The Rainy Day reel

This setting of The Rainy Day comes from the flute player Michael Harty who was with Paddy O’Brien, and I think it was Paddy himself who originaly wrote this setting out for his band to play. I now play with Michael Harty who has brought some fine settings of tunes to our weekly session in Cahir, South Tipperary.

cheers mike

It may have a G key signature, but the tonal centre is A, the second degree of the G major scale, making this a modal tune.

It’s in A dorian, not G major!

Enough nit picking.

This was one of Seamus Ennis’s best tunes .

Most of the older traditional musicians I know around where I live
(South Tipperary) would use key signitures to save writing lots of sharps or flats in the music,so if a tune is in Am with all F,s sharp they would put it in G. I know this is not correct notation but is still gets the point across.
Good luck
Mikea

Here’s a transcription of Dez Donnelly’s fiddling on the first go round on this great reel, from the Ceili House radio program.

X: 1
T: Rainy Day, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
S:Ceili House, May 7, 2005
K: A Dorian
G|:EAAG A3 B|c2 ed cBAc|B~G3 D~G3|B/c/d gd edB/A/G|
EAAG A3 B|c2 AB cdef|~g2 af gedB|1 GBdB BAAG:|2 GBdB BA (3Bcd||
eaag eaag|edef ~g3e|d~g3 b~g3|bgaf gf e2 |
a3 g eaag|edef gbaf|gedB GA (3Bcd|1 gedB BA (3Bcd:|2 gedB BAAG||

The Bothy Band play a rather different version of this tune, which makes me wonder if this is actually a different tune that the Bothy Band simply misnamed on their CD.

Try this version out at a slow pace, holding on to the a’s in the B-part, going for an East Clare style.

X: 1
T: Rainy Day, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
S: The Bothy Band
K: A Dorian
D|:EAAG A3G|B/c/d ed gedc|BGGF G2dG|G2dG eGdG|
EAAG ~A3G|BAAA B/c/d ef|~g3e dBGA|B2dB A3:|
d|eaag ~a3g|ba~a2 baag|eggf g3a|bg~g2 bgag|
ea~a2 aged|B/c/d ef g2ag|eaag egdG|B2dB A3:|

Doesnt Mary Bergin credit the same tune on her cd….when I play either of these tunes i usually say - I dont know - when asked for the name - too confusing

Stefanpaz, I don’t have the CD, but according to Henrik Norbeck they both (Mary Bergin and the Bothy Band) play the same version.

(As a reference, look here: http://www.norbeck.nu/abc/i/hnr3.abc and scroll to X:325)

Does anyone else have more insight on these two versions?

I’m not convinced that the tune recorded by the Bothy Band and Mary Bergin isn’t just a version of Paddy On The Turnpike. If you transpose Paddy On The Turnpike up to Ador for the flute and then compare, the similarities are really noticeable, especially in the B-part:

X: 1
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
T: The Bunch Of Keys
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
EAAG ~A3B|cA~A2 eAcA|EGGF ~G3A|BGdG eGdG|
EAAG ~A3B|cBAB cdef|~g3e dBGB|1 cABG A3G:|2 cABG A3d||
|:eaag ~a3b|ca~a2 cabg|eggf ~g3a|bg~g2 bgag|
eaag ~a3b|cbag edef|~g3e dBGB|1 cABG A3d:|2 cABG A3G||

X: 1
T: The Rainy Day
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
S: Based on Bothy Band tune, but a couple of tweaks here and there to add much-needed strength to my argument 😉
K: Ador
EAAG ~A3B|cded gedc|BGGF ~G2dG|~G2dG eGdG|
EAAG ~A3B|cBAB cdef|~g3e dBGA|1 B2dB A3G:|2 B2dB A3d||
|:eaag ~a3g|ba~a2 bgag|eggf ~g3a|bg~g2 bgag|
eaag aged|(3Bcd ef g2ag|eaag egdG|1 B2dB A3d:|2 B2dB A3G||

There are lots of tunes that are similar to this – Corner House, Down The Broom and all its variants… Not sure, but isn’t it possible that someone has got them mixed up?

The B-part of the other version that’s *not* the Bothy Band one is almost identical to the Concert Reel https://thesession.org/tunes/1474. Now I wish I hadn’t realised that because now I’m having a major headache trying to keep them separate…

Listen to Dezi Donnelly and Mike McGoldrick’s purest drop playing of this tune: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7may.ram (starts around 20:30, from Ceili House Archive 2005: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/1034199.html)

P.S. Thanks Mr. Harmon for having transcribed their version above.

Slainte, are you learning this tune at the moment? You can hear a nice clip of Tim Collins playing it in Gdor here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7qLCr9GBeM.

play video

Here’s my setting.

X: 1
T: Rainy Day, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
EAAG ~A3B|cded cBAc|BG~G2 dG~G2|Bdgd edBG|
EAAG ~A3B|cBAB cdef|gbaf gedB|1 GBdB BAAG:|2 GBdB BAAd||
|:eaag eaag|edef gabg|dg~g2 a2ga|bgaf gedg|
eaag eaag|edef gaba|gedB GABd|1 gedB BAAd:|2 gedB BAAG||

I’ve heard a great piping friend play the tune many times in sessions, so it’s already in my head. I think I can play it anytime I want, if not too fast. But I don’t feel like playing any Ador reel at the moment.

Mills are Grinding: https://thesession.org/tunes/5779

I eventually learned this yesterday, and found there’s another similar tune: Peter Flanagan’s: https://thesession.org/tunes/3871

And here’s the link to the less common setting of The Rainy Day posted by Dow: https://thesession.org/tunes/7228

This version (as opposed to the other one on this site) is the one played by Billy McComiskey on his "Outside the Box" CD. This presumably would also then be the version which gets a fair amount of play around Baltimore (USA).

Dow, I agree with you. This is very similar to Paddy On The Turnpike. I find Paddy… to be a much better tune for fiddling than Rainy Day. It definitely suits the flute or whistle much better.

I think this is the version that Will Harmon posted. This one is done by Dezi Donnelly and Mike McGoldrick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h_hnvJle2E

play video

Here’s a Scottish pipe friendly version, I arranged on a rainy day. (It’s within the compass of the chanter but I don’t guarantee it agrees with the drones)

X: 1
T: Rainy Day, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: A dorian
AAAG AGAB|cedB cBAc|BGGG BdcA|B/c/def gdBG|
AAAG AGAB|c2AB cdef|g2af gedB|GBdB BAA2:|
eaag e2ag|edef gafg|agfa g2dB|GAB/c/d edBd |
e2ag e2ag|edef g3f|gedB GABd|gedB BAA2:|

the setting I put is a loose setting of fiddle player Oisín Mac Diarmada’s. got it from his solo album

Watch The Thatch Ceili Band play this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB_PGa2l77c

play video

For more info on the band, see: https://thesession.org/discussions/15080

Lovely reel, an Ennis version.