: http://youtu.be/5JH-NXoGLBU

play video

so regularly played for such a long time in Clare by box player Johnny McCarthy and fiddle player Mike Fitzgerald that it’s referred to by those who know them as “McCarthy’s” or “Johnny McCarthy’s”, to his amusement. IIRC, they themselves refer to it as “The St Johnston Reel”, a connection with Tommy Peoples.

Regards
David

See 3 posts up, from 2 years ago…. 🙂

See 4 posts up, from 2 years ago….🙂

I started playing Clean Pease Strae the other day at an Irish session, on a lark, and some other folk joined in…of course, once the B part came around, we realized we were playing different tunes! A pleasant discussion of international tune families arose. Both are such lively, simple melodies, but not a great idea to play as a set unless making a point for demonstration.

Tommy People’s mentions this tune in his book ‘From Time to Time,’ p87, where he says he got it from the playing of his uncle Matt ‘Mattha’ and who called it ‘The Milkmaid.’

I really like this version : https://youtu.be/Ha5ns1USnZc

play video

Des Cafferkey has a lovely laid-back set on “Achill Air”. In this whistle set, Green Fields of Rosbeigh is first and Tommy Peoples’ is second.

From Julie Fowlis’ album Mar a Tha Mo Chridhe.

Track #4.4. Starts around 4:23.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQgG8uzTH7U

play video

Can anybody shed some light about its origin? I couldn’t find anything, unfortunately. There’s another tune with the same name that Kenny posted many moons ago, but it’s definitely a different one.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3089

Just seen that the tune is listed here as Tommy Peoples’
https://thesession.org/tunes/1100

However, it’s called Rogha an Ghabha on Julie’s album. I’ll ask Jeremy to merge this with the exiting one.

My take