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The Scartaglen polka

Also known as Din Tarrant’s, Din Tarrant’s No. 4, The Glen Cotage Polka No. 1, The Glen Cottage Polka No. 1, The Humours Of Ballydesmond, Kitty Wants A Soldier, Knocknaboul No. 1, The Knocknaboul No. 1, Knocknaboul No.1, Knocknaboul Polkas, Knocknaboul Polkas No. 1, The Knocknaboul Polkas No. 1, The Knocknaboul Polkas, The Knocknaboul, Knocknabower, The Knocknabower # 1, The Knocknabower Polka # 1, Knocknabower Polkas, Knocknabower Polkas No. 1, The Knocknabower, The Little Green Cottage, The Trooper And The Maid.

There are 14 recordings of a tune by this name.

A tune by this name has been recorded together with The Top Of The Maol (a few times) and The Knocknaboul (a few times).

The Scartaglen has been added to 10 tune sets.

The Scartaglen has been added to 184 tunebooks.

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Five settings

X: 1
T: The Scartaglen
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|G2 G>A|Bd de/f/|gB B/A/G/A/|BA AB/A/|G2 G>A|Bd de/f/|gB AB/A/|G2 G2:|
|Bd g>g|fe e/f/g/e/|dB B/A/G/A/|BA A2|Bd g>g|fe e/f/g/e/|dB AB/A/|G2 G2:|
|g2 ag/a/|b2 b>a|gg ag/a/|b2 b>a|ge e/f/g/e/|dB g>e|dB AB/A/|G2 G2:|
X: 2
T: The Scartaglen
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|: D |G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB B/A/G/A/ | BA AB/A/ |
G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB AB | G2 G :|
|: A |Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB B/A/G/A/ | BA AG/A/ |
Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :|
|: B/d/ |gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba | gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba |
gf e/f/g/e/ | dB g>e | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :|
X: 3
T: The Scartaglen
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|: G>F GA | Bd de/f/ | gB B/A/G/A/ | BA AB/A/ |
G2 G>A | Bd- de/f/ | gB AB/A/ | G2 G2 :|
Bd ga/g/ | fe e2 | dB B/A/G/A/ | BA A2 |
B/c/d g2 | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB AB/A/ | G2- G2 :|
g2 a2 | b2- ba | gf/g/ ag/a/ | b/c'/b/a/ b>a |
ge e/f/g/e/ | dB g>e | dB AB/A/ | G2 G/A/B/d/ |
g2 ag/a/ | b/c'/b/a/ bb/a/ | gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba |
ge eg/e/ | dB g | dB AB/A/ | G2- G2 |]
X: 4
T: The Scartaglen
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:"G" G2 G>A | "G" Bd "D"f2 | "G" gB B/2A/2G/2A/2 | "D" BA AB/2A/2 |
"G" G2 G>A | "G" Bd "D"f2 | "G" gB "A" AB/2A/ | "G" G2 G2 :|
|: "G" Bd ga/2g/2 | "C"fe e/2f/2g/2e/2 | "G"dB B/2A/2G/2A/2 | "D" BA A2 |
"G" Bd ga/2g/2 | "C"fe e/2f/2g/2e/2 |"G" dB "A" AB/2A/ |1 "G" G2 G2 :|2 "G" G2 Gd ||
|:"G" [g2B2] "D" [a2A2] | "G" [b3B3] d | "G" [g2B2] "D" [a2A2] | "G" [b3B3] d |
"C"ge e/2f/2g/2e/2 | "G" dB "C"g>e | "G" dB "D"AB/2A/2 |1 "G" G2 Gd :|2 "G" G4 ||
X: 5
T: The Scartaglen
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|: G,2 G,>A, | B,D F2 | GB, B,/2A,/2G,/2A,/2 | B,A, A,B,/2A,/2 |
G,2 G,>A, | B,D F2 | GB, A,B,/2A,/2 | G,2 G,2 :|
|: B,D GA/2G/2 | FE E/2F/2G/2E/2 | DB, B,/2A,/2G,/2A,/2 | B,A, A,2 |
B,D GA/2G/2 | FE E/2F/2G/2F/2 |DB, A,B,/2A,/2 |1 G,2 G,2 :|2 G,2 G,D ||
|: [G2G,2] [D2A2] | [D3B3] D | [G2G,2] [D2A2] | [D3B3] D|
GE E/2F/2G/2E/2 | DB, G>E | DB, A,B,/2A,/2 |1 G,2 G,D :|2 G,4 ||

Nine comments

The Scartaglen Polka

I’ve heard this tune in various places, one of which is on The Chieftains’ second album. The entire tune bears a strong resemblence to If I Had Maggie in the Wood, particularly parts A and B, which are almost identical to those of the former. In fact, if you play both tunes together in a set, it hardly sounds like you’ve changed from one tune to another at all. I’m not exactly sure whether Maggie is a variant of The Scartaglen or if The Scartaglen is a variant of Maggie, and I think it’s rather hard to tell anyway, so I’ll just leave it at that.

Scartaglen

A great tune Tommy, and one which I play a lot myself on mandolin. As for ornamentation, I tend to add this in the C part of the tune. Where you have the A G A B B A bit, try adding some tremolo. It sounds great. At the end, I usually finish on a single strum of a G chord, which tops it off nicely.

“The Knocknaboul No. 1” ~ courtesy of Ptarmigan

M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: G Major
|: D |
G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB B/A/G/A/ | BA AB/A/ |
G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB AB | G2 G :|
|: A |
Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB B/A/G/A/ | BA AG/A/ |
Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :|
|: B/d/ |
gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba | gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba |
gf e/f/g/e/ | dB g>e | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :||

Submitted on July 24th 2006 by Ptarmigan.

~ transcription by Ptarmigan
from "The Ballydesmond Polka" by Dan Herlihy & John Drew
track 8, tune 2 of 3…

“The Trooper and the Maid”

This is the title for a tune an exact copy of this one in every detail ~ but minus the third part…

“The Knocknaboul Polka No. 1”

X: 2
T: The Knocknaboul No. 1
S: from "The Ballydesmond Polka" by Dan Herlihy & John Drew, track 8, tune 2 of 3
Z: Ptarmigan, Dick Glasgow
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: G Major
|: D |\
G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB B/A/G/A/ | BA AB/A/ |
G2 GA | Bd de/f/ | gB AB | G2 G :|
|: A |\
Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB B/A/G/A/ | BA AG/A/ |
Bd ga/g/ | fe e/f/g/e/ | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :|
|: B/d/ |\
gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba | gf/g/ ag/a/ | b2 ba |
gf e/f/g/e/ | dB g>e | dB AB/A/ | G2 G :|

Submitted on July 24th 2006 by Ptarmigan.

Ireland and Scotland

I love this tune; but when I was picking it out lazily and slowly one night I noticed parts 2 and 3 are identical to that used for the well known Scots song ‘Annie Laurie’. I have no idea how that came about, but I’d love to know. Was it originally a Scots or an Irish tune? Where did it start its travels?

Annie Laurie

That’s amazing - I’ve played both tunes for decades, and never noticed… I’m fair dumfounert!

The air was added to an existing poem in about 1835 by Lady Alicia Scott of Spottiswoode, near Lauder. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Ann_Spottiswoode) She was a great collector and improver of folksong, and she may well have hear the melody sung in the Borders.

The Scartaglen, X:5

X:4 and X:5 loosely based on the 1950s recordings by Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford, Padraig O’Keefe - when two or ore fiddles available it seemed to be the practice to play in octaves where the tunes allowed for this