Ellie Goes West hornpipe

From Flook’s album Ancora. The tune of the 7th track.

Lovely tune, my new favourite, i was halfway through learning it when you put this up…. maybe you or someone should put up a version in D. Brian plays it on an E whistle.

Thank you very much. I’ve been waiting over 3 years for a transcription. You’ve made me very happy.
Sincerely, Ellie West.

Here is a version in D for whistlers. It is just vsign’s version run through Jen’s transposer; the result seems fine to me, but I know nothing about ABC . Play it with an E whistle if you want it in E obviously.

X: 2
T: Ellie Goes West
R: hornpipe
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K:Dmaj
DG/A/ de g>f d3/2 z/ | GF dE/F/ EA cd | DG/A/ de g>f d3/2 z/ | G>F dE/F/ E3/2-E z/ G/F/ |
DA de gf a3/2 z/ | GG/A/ dE/F/ EA cd/d/- | d<B AD EA FF/D/ | GF/A/ BF/E/ E3/2-E z/ E/D/ |
D2A2 d2e2 g2>f2 d2-d/e/f/g/ | a-a/g/ g>f ee/d/ f3/2 z/ | DG/A/ d z/ e/ gf d3/2 z/ |
GG/A/ dd/e/ e3 z | DG/A/ de/d/ gf<a z | GA dE/F/ EA cd | B z AD EE/A/ FF/D/ | GA cd/e/ e4 |
z B gf- ff/a/ ed | z G/A/ gf- ff/e/ ee/d/ | GA/B/ gf ad e z/ a/ | e>f ac cB g/a/g- |
g z z/ G/A/B/ g2f2- f2fe e2ef | z2 GA g2f2- f2-f/e/d/B/ e2d2 | GA/B/ gf ad e z/ f/ |
a-a/g/ g-g/f/ e4 | de/f/ fc c2 Bd | dG G>F df fc | c z Bd d/ef/ f3/2 z/ |
A/B/B/G/ gf/e/ e/d/d de/f/ | f2-f/f/g/a/ g3 z ABBG g2f z | e/d/d/ z/ E/F/d/ z/ Ec A2 |

Adrian, thank you. The version in D is the intended fingering used by the composer so it will be very useful to anyone learning from the cd or live recordings.

Ellie, you must be quite a person to have such a beautiful tune made for you, and Brian must think the world of you. Brings me to tears every time I hear it.

Transposed to Dmaj.

Adrian, just seen your comment.
Very kind. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing our dear mister Finnegan since I was six year old and first met him in the back of my parents car picking him up from Cambridge train station. My parents gave him what must have been one of his first summer school teaching jobs outside of Ireland, back in 1994. At that point he had just won all Ireland for the second time and released his solo album ‘When the Party’s Over’ but Flook hadn’t formed in yet so it was still quite early in his career. He taught my sister and myself flute and whistle through our childhood, teen years and beyond. It’s been 26 years and I’m now the organiser of the self same summer school, now named Burwell Bash. I met, got engaged and honeymooned with my husband at Burwell. In fact, Brian and the tutors were in on the proposal and knew it was coming. Brian was the first person to hug me after we announced our engaement and was invited to the wedding. Sadly, Flook were already booked to be in Denmark and Germany at that time and so he had to decline his invitation. A week to the day that my husband and I were married, Brian debuted the tune with Ed Boyd at the Burwell Bash tutors concert as a wedding present and told me then, back in 2016, that it was one of the first tracks recorded for the CD that would become Ancora. The tune name is a pun (something for which I still haven’t entirely forgiven him for) as my maiden name was Smith. The day I returned from Burwell I bought a low E whistle from Colin Goldie and learnt the tune. To have something that means that much to me released to the world was incredible. I’ve known Brian longer than I can remember at this point so it’s an incredible honour.

This is a more simple to read version in D of the tune, without the annoying rests which make it tricky to follow. Also the last part of the tune is in 3/4 not 4/4 so that is much easier to read here too. Sorry for any inaccuracies but it’s fairly close to what Brian plays, at least the first time through. The last time through, the 3/4 part is repeated (as indicated on this score) though Brian really goes off on one in the album version, as he often does!

I got a chord wrong in my version (the third and only chorded version). The sequence Bm A G A that happens in bar 7 and 8, and again in bar 15 and 16 should be Bm D G A. Sorry folks