The Bunch Of Green Rushes reel

Transcribed from a recording of my local session. I actually play the version transcribed on Henrik Norbeck’s site (#93) which is almost the same, but includes some nice B naturals in the first part. I thought it pointless to duplicate that version here though.

There is also another very different version with only 2 parts and no F naturals which can be found on JC’s index.

I find the version with F naturals much more interesting. It is really hard for backers to find the chords on first hearing because the scale is unusual. Those F naturals are suggesting an F lydian scale whether you include B naturals in the scale or leave a gap where they belong. I’ve found the best way to get round this is to play chords of F, C and G, and then just when you’re about to go into Dmix for the last part, anticipate the change with an Am chord:

|: F | F C | F C | G :|
|: F | F C | F G | Am :|
| D | C G | D | Am C | D | C | Em | Am G ||

If anyone discovers any good chord sequences for this please post.

On the Frankie Gavin/Alec Finn album (not Da Dannan) of c.1977. He’s a great backer and people will probably find it difficult to follow, since Lord knows how he’s got his bazouki tuned.

BTW, I thought the first two parts were pretty much straight D min? That’s the way I hear it anyway…

Tommy Peoples and Kevin Burke have a different ending for the tune. Can anyone post the ABC for the last two bars of their version.

Cape Breton fiddler Paul Cranford has published this and some other tunes from "Waiting for a Call" in abc at his site (great site)… good solid transcriptions…
X:7
T:Bunch of Green Rushes
R:reel
D:Tommy Peoples’s - Waiting for a Call, Shanachie 2003
Z:Paul Stewart Cranford (P.S.C.), <http://www.cranfordpub.com>;
L:1/8
Q:333
M:C|
K:Dmix
d|TcAGE ~=F3 A|TcAGc Ad ~d2|TcAGE =F2eg|fdec Ad d2|
TcAGE T=F2 Ad|TcAGc Ad{e}d2|TcAGE =FAdg|fdec Ad ~d2||
||Ad{e}dB cAGE|~=F2 Ad cAGc|Ad{e}dB cAGA|(B/c/d) eg fdec|
Ad{e}dB cAGE|~=F2 Ad cAGc|Ad{e}dB cAGA|(B/c/d) eg fdd||
||A|d3 f adfd|Tc2 ec gcec|d2 fd adfd|cAGc ADD z|
d2 fd adfd|Tc2 ec gc e/f/g|~a3g eged|cAGc ADD|]

ok, here’s Patrick Ourceau’s version of Paddy Canny playing it.
The last note of the 4th bar of the third part of the tune (wow, that’s a mouthful) is sometimes played as a c and sometimes c# I have it in the abc as a c. Here it is:
X: 1
T: Bunch Of Green Rushes, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
d|:cAGE ~=F3d|cAGc AddB|cAGE =F2ag|^fdec AddB:|
|:AddB cAGE|~=FGAc {d}cAGc|AddB cAGA|1 cdeg {a}gedc:|2 cdeg {a}gecA||
|d2^fd adfd|c2ec gcec|d2fd adfd|cAGc Addc|
|d2fd adfd|c2cB cdeg|gf (3gfe fded|cAGc Add2||

This tune is in O’Neill’s 1,850 tunes (yellow book), # 1202. The B part found there is rather different, but I like it better. There is no C part there, although the C part here suits the tune just fine.

I’d take care to start this tune at a session unless I knew the other musicians there had the same B part….or you don’t mind doing a solo. I haven’t really heard the two B parts played simultaneously, so I don’t know if they blend well.

This is one of my favorite tunes!

I’d recommend listening to Sorcha Costello play this on track eight of the Ladies Cup of Tea — https://thesession.org/recordings/5430

Beautiful playing (on a fiddle tuned down to C). This video barely does her justice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdanzFSUyr8

play video

This is the version I learned from John Whelan in his Zoom-based Tune Learning Workshop (9/1/2021). John Whelan picked up the tune from the playing of Mick Mulcahy, and generally plays it following Josie McDermott’s Trip To Birmingham (https://thesession.org/tunes/1787).

Added "Dancing Eyes" as an alternate name here based on this recording: https://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_616_15niamh_nic_criostal/

Sorry, Ian - I’ve removed it, as the caption is an obvious mistake, for 3 reasons -
a - "Dancing Eyes" - as the caption says - is a jig. The tune being played is a reel.
b - the reel played has been known as "The Bunch Of Green Rushes" at least since the days Frankie Gavin recorded it in the 1970s, and it was a traditional tune even then.
c - nobody has ever to the best of my knowledge attributed this tune to Sean Ryan. The jig "Dancing Eyes" was indeed composed by Sean Ryan, but it’s not being played in that video.
Willie Fogarty is a fine box player, who certainly knows the difference between a jig and a reel - he has made an error between posting the video and the caption - simple as that.