Her Long Dark Hair Flowing Down Her Back hornpipe

This tune is a composition of Junior Crehan. While many players play it with different titles, it seems “Flowing down her back and the colour of her golden hair was black” is the original title. (But it is too long, so I post it with the composer’s name.)

Really beautiful and impressive tune, but not so difficult to play (at least on the flute and whistle). Here I followed the most melodious version played by Michael McGoldrick as much as possible.

I often play another great modern composition “Brenda Stubbert’s” after this tune, but you can also move on to Otter’s Holt.

To tell the truth, still I’m not sure whether it’s hornpipe or reel. Please supply some info.

Mick O’Brien recorded this tune as part of a medley with “The Golden Castle” (Caisleann an Oir) on his solo album, “May Morning Dew”. This is a beautiful tune and it can be played in A minor, too.

Your “F flats” should be =F naturals. You could have saved yourself the hassle of writing out the ABC by simply lifting from Henrik Norbeck’s index, since the setting is exactly the same … note for note … apart from the F flats.

I posted this tune in D. See https://thesession.org/tunes/1263
I’m not sure which key is more common.

In Philadelphia, it’s generally played in Adorian. Didn’t learn the tune that long ago though, so I couldn’t tell you about anywhere else though. When this tune is played in Philly, it’s typically followed by the Liz Knowles composed “Toss the Fiddles” (the one listed as a polka on this site). When I play this tune at home, I’ll often play it in D simply because I have a keyless flute and try to avoid half-holing whenever possible.

According to Grainne Hambly’s comments on the tune when she plays it in concert, Junior Crehan used to alter the hair color in the title depending on which of his daughters was within earshot. She told the same story at two different concerts two years running, so it’s probably either accurate or a piece of generally accepted folklore attached to the tune.
Lovely piece, quite fun to play.

I’ve got Maeve Donnely and Peadar O‘Loughlin’s beautiful duet album, and find they play a slightly different version of this tune as “Moll Ha’penny.” Maybe this isn’t Junior Crehan’s original composition.

so I was just drunkenly humming this tune according to my present (and debatable) opinion of what the sheet music says, curious, but thinking “boring, boring, what’s next?” until I got to the end of the A part with that wicked resolution on the B. Just that one single note. In that instant I knew the guitar player who brought me all this cursed whiskey was going to get all excited, and that this is the type of tune I will play over and over and over again, boring or not.

Strange coincidence, “slainte”. Kevin Crawford taught us this tune in a flute class in Aberdeen last week. I knew I’d heard it on the Donnelly/O’Loughlin CD, and that it was the same tune as Junior Crehan’s “Long Hair”. Kevin told us that Junior Crehan did compose his own tunes, but also that he was known for “re-arranging” old tunes with a few turns or phrases of his own, something I hadn’t been aware of, although 1 example of that would be “The Mist Covered Mountain”.
Kevin has his own arrangement of this, starting with the 2nd part. He called the tune “Dermot Grogan’s”.
I had been going to post it as a separate tune , but to avoid controversy, I’ll just post the ABCs here. Kevin’s version was as follows [ more or less, allowing for minor variations ] :

| g3 a gecG | cege g2 eg | a3 b ageg | ageg a2 ba |
g2 eg d2 ed | cdeg a2 ge | eged cAdc |1 A2 GB ABce :|2 A2 AG Aeed |
(3 cBA BG AcBA | GEDE G2 EG | (3 cBA BG ABcd | eg g2 aged |
(3 cBA BG AcBA | GEDE G2 EG | AG (3 ABc BAGB |1 A2 AG Aeed :|2 A2 GB ABce :|

Not sure what mode this is in - can anyone advise? Gs and Amins, I would think.

Ronan Browne’s whistle playing on P. O‘Loughlin and M. Donnelly’s Ha’penny track reminds me of Chieftain’s playing of Chicago Reel: https://thesession.org/tunes/840 Similar, isn’t it?

Here is a setting we play. Note the pinky “stretch” to the high “C” in both parts…

X: 1
T: Her Long Dark Hair Flowing Down Her Back
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: Hornpipe
K: Cmaj
|:cd|edce d2cA|GE~E2 GAcd|edce d2cd|eaag ac’gf|
edce d2cA|GE~F2 GAcd|edce dcAG|A2AG A2:|
|:cd|egga gede|cAGA c3d|eaag ac’gf|edce ~d2cd|
egga gede|cAGA c3d|edce dcAG|A2AG A2:|

Ken

None on her head,,just down her back.

I happened to be studying this tune and saw questions about its history.. here’s some (not all) of what Pat Mitchell put abt it from The Thing Itself sleeve notes -
published variants of the original title: Poll, Paul, Polly, Molly and Moll followed variously by Ha‘penny, Halpin and McAlpin, Mac Alpin. O’Neill included 5 versions in DMI. 2 are song-airs - one adapted by Moore for his song Brian the Brave, the set dance Poll Ha‘penny, and 2 hornpipes [Hawks and the Boys of Ballysimon]. Many versions of the tune stayed alive in the East Clare tradition; Willie Clancy played one related to Ballysimon, and both Junior Crehan and Bobby Casey played their own. Versions of the first setting called Moll, were also played by Scully Casey and Mrs. Galvin. Peadar O’Loughlin’s father used to call it Nell McCarthy’s, Mrs. Galvin’s maiden name.

i’m looking for notes for this tune, but in the key that michael mcgoldrick himself plays it on his fused cd! i would grateful for any help thanks!

On the soundclip I have of McGoldrick playing this, he’s on a Bb flute. So the tune comes out in Bb/Gdor.

why do you need the dots if you have a recording?

Because her saying she would like the dots doesn’t necessarily mean she *needs* the dots?

Because she loves the graceful visual aesthetic of a well-notated tune, and takes pleasure in seeing the graphical interplay of well-proportioned notes on the page?

Because as a visually-oriented learner, the combination of careful listening to the recorded setting with her developing ear for the music, together with the visual stimulus of an approximate notational representation, is a more powerful and effective nexus of learning stimuli for her than either one alone?

Sarah, here are the abcs transposed to Bb/Gm (my mistake above, not G dorian).

You can cut and paste these into the ABC Convert-A-Matic over at http://www.concertina.net to get the dots, or send me an email and I’ll get them to you.

Cheers,

X: 1
T: Her Long Dark Hair Flowing Down Her Back
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Bb/Gm
Bc|:dcBd c2BG|FD~D2 FGBc|dcBd c2Bc|dggf g2fe|
dcBd c2BG|FD~D2 FGBc|dcBd cBGF|G2GF G2 Bc:||
dffg fdcd|BGFG B3c|dggf g2fe|dcBd ~c2Bc|
dffg fdcd|BGFG B3c|dcBd cBGF|G2GF G2 Bc:||

Such a considerate gentleman for a puddy tat, and colourful too being a Cheshire… 😉

Listening to a recording I made of Louise And Michelle Mulcahy playing this on Geantrai, they play a nice variation in the first part (transposing to D) along the lines of :
|:de|fedf efdA|BAFB A2de|fedf e2de|fbba b2ag|
fedf efdA|BAFB ABde|fedf edBA|B2BA B2:|

Several people have mentioned Mike McGoldrick’s performance of this tune. In the list of recordings it’s on his Fused album. It’s also on Wooden Flute Obsession 1, with the title, “Her Long Black Hair.”

Here’s Maeve Donnelly and Peadar O’Loughlin version on their duet album “The Thing Itself”.

K: Cmaj
cd|edcA d2cA|GE~E2 G2cd|edcA d2cd|eaag a2cd|
edcA decA|GE~E2 G2cd|edcA dcAG|A2AG A2:|
cd|egga g2ed|cAAB cBcd|eaag abag|e2dc d2cd|
egga g2ed|cAAB c3d|edcA dcAG|A2AG A2:|

The sleeve notes by Pat Mitchell doesn’t mention the source.

Here’s the Mulcahy family of Limerick playing this tune: http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_237_1_the_mulcahy_family_in_concert

This is the link to a fine rcording made by the Mulcahy family from Co.Limerick. They play “Her Golden Hair” with “Cameron Highlander”
https://thesession.org/discussions/16242

my transposition of their playing is as follows;

M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: Reel
K: D

|: f2df efdB | BAGB A2de | f2df e2de | fbba b2ag | f2df efdB | BAGB A2de | fedf edBA | B2-BA Bcde :||
|: faab afef | dBAB d4 | fbba b2ag | fedf e2de | faab afef | dBAB d4 | fedf edBA | B2-BA Bcde :||

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_237_1_the_mulcahy_family_in_concert

https://thesession.org/tunes/2864

X: 1
T: Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back
C: As played by the Mulcahy Family
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: D
|: fedf efdA | BAFB ABde | fedf e2de | fbba b2ag |
fedf efdA | BAFB ABde | fedf edBA | ABBA Bcde :|
|: faab afef | dBAB d3 e| fbba b2ag | fedf e2de |
faab afef | dBAB d3e | fedf edBA | ABBA Bcde :|

That’s what I hear them playing.

I wonder why this duplicated post has survived for long.

my attempt at playing this tune!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymI5ZszZvmU

play video

cheers

My understanding is that this was composed by Junior Crehan R.I.P.

Played by Brendan Begley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwRNQSjVbSc&feature=related

play video

On Michael Hynes and Denis Liddy’s CD “The Spectacle Bridge,” this tune is called “Annie Russell’s.” Hynes wrote in the notes that he got it from Micho Russell, whose source was his mother Annie. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the tune was not composed by Junior Crehan, but if Micho’s mother was playing it, Junior would have been quite young when she was doing so.

This tune can also be found on Gra

This tune can also be found on Gráinne Hambly’s first record, “Between the Showers”!!

I think this tune is in G major

Michael McGoldrick plays this on Fused. Does anyone know what key flute he’s using? It sounds to me like a Low Bb - or is it a keyed D?

Ah, ignore the question - someone has already posted the answer!!!!!! Lesson number one, read the full thread!

Rich

Her Lovely Hair was Flowing down her Back

Regards
David

Setting #7 is more or less #1 with chords - great tune

Generally attributed to Junior Crehan, it is of course his reworking of a much older music hall song, first recorded by Maud Foster in 1896, 12 years before Junior was born. That version is on YouTube, but it’s a very badly worn recording. Here’s Dale Evans’s version from the 1944 movie ‘Song of Nevada’.

https://youtu.be/wOCA6vm6oGs

play video

I heard this in a set by the Onlies (where it’s called Moll Ha’penny) https://soundcloud.com/tombraman/moll-hapenny-dennis-murphys - with the warmth a major key often brings to a tune, which sounds closer to a barndance to my untutored ears.

Here is a version performed by Maeve Donnelly and Tony McManus in Concert in Coatesville. Maeve retunes the fiddle to what sounds like “cross A” (apparently called “out of tuning” in Ireland) or in other words the G and D strings are raised to A and E. Creates some lovely droning possibilities and in some cases allows the tune to be played in two different octaves (not in this case).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEGW7NHsqUo

play video

Kieran O’Hare makes a lovey set out of this in Am (alternately titled Her Golden Hair Hanging Down Her Back) and Toss the Fiddles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCTym4eg5h8

play video

Here are another chords for version 1 of this nice tune which are different than those in version 7.

Mick Kinsella and Josephine Marsh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_7l9yyzuBE

play video

https://youtu.be/jiFcUYZvWvE

play video

Junior Crehan probably composed this tune remembering the song from this 1944 movie :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOCA6vm6oGs

play video

Here the title line a 1:00 “And her golden hair was hanging down her back”, the melody is almost the same as the beginning of Crehan’s hornpipe by the same name. The tune from this movie was composed in 1894 by Felix McGlennon : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_McGlennon

Maybe Syl’s comment belongs with “Her golden hair hung down in ringlets” (et al.) :
https://thesession.org/tunes/8348 ?