The Mullingar Lea reel

One of those Gmix tunes where the F#s and F nats are pretty much interchangeable.

I originally got this tune from Gra5ity, who learnt it from a student fiddle player (I think he said). That version turned out to be almost exactly identical to the one on Henrik Norbeck’s site, so I decided that it would be pointless to post it here. So this is a setting I’ve started playing myself, which is sort of a fusion of settings from other sources.

Although this tends to get called “The Mullingar Lea” in Ireland nowadays, it originally developed from a Scottish tune called “The Nine Pint Coggie”. This features in J. Scott Skinner’s manuscripts (“The Scottish Violinist”), where it is noted as being an “ancient reel”. Nigel Gatherer has a transcription on his site which I have permission to reproduce here. He says that although it is under the “tunes composed by J. Scott Skinner” section on his website, it shouldn’t be because JSS didn’t actually write it:

T: The Nine Pint Coggie
K: Gmaj
c|B>G G/G/G G2DE|=F2cF Accd|B>G G/G/G G2DF|G2gd Bd2:|
f|gagd Bcde|=fgfc ABc^f|gagd Bcdf|g/f/e/f/ gd Bd2f|
gagd Bcde|=fgfc ABce|(3dcB (3cBA G2DF|G2gd Bd2||

This setting has a distinctly Scottish feel because of the rhythm and ornamentation, most notably the semiquaver run in the 2nd part - a type of ornament that used to be really popular in traditional music, and still often replaces the Irish-style roll in Scotland and parts of England.

The oldest version of this reel, however, is neither one of the above. It is an old-style reel called “The Collier’s Daughter”. It sketches out the “bare bones” of the more modern versions. I think it’s interesting to see how the tune has developed over time:

T: The Collier’s Daughter
K: Gdor
dc|B2 G2 G2 G2|G4 D4|D2 F4 F2|A2 c4 dc|
B2 G2 G2 G2|G4 D4|cBAG cBAG|B2 G:|
|:ef|gfed cded|c4 f4|cBAG FGAB|A4 c4|
B2 G2 A2 D2|B2 G2 A2 D2|gfef g2 G2|B2 d4:|

The last bar of the 1st part of The Collier’s Daughter should go:
|B2 G4:|
A “coggie” is a Scottish word for a bucket/pail type thing.

Nice work, Mark. Meticulous research as usual. I like the changes overall. Thanks for posting so promptly. This would have languished in my files as I’m “in the weeds” until October at least.

Gra5ity

So what the hell is a coggie?

Lovely tune…one of those really nice but all too often overlooked gems. Paddy Carty did it on the 1975 album with him and the then amazingly young-looking Mick O’Connor. Sounds just perfect for the East Galway flute style.

Danny.

Zina, your specs are through on the table 🙂

LOL -- Dow, what the hell is a bucket/pail type thing, fer cat’s sake? A sugar maple sap pail? A milk can? Just any old bucket that’s lying around?

I think it’s likely to be a milk pail, but I guess you can fill it with anything you like … as long as it’s not more than 9 pints otherwise it’s going to end up all over the floor.

New meaning for “kick the bucket” -- speaking of which, I’d better get back to cleaning the house. Our enormous fish tank leaked last night, about a third of the water was in the carpet and down in the basement this morning when we came down -- what fun cleaning it up…NOT. Could’ve used a coggie then, I suppose! But I felt like drinking nine pints after…

Who cares what it is - if it holds 9 pints, that’s good enough for me!

… but not if it’s got a hole in the bottom.

Dow, I know quite a different Nine Pint Coggie, which goes like this:
M:4/4
R:Reel
K:Edor
D|B,EE/E/E E2DB|ADFD FAAE|Bee/e/e edef|dDD/D/D FEE:|
F|Eeef fedB|defe dBAd|Beed efab|afed e2df|
abaf edef|dBAF ABde|fdec dBBc|dDD/D/D FEE||

It appears in the Athole collection, and was recorded by Alasdair Fraser on ‘The Driven Bow’. It’s a great tune, and deserves posting as a tune in its own right.

Yes, I know that one as well, which was why I decided to post this tune as “The Mullingar Lea”, just in case someone decided to post the Edor tune later. Why not post it onto the database for us David?

Who knows this as “The Nine *Point* Coggie”? I think whoever it is might have heard it said in a heavy Irish accent. I’m trying to imagine a bucket with nine points… ’,😏

They might have been thinking of The Nine Pints of Roguery.

LOL -- good one, David…good one…

Also played by the Kane sisters om “The well Tempered bow” and the Jessie smith solo album.

The title “Mullingar Lea” comes from a 78 RPM record made by fiddler Hughie Gillespie, which can be heard on the Rounder record “Milestone at the Garden.” Hughie was a student of Michael Coleman who started on the fiddle at home in Donegal, which made for interesting fiddling.

According to Cathy Jordan, a “Coggie” is a vessel only brought out on the wedding night

The Nine Pint Coggie is another tune altogether, it’s an old Scottish reel in E minor (pentatonic) published in Joseph Lowe’s collection in the 1840’s and with the note “Very old”. Someone sometime has messed up with the names of these tunes.

The version I posted here of the Nine Pin Coggie I learned from http://www.capebretonfiddlers.com/images/tunes/Huntington%20Castle_Mill%20of%20Newe%5BSet%5D.pdf second last tune in the set.

Tate, that’s a different tune with the same title: https://thesession.org/tunes/1683

My apologies, I thought it was the same tune, just a different version. CreadurMawnOrganig’s version posted here is similar to mine. I’ll go post my version over the actual Nine Pint Coggie page.

X: 5

For East Galway fiddler Breda Keville’s great rendition of the tune, refer to this discussion: https://thesession.org/discussions/34681

From the Album from the Kane Sisters

according to the sean & kevin moloney book note of they album “bridging the gap ” , it is a composition of the late east galway fiddler paddy kelly .