City Of Savannah hornpipe

Composer : Frank Livingston
Transcription : g.m.p.

I was wondering why this tune is in here. It didn’t particularly sound Irish Traditional to me but I decided that I don’t care.

I like it for what it is. Thanks.

Matt Molloy recorded this tune, I think.

I think it was on the Stoney Steps(?) album, but I’m not sure.

Matt Molloy recorded it on “Stony Steps”
Joe Derrane in “The Tie That Binds”
Brian O’Connor in “Come West Along The Road”
Frank Ferrel in “Yankee Dreams”

In the 4th bar os the 2nd part the first “g” only is sharp.

Mark Cordoba , try this:

Source : Matt Molloy’s “Stony Steps”
Transcription : g.m.p.

dB|AD FA df af|ga ba gf ed|cd ed cd Bd|~A2 ^GA =GA FG|
~A2 FA df af|gz ba gf ed|cd Bd AF GE|FA Ec d2:|f2|:
e2 ce ae c‘e|be ^ge ae c’e|fe ce ac’ ea|^gb e^g a2 ba|
~a3 ^ga =ge c’a|~a2 ge fd az|(3gag ~A2 (3faf ~A2|(3eae (3ABc d2:|

Think about the title, this is an American tune.
However, the Session is not entirely devoted to Irish tunes, so it has its place here still.
I know the tune has been Irishised by some performers but the original is a late Nineteeth century stage hornpipe like President Garfield and most of the James Hill compositions. They were written for performance in vaudeville/music halls and sound more like Tyneside hornpipes than anything else, though there are good examples from Dublin, London and the States. They would usually be performed on violin or concertina.
Key points of stage hornpipes are lots of dotting, lots of syncopations and flasshy quaver runs. Playing them in the more flattened Irish style loses a lot of the characteristics
Noel Jackson
Angels of the North

I seem to recall this tune was named after a steamship, which may or may not have been American. Doesn’t mean that the tune is. The “Graf Spee ” isn’t German ! I know that English concertina player Alistair Anderson recorded it, but I don’t have that record any more. Anyone else any information on this ?

p.s- - Gian Marco has the composeras one Frank Livingston - was he American ?

The City Of Savannah wasn’t a steamship,it was a Confederate frigate during the American civil war.Aly Bain recorded it without the g sharp in the fourth bar,like this cd Bc A2 FG. David Meredith

Steve Shaw, does a great virsion of this on a harnmonica, on his CD “ Blowing in the Reeds”

The City is also ‘Savannah’ in Georgia in the Southeast USA, just above that popular trailer park, swamp and Disney World called ‘Florida’. Savannah was a cultural centre for the South in the 19th Century and it can still hold its own…and there’s damned good fishing along the Savannah River… There is a lot of beauty there if you want a change from the usual Florida holiday. While Aberystwyth is the centre of the world for some, Savannah is for others.

“Frankly my dear, I ~ ” What did Rhet Butler really say?

Savannah was a place of music and dance in its time…still is…

There’s a great Session at Murphy’s Law Pub in Savannah on Sunday nights 7:30 to 9:30. Matt Malloy has been to Savannah many times. It maybe where he got the name Stony Steps for his album.

In his album Matt Malloy gives reference to Savannah as the first steamship to cross the Atlantic http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ranch/9369/Savannah.htm. Where the “City of” gets into the picture must belong to another explanation IMHO.

Here’s where “City of” gets into the picture, hmv.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-civil/civsh-c/c-savan.htm

I was brushing up on this today and would like to add the version I have known for years.

X: 1
T: City Of Savannah
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: D
(3FG^G|(3ABA FA dfaf|gaba gfed|cded cdBc|ABGA FE (3FG^G |
(3ABA FA dfaf|gaba gfed|cbag fABc|(3dcd fe ~d2:||
|:(3cd^d|(3efe ce aec‘e|be^ge aec’e|(3efe ce aec’e|be^ge ~a2 a^g |
(3aba ga ea ~A2|(3aba fa daAf|(3gag Bg (3fgf Af |(3efe Bc ~d2:||

Ciaran Mac Gearailt version.

Is Savannah, Georgia where unusual greeny bushy-looking plants grow along the roadsides? Can’t remember name of the plant (postcard sent me by a friend (1914- 2012) who visited Georgia in the 1940s or ’50s - though I believe she actually lived in Detroit). I didn’t keep postcard which is a pity. It was one of those small size old cards.