Tansey’s Fancy jig

Source: Steeleye Span - “Below the Salt”
Transcription: g.m.p.

probably the first jig I learnt ( on my first plastic recorder )

the first tune i learned on a mandolin and then tried to figure it out on fiddle way back when. thanks for the transcription

This is the setting that I know it as:

http://www.banjolin.supanet.com/Tunes/uncompressed/bridesfavourite.gif

This is one of my favorite tunes and my setting, which is similar to bkessler’s, is at

http://www.darsie.net/tuneweb/jig/brides_fave.gif

Sorry to have to point this out. gianmarco’s been given a bum steer here. The tune he’s posted is the first of 2 jigs recorded by “Steeleye Span”, and he cites them as his source for this particular jig. The sleeve notes have the titles as
“ The Bride’s Favourite” followed by “Tansey’s Fancy”, but the tune titles have been reversed. This is not just my opinion - this is also stated in “The Fiddler’s Companion” website.
I’d be willing to bet good money that fiddler Peter Knight got these tunes from the playing of Seamus Tansey, [ if it’s OK to se that name these days !] as he’s on record as saying how much he admired the music of Sligo, and the flute players in particular. Tansey recorded these same 2 jigs on his “Green” album on the Leader label, but the first tune is titled “Tansey’s Favourite”, and has 2 parts. The second tune is “The Bride’s Favourite” and it has 3 parts.
It’s been suggested above that “The Brides” is merely a different setting of “Tansey’s”, but I do not think so, even though the similarities in the 2 tunes are obvious. Tansey himself gave them different titles, as does “The Fiddler’s Companion”, and Bulmer & Sharpley have both tunes listed separately in different volumes. I am of the opinion that these are 2 different tunes, and the titles should not be regarded as interchangeable.
So, this particular jig which Gian marco has posted is “Tansey’s Fancy/Favourite” and the “Bride’s Favourite” is not yet listed.
[ I’ve just posted it ]

Submitted on October 23rd 2004 by Kenny.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3746

Same as was done by John Carty “Last Nights’ Fun”?

I wouldn’t think so. “Tansey’s Favourite” on “Last Night’s Fun” is coupled with the reel “The Heather Breeze”, which would suggest that John Carty’s “Tansey’s Favourite” is a reel. The bould Seamus has more than 1 tune associated with his name.

What was the point in duplicating this? https://thesession.org/tunes/1766

Note for note exactly, even down to the spacing and lack of spacing, such as | B3A3 | and including the squiggles ~ … Obviously a cut and paste from some unattributed source in both cases? Is this a symptom of the decay of the tradition? ~ a loss of imagination and a loss of respect for sources? ~ like one of those ram and grab raids, only ABC’s? 😉

I wish people would search before submitting tunes.Even the requests are full of tunes already here!!!!

LOL sorry that was naughty - I got carried away.

Is this what we’re to expect from you in exchange for you not adding comment or starting spats in the discussion section. May the spirits protect us and bless us all with everlasting patience… 😉

Hey, I just remembered, you told me you wouldn’t do anything like this again also…. 😏 You can change your name but you can’t take away the character, qualities and faults, eh?

1, 2, 3, 4 ~ can we have a little bit more ~ 5, 6 ~ OK, nuff already…

Don’t have Carty’s “Last Nights Fun” handy, however, I’ll point out that Carty, more than likely, is covering Paddy Killoran’s recording of “Tansey’s Favourite/Heathery Breeze” (which is available on on either Shanachie 33003, or the still in print, “From Ballymote To Brooklyn”

…since posting above 6 years ago, I’ve realised that the reel “Tansey’s Favourite” - mentioned above - does not in fact refer to Seamus, but another musician with the same surname. I seem to recall that Seamus himself pointed this out somewhere in one of his “Bardic Apostles of Inisfree” books. [ None of this has to do with the jig posted here - just thought I’d clarify things ].

I have tried to locate the song book by the “Steel Eyed Span” called ORIGINAL MASTERS. This contains many of the songs that i like. I have searched far and world wide and have not found a copy available. The United Kingdom showed nothing. Does anybody have a copy or can they help? my email is sonnyfino@gmail.com.
Thanks

Try again searching for “Steeleye Span”.
I just found a copy on eBay. Bad news is that the asking price is £150, which is ridiculous.

Fino: I have a copy of the Steeleye Span Song Book, which contains a setting of a tune under the title ‘Tansey’s Fancy’ - a 48-bar jig. It is almost, but not quite entirely, unlike the one above, but clearly there is some discussion to be had about which tune fits this title.

Did you want a copy of the dots to that tune? If so, I’ll notate it and post it here, or get it to you some other way. If you want other stuff from that book or a list of contents, let me know.

If useful, I also have one of their collections just called ‘Steeleye Span’, which contains material they played on the ‘Please to see the King’, and ‘Ten Man Mop’ LPs.

That’s not it, Bazza - I used to have the book you’re meaning, but the enquiry is about a different book. Does your book have a purple border with a photo of the band on the front ?

The one just called ‘Steeleye Span’ looks like that. The ‘Steeleye Span Song Book’ has an eighteenth-century coloured picture of a chap - clearly a disreputable cad - molesting a partially-undressed young woman. Not sure what, if anything, that is meant to convey about the music. The contents are taken from the LPs ‘Below the Salt’, ‘Parcel of Rogues’, and ‘Now we are Six’.

Further note . . . As far as I can see from a quick search, ‘Original Masters’ is the title of a compilation LP. I don’t know if there is an actual song book of the relevant material using the same name.

Then what you have Bazza is a 3rd book. “Original Masters” was certainly a compilation recording - there are dozens of the LP records on sale on eBay, but also that 1 instance of a corresponding book. Here’s the entry in eBay, if the link works :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265253373567?hash=item3dc255467f:g:XVcAAOSw4HlhCA4W

Ah! Indisputable evidence. No, I don’t have that one. Sorry, can’t help.

A postscript . . .
Having just copied out a couple of tunes - as per Fino’s enquiry - from the aforementioned Song Book, I see that the one shown above is not given in the book as ‘Tansey’s Fancy’‘ at all but as ’The Bride’s Favourite’, and vice-versa. Conversely and contrariwise, the titles are reversed on this site. As in so much these days, a chap has to wonder where the truth lies!

Steeleye Span’s sleeve notes got it wrong. See my post above from 16 years ago.

Just for the record, Seamus Tansey (now sadly RIP) recorded Tansey’s Favourite and The Bride’s Favourite on his 1970 LP in the Masters of Irish Music series (Leader LEA2005). On the sleeve notes it says “in America a near relative, Joseph Tansey, made the first recording of Tansey’s Favourite Jig.” Not that you can necessarily rely on sleeve notes, as the Steeleye Span album and quite a number of other recordings clearly demonstrate…

My attempt at transcribing how Seamus Tansey plays it here: https://youtu.be/PVYJgjB-_18

play video