The High Road To Linton reel

A single reel. Yet another episode in the life of the eponymous Jenny.

I haven’t heard of Jenny going to Linton before as this one is more familiar to me as "The High Road to Linton". However, there are so many great tunes associated this lady (Jenny Picking Cockles, Jenny’s Wedding, Jenny’s Chickens, etc, etc), maybe this pre-dates the High Road title??

Don’t forget Jenny Meets Charlie!

I didn’t know either that it was Jennie who went to Linton.
There’s a C and a D part usually played with this Scottish reel, if anyones interested, say here and I’ll write the abc.

OK, here’s the C & D part, it’s the C part especially that really gets the session swinging:

|:a2 a2 ef a2|ef ae fa ef|a2 a2 ef ae|fa ec B2 A2:|
|:c2 ec de fd|c2 ec Bc dB|c2 ec de fg|af ec B2 A2:||

Many thanks Kenn for parts C and D. They now really make the tune go, as you said. I always felt the two part tune was somehow incomplete, but my source didn’t reveal any more. I wonder if there are a few more of these 2 x 4 reels which have lost parts.
-m

A lot of dance tunes and marches in the Great Highland Bagpipe repertoire have four parts (some of the 3rd and 4th parts are probably later additions to older 2-part tunes). Many of these tunes have filtered through into the Irish tradition, either berfore they acquired their additional pars, or losing them in the process. on the other hand, some tunes, such as Lord MacDonald’s and The Mason’s Apron, started off in Scotland as 2-part tunes, and gained more parts in Ireland.

Another good 4 part reel which springs to mind is "The Brollum".
I would post it but it’s Scottish again and I guess this is an Irish music site. I don’t know of any Scottish sites anywhere near as good as this one when it comes to exchanging tunes (more’s the pity), but I guess that it’ll be in one of the databases somewhere.

Over the centuries there has been so much cultural coming and going between Ireland and other parts of the British Isles (and America, and Canada, and …) that the grey area between music that is of genuine Irish origin and music that isn’t must be getting larger by the minute, and is irreversible. And now I discover that Jenny Goes To Linton aka The High Road To Linton is Scottish! I don’t see how we can draw a clear line of demarcation, and in a large number of cases it is probably impossible to identify the origin of a tune.
Basically I’m inclined to accept anything that is celtic in origin - which I suppose would in theory exclude morris dances and other English country tunes. But then some of those must have migrated to Ireland at some stage and became accepted. And what about some French tunes which may have been brought back to Ireland by soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars? A lot of the donegal music is distinctly Scottish in feel - I’ve posted some recently. And then there’s all that wonderful stuff coming from Shetland. I could go on, but you get the picture. I don’t think it’s possible to keep this site a strictly Irish site, although most people I’m sure try to keep it predominantly Irish.
I’m not sure whether ABC can cope with the non-diatonic notes in Scottish bagpipe tuning though.
Now that "Brollum" tune looks interesting …
-m

With most Scottish tunes (piobearachd, as they’re called) they originated as a ONE part tune, and many have been evolved into 4 and 6 part tunes, with the other 3 or 5 parts being variations on the first, original part… not true with ALL, but by any means true for many.

Part A |:Domhnall beag an t-siucair, an t-siucair, an t-siucar
Domhnall beag an t-siucair is duil aige posadh :|

Part B1 |:Ged a bhiodh na h-ubhlan, na h-ubhlan, na h-ubhlan
Ged a bhidh na h-ubhlan an culaibh a bhrogan :|

Part B2 |:Ged a bhiodh na ginidhean, na ginidhean, na ginidhean
Ged a bhiodh na ginidhean a’ gliogadaich na phocaid :|

There’s one more verse to it but it is the verse from hell…

Oh, this is the tune Seamus Egan recorded on banjo: the very last one in "Cape Breton Set" on "A Week in January."

Just learned this from a friend who most likely learned it twenty years ago when he lived and attended sessions in Edinburgh. He didn’t have a name for it, so I’m hoping someone here recognizes it and I can attached the proper title.

A simple but rewarding fiddle tune. We’re playing it in a set with Miss Shepherd, a Scott Skinner tune.

It sounds to me like the first two parts of The High Road to Linton (sp?). I think the four part version was originally a Scottish tune.

That’s it. Hamish Moore recorded this as "High Road to Linton": https://thesession.org/tunes/1118 Kenny would confirm it.

Yep. My source just emailed saying that’s the name he has for it. It’s different from the High Road to Linton that Trevor posted here some time ago, but maybe it belongs in the comments there.

I’d say this is a more standard setting than Trevor’s, but it’s definitely The High Road To Linton. It’s not as nice without all 4 parts IMO. I’m surprised that you haven’t been familiar with this tune for longer Will - I’ve heard it played at most of the sessions I’ve been to in the UK and Oz.

Incidentally, from the Fiddler’s Companion:
"The ‘C’ and ‘D’ parts were composed (copyright 1957) by the late Scottish dance bandleader and piano accordion player Bobby MacLeod of Tobermory. In fact, MacLeod wrote four parts to follow the original two, although only his ‘C’ and ‘F’ parts were absorbed into tradition".

The late John Hartford used to sing to this whilst fiddling AND clog-dancng…some people have just too much talent…and he didn’t have to work anyway, having written "Gentle on my mind"..

Oh, I’d heard it before, just never bothered learning it, Mark. Then again, I don’t get out to sessions in the UK and Oz much. 🙂

FWIW, if someone will post the other two parts here in the comments, I’ll add them to the abcs.

Okay, a little more digging around and I found the 3rd and 4th parts that correspond to my memory of hearing this tune played at sessions. So I’ve added them to the abc file.

A three part version of this is in one of the Malley books, but the 3rd part is really just a variation on the A part. And I found a four part version in a Scottish fiddle book, with part 3 again being a variation of the A, and part 4 being a variation of the B. I think this is like the Fairy Reel, one of those reel short, I mean real short, tunes that lends itself to lots of variations. By the way, you can accompany this in A major, with E chords, which to my ear fits better than A modal, with G chords.
AL Brown

I was interested to read in the Fiddler’s Companion that the title is thought to refer to the old drove road through West Linton in the NW Scottish Borders, nicknamed the "Thieves’ Road". My ancestors were bigtime border reivers so presumably this is where they would have stolen a lot of their livestock. I play the tune like this:

X: 1
T: High Road To Linton, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amix
|:ceef a2ae|f2fe a2ae|ceef a2ae|faec B2A2:|
|:ceeg fddf|ecce fBBd|ceeg fddf|ecac B2A2:|
|:a2a2 efa2|efae faef|a2a2 efae|faec B2A2:|
|:cdec defd|cdec BcdB|cdec def^g|afec B2A2:|

Fling and reel…

There’s a slightly different version of this tune in O’Neills Dance Music of Ireland, in D, under the amazing title of Kitty Got a Clinking Coming From the Races! It’s also listed with the alternative titles, Coming rom the Races and The Highway to Linton.

by Randy Miller and Jack Perron, first published in 1983.

http://www.randymillerprints.com/fiddletunebooks.htm

Page 58: "Jenny’s Gone to Linton"

Yes! Thankyou thankyou thankyou Kenn for posting the third and fourth parts!

I simply adore this tune and when a bloke called Steve told me there were two more parts to it…i was desperate to find em!

X: 1
T: Jenny’s Gone To Linton
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
|:ce ef a2 ae|fe fg a2 e2|ce ef a2 ae|fa ec B2 A2:|
|:ce eg fd df|ec ce fB Bd|ce eg fd df|ec ac B2 A2:||
|:a2 a2 ef a2|ef ae fa ef|a2 a2 ef ae|fa ec B2 A2:|
|:c2 ec de fd|c2 ec Bc dB|c2 ec de fg|af ec B2 A2:||

Key signature: A Mixolydian
Submitted on January 28th 2005 by Will CPT.
https://thesession.org/tunes/4161

Key signature: A Major
Submitted on July 23rd 2008 by avavoss.
~ /tunes/8736

X: 3
T: High Road To Linton
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
e |: ceef a2 ae|f2 fe a2 ae|ceef a2 ae|faec B2 A2 :|
|: cee=g fddf|ecce fBBf|cee=g fddf| ecac B2 A2 :|
|: a2 a2 ef a2|efae faef|a2 a2 efae faec B2 A2 :|
|: c2 ec defd|c2 ec BcdB|c2 ec defg|afec B2 A2 :|

No comment was given…

Unless you click on the ABC tab you wouldn’t see this. While it’s a 2-part take shown under ‘Sheetmusic’, here’s what’s under the ‘ABC’ hood ~

X: 1
T: High Road To Linton, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amix
|: ceef a2 ae | fgfe a2 ae | ceef a2 ae | faec B2 A2 :|
|: cdeg fddf | ecce fBBf | cdeg fddf | e/^g/a ec B2 A2 :|
|: {^g}a2 a2 ef a2 | efae faef | {^g}a2 a2 efae | faec B2 A2 :|
|: cdec defd | cdec BcdB | cdec def^g | afec B2 A2 :|

"With most Scottish tunes (piobearachd, as they’re called) they originated as a ONE part tune, and many have been evolved into 4 and 6 part tunes, with the other 3 or 5 parts being variations on the first, original part… not true with ALL, but by any means true for many."

You are on the right track here but Piobaireachd is a genre and tunes are not called Piobaireachd unless they are one…they are the classical music of the pipes dating back to the 16th Century…They have a theme or ground and build in melodic variations and return to the ground at the end. This can be called Ceol mor or "great" or "big" music but everything else (Jigs/Hornpipes/Marches/Strathspeys/Reels) can be called Ceol beag or "little" or "lite" music…..

more variations at:
https://thesession.org/tunes/6056

more variations at: https://thesession.org/tunes/6056

This is also the tune for the puirt a beul "Bodachan A’ Mhirein", which is just being discussed at https://thesession.org/discussions/35357 . It’s the second tune in the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrePSyQqUxs cited in that chat.

play video

It’s a own transcript of a tune from a disc : Leonard Barry, New Road (https://thesession.org/recordings/4476). According to the bootlet, it’s traditionnal. I think it’s a fling or march or anything like that. The key it’s a kind of G pentatonic.

Sorry for my English 🙂

Enjoy !

i would put these notes in A minor. or A dorian. or perhaps C major or lydian.

This setting as done by the band Croabh Rua on their album "Soh it is". Follows an excellent version of Miss MacLeod’s (in A).

P W Joyce noted this untitled tune "from an old manuscript" in about 1859.

Have a look at X:2 on the page for "Kitty Got a Clinking…" https://thesession.org/tunes/15124 for a version collected by P W Joyce in the 1850s.

An arrangement for 2 fiddle lines, cello, and comping chords can be heard here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-155461785/the-high-road-to-linton

This arrangement is included in The Weaver MacFarlane Choon Book (from v 0.5), available as a free download from cracklingsmarts.com, a sit hosted by the secure Melbourne IT.

http://cracklingsmarts.com

chords on X:4

Found it at: https://bit.ly/2IQZL6K

I hope you like:
X: 12
(…)
ceef a2ae|f2fe a2ae|ceef a2ae|faec B2A2:|
|:ceeg fddf|ecce fBBd|ceeg fddf|ecac B2A2:|
|:a2a2 fefa|fefa ~f2ef|a2a2 fefa|1~B2ce ~f2ef:|2~B2ce ~f2ed||
|:ceeg fddf|ecce fBBd|ceeg fddf|ecac B2A2:|

Many years ago I was told by a stalwart of the revival who was in a position to know that the standard C and D parts are by Sean McGuire. I won’t name the source in case I’ve misremembered what he said, but it does sound like it could well be McGuire’s handiwork, even though I can’t find any concrete evidence.

fidicen mentioned the connections between the different traditions on these isles, and that Shetland music should be welcome on this site. What isn’t commonly known is that Irish music had an influence there, because for many years they had better reception of Irish radio than of Scottish stations.

And I know a couple of serious scholars of English music who argue that the forms and ornamentation and many of the older tunes of the Irish tradition owe much more to English fiddling that is commonly recognised. I think for many in Scotland and Ireland the English tradition is underestimated.

And as for the Scottish and Irish traditions, they are deeply interwoven, as this tune illustrates. My gut feel is that it’s Scottish, but we’ll never really know.

Once you understand these complex interconnections, narrow parochialism begins to look rather foolish. So let’s celebrate the rich diversity, while also respecting our common roots.