The Yellow Cow polka

Submitted in response to a request. This reel was originally a song which comes in different versions. On Arty McGlynn and Nollaig Casey’s "Lead The Knave" it is known as "The Yellow Cow". This name came about because one of the verses in one of the versions can be translated as:

I wish I had a yellow cow, a yellow cow, a yellow cow,
I wish I had a yellow cow,
And welcome from my darling.

The chorus translates as:

And Oh, I call to thee, I call to thee,
And the love of my heart art thou,
And Oh, I call to thee, I call to thee,
And thou art the fair child of your mother.

This is a type of song called a "dandling" that would have been sung by a mother to her child. This tune is therefore known by some as "The Mother And Child Reel", e.g. Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill: "The Lonesome Touch", and one of the Danu albums, the title of which I can’t bring to mind.

thanks, dow, for posting the tune. i have the other tunes from arty’s set and wanted to work up the whole thing on guitar. dont

If you want a transcription of the exact version played by Arty McGlynn, it’s on Henrik Norbeck’s site.

There’s another version of this reel called "Your Mother’s Little Pet" or "Your Mother’s Fair Pet" posted at https://thesession.org/tunes/1571/comments

This feels more like A mixolydian than D - it seems to centre on A rather than D

No, it’s D. The start of the 1st part and beginning of the 2nd part have an A chord tho’.

As played on the Mary Staunton album "Bright Early Morning". The B section is a bit different, in particular with the phrasing in the 1st and 2nd bars. The "cded | fded" bit threw me for a loop, it doesn’t seem particularly idiomatic until you hear it played, but it really makes the tune stand out.

Ian, thanks for posting that. Just to be clear, the transcription from Mary Staunton’s recording was done by my friend Mike Gregory, Grand Forks, ND. I gave Ian a copy of Mike’s transcription and Ian was kind enough to share it here. If he tweaked anything, you’ll have to check with the recording, or ask him, but he didn’t list anybody as transcriber in the headings to the abc. Thanks again, Ian.

This tune can be somewhat confused with Hold the Reins, https://thesession.org/tunes/3320

Here’s a video with the tune being played, starting at the 195-second mark… 8 measures for the A and 8 for the B:

https://youtu.be/yZaUJJi15dM?t=195

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It’s from the 3m 15s mark until the 5m 30s mark.

Here is the simple pattern of Mother and Child which Martin Hayes demonstrated on the video which I recently linked to. I will plan to post a video of the melody using either the hammered dulcimer or the tinwhistle.

https://youtu.be/zPgO8Z3x6cU

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Here is Fergal Scahill’s rendition of it on his 2017 Fiddle-tune-a-day (day #268).

Doesn’t sound like a polka to me, more like a barn dance or reel? You can tell a tune by the company it keeps; is there a polka? Mostly reels it seems

Yep, it’s a polka (‘one and two and…’). Another way to tell is the number of measures per part. Though that’s not an absolute rule, 8 measures repeated once (AA) adds up to 16 measures, versus 4 measures repeated once adds up to 8 measures. I’ve seen a rare tune that’s as short as that, but that’s certainly the exception, so I still think this is with a polka (2/4) beat.

Here it is on the hammered dulcimer, played as a polka:
https://youtu.be/McRupFG5p3g

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It’s a reel.
https://youtu.be/yZaUJJi15dM

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https://youtu.be/qzN7zNjY6Jo

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https://youtu.be/7LmEkZHQE2c

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It was also a reel when Micho Russell, Arty McGlynn and Mary Staunton played it.

It’s definitely a reel, usually played at a slower tempo (at least here in North Clare).

https://youtu.be/qIobTIAN9aY

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This tune is obviously a reel. It’s pretty well known and though technically it could be played as a polka, personally, I’ve never heard it played as one. All the video examples here have it as a reel, including the two posted by Bryce, who claimed it to be a polka.