Drag Her Round The Road reel

My transcription from Andy McGann’s & Paul Brady: " It’s a hard road to travel"
GA|BEED E2DE|GEDB, D2B,D|GEED E2DE|GABG ABGA|
BE~E2 B,E~E2|GEDB, D2B,D|GEED E2DE|GABG AGEF||
G2GF GBdc|B2BA BcBA|GFGB dedB|(3ABA GB A2(3DEF|
G2FA GBdc|B2Ac BcBA|GFGB dedB|(3ABA GB A2||

T:Andy McGann’s #42
T:Andy McGann’sDrag Her Round The Road
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Bavan by M

This tune seems more or less identical to one called the Pullet on Lunasa’s "Kinnity Sessions," though they have it in a different key. There is another, I believe better-known reel in A called the Pullet (it appears on Planxty’s "Woman I Loved So Well") that is not on the site yet; it’s different again from the Boys of Portaferry, which is the only reel listed under the name Pullet on the Session thus far.

In the Petrie collection (collected in the mid-19th century) this is called the Pullet and the Cock. Drag Her Around the House is another variant on the exuberance/misogyny. Piper Patsy Touhey recorded his own setting of this, different than this in spots; even as far back as the Petrie the setting had the notes below D, suggesting that it was composed by a fiddler.

There is a Lucy Farr version of this tune (which may have originated in South Galway) under the name "The Pullet And The Cock" in Pete Cooper’s "Irish Fiddle Solos" (Schott ED12734) - a collection of 64 tunes with an accompanying CD played by Pete Cooper.
This version (without ornaments) is
T:The Pullet And The Cock
M:2/2
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Emin
GA|BEED E2DE|EDB,D DEGA|BEED E2DE|1 GABA A2:|2 GABA A3|
E|G2GF GBdB|c2AB cded|B2BA GABd|dBGB AEED|
G2GF GBdB|cBAB cdeg|gedB c2eB|dBGB A2||
"end" GE|G6||
Pete Cooper says in his book that the "c" in Part B should be played a quarter-tone sharp as a "lonesome" note (i.e. half-way between c-nat and c#); I don’t know whether this can be notated in ABC.
I’m told that there is a story from Devon (a county in the south-west of England) to the effect that a young farmer was on his way to market carrying a couple of cages of poultry when he came to a stile that was difficult to climb over with the cages. A young milk-maid (who else!) happened by and the young man asked her to help him, saying, "Would you hold my cock and pullet?"
Ahem…

Trevor

I’ve put a link to Pete Cooper’s CD in the Records section.
Trevor

The interesting thing I’ve found about that quarter-tone "c" is that if you play it as c-nat or c# it just doesn’t sound right; but as the "lonesome" note it does. It’s really a little bit of genius, using that quarter-tone to represent the crow of the cock.

Trevor

… a tune called The Kiss In The Furze No. 2.

From Josephine Keegan’s collection of tunes, "A Drop In The Ocean ".

I’ve noted the key as G because the tune seems to resolve to G to me … however it may be Eminor …

X:1
T:The Kiss In The Furze No. 2
M:4/4
R:Reel
K:G
GA|:BEED E2DE|GEDB, DEGA|BEED E2DE|GABG ABGA|
BEED E2DE|GEDB, DEGA|BEED E2DE|GABG ABGA:||
|:G2GF GBdB|c2cB cedc|BcAB GBdB|cABG AGEF|
G2GF GBdB|c2cB cedc|BcAB GBdB|cABG ABGA:||

Tom Dowd’s Favourite: https://thesession.org/tunes/3224

K: e minor
GA |
BE{F}ED E{F}EDE | GEDB, (3DED B,D | GE{F}ED E{F}EDE | G2 BG ABGA |
B~E3 B,~E3 | GEDB, (3DED B,D | GE{F}ED E{F}EDE | G2 BG AD ||
EF |
G2 {A}GF GBdc | B2 {c}BA BcBA | G{A}GGF GBdc | (3ABA GB A2 (3DEF |
G2 {A}GF GBdc | (3BcB Ac ~B3 A | G2 GF GBdc | (3ABA GB A2 ||

This is from It’s A Hard Road to Travel. Note the similarity to the Shores of Lough Graney.

# Posted on July 1st 2006 by andreal

NOTE: This reel is played usually single (16 bars), but some take it double (with repeats = 32 bars)…

There’s a version on the Shannon/Gavin/McGoldrick/Murray album "Tunes", but the melody is weaker and less interesting than that on the Molloy/Peoples/Brady record.

This tune is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as The Piper on Horseback

Does anyone know what the title of this tune refers to? Livestock? Dance? Domestic violence? Something else?

Dancing.

Thanks; that’s a relief.

They play the Pullet in F#m, they’re divils for F#m!!

I no longer have this recording. I think the B part was more repetitive, as in the 6th 7th and 8th bars were identical to bars 2,3, and 4.

X:9
T: Drag Her Round The Road
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:Emin
BEED E2 B,E | GEDB, D2GA | BEED E2DE | GABG ABGA |
BE (3EEE B,E (3EEE | GEDB, D2GA | BEED E2DE | GABG ADEF ||
[G,3G3]F GBdc | ~B3 A BcBA | G2GF GBdB | AGBG ADEF |
~G3F GBdB | c2AB cdef | gedB c2ge | dBGB A2GA ||

PJ Crotty and Gerry Harrington recorded this in F#m on Happy to Meet (produced by Kevin Crawford, and there’s a few Lunasa crossovers on the CD, Bb flute and all, but Kevin would also have tunes from PJ so maybe this one in that key?). The have it something like this…

X: 1
T: The Pullet
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:F#min
AB||cF{A}FE (EF)AF|{G}FECE EFAB|cF{A}FE F2EF|ABcA B{c}BAB|
cF{A}FE (EF)AF|{G}FECE EFAB|cF{A}FE (EF)(EF)|ABcA BAcB||
A3A ABce|dcBc defe|~c3B Acef|ecAc BFF2|
AEcE Acec|dcBc defz|afec dfaf|ecAc B2||

…sorry, my mistake in Bar 9…

X: 1
T: The Pullet
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K:F#min
AB||cF{A}FE (EF)AF|{G}FECE EFAB|cF{A}FE F2EF|ABcA B{c}BAB|
cF{A}FE (EF)AF|{G}FECE EFAB|cF{A}FE (EF)(EF)|ABcA BAcB||
A3A Acec|dcBc defe|~c3B Acef|ecAc BFF2|
AEcE Acec|dcBc defz|afec dfaf|ecAc B2||

‘Gerry Harrington’

James Cullinan

This setting is taken from the playing of P.J. hayes (available here http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/sound/pjoes-lough-graney-pj-hayes).
But as usual … "maybe this tune is known by another name"! Hope you’ll enjoy it!

X:10 from the wax cylinder recording of Patsy Touhey I mentioned above, lo these many years ago.

Many of the settings here go down to the low B in the 2nd bar, but none of them in quite this way. I think bars 2 and 6 of the B part also set this apart from most of the others.

As it was played at the Fleadh in 2016