Paddy Kelly’s reel

I usually play this tune before “The New Custom House”, which is another Paddy Kelly composition, as played by Joe Burke on his “Bucks of Oranmore” album.

Another Father Kelley’s, this one from John Carty’s “I Will If I Can” album. He plays countless variations, but this is the way he taught it at a workshop and is about as stripped down of a version as I could get.

This isn’t the Father Kelly’s that I’m familiar with but it is a very good tune all the same…

John Carty is apparently mistaken. He mixed Father Kelly up with Paddy Kelly, the East Galway fiddle player. This, coincidently, has happened on another one of Paddy’s tunes. In any case, Paddy Kelly wrote this and called it “The Daisy Field” according to the sleeve notes on Tim Collins’ album “Dancing on Silver.” Aside from John Carty and Tim Collins, the only other recording I have of the tune is a recorded session tape of Padraic Mac Donnacha, Conor Tully and Frank Hogan which was recently uploaded to the internet. However, Tim got the tune from a recording of Joe Burke so it is in good circulation, so it seems.

Paddy Canny also recorded the tune on his solo album “Irish Music from a Legendary East Clare fiddler.” He called it The Daisy Field also. It’s pretty clear that Paddy Kelly did compose a tune called the Daisy Field because Mike Rafferty apparently notes it on one of his albums but, he didn’t play this tune, it was a different tune. I’ve only read this up so don’t have the album at hand to check but I did come across some ABCs of the tune which Mike calls “The Daisy Field” and attributes to Paddy Kelly but it’s not this one. I also came across sheetmusic to “Paddy Kelly’s 4-Part” and that was named “The Daisy Field”. Maybe its time to head down to the archive.

That’s the correct title. Go to this duplicated version for more of my comments on the tune:

https://thesession.org/tunes/5127/comments

No. You’re wrong, Paddy. That’s a completely different tune. And this is not the Daisy Field.

Sorry, this is indeed the Daisy Field. But I don’t think the other one is a duplicated version.

This is not what Mike Rafferty recorded as The Daisy Field.

Is Mike Rafferty’s tune in C (2-part) and very different? If so, its the ABCs I came across on the net. But I still think this is The Daisy Field.

I was down at the archive today and found some recordings of the tune which I did not previously know of (Brendan Larrisey, Joe Burke). I also found the tune on Tim Collins’ album “Dancing on Silver”.

Larrisey and Burke have under the title “Paddy Kelly’s” and Joe says that Paddy Kelly never named his tunes. He says that The New Customs House title just became attached to the tune which Paddy wrote. Having said that, I heard elsewhere that Paddy wrote St. Ruth’s Bush and intentionally named it in honour of the place in question (it is renowned for some battle or something). So I don’t know where the Daisy Field title originated but Tim Collins and Paddy Canny call the tune that so whether its legitimate or not, it is accepted it seems.

I only got through 50% of the material in the archive today so I’ll try and get through the rest in the future.

This *is* like the Paddy Kelly reel which Mike and Willie play on the Road from Ballinakill, but here it is in Gminor - whereas Mike and Willie play it in G major. In Martin Mulvihill’s book it is listed as “Father Kelly’s” also (in G major, no natural F’s) but it does seem to actually be Paddy Kelly’s.

The other thread “Paddy Kelly’s reel” has this same tune in G major.

It looks to me like another of Paddy Kelly’s compositions is also known as the Daisy Field. Its mentioned on this web page
http://www.cranfordpub.com/tunes/Irish/PaddyKelly.htm
and that is the one I associate with Paddy Carty. there’s a sound file there of Mary McNamara playing it.

Hope that helps.

On Athena Tergis’ album, there’s the G major reel and then a G modal reel and then it goes back to the G major. Is this the same tune with a variation or is the more modal tune the drunken tinker?

Majorly confused here.

Thanks!

So that more modal bit is just another version of Paddy Kelly’s. But is that a common variation? I’m taking this to competition this weekend and am wondering if I should do the minor variation.

Thanks again!

The 4 part “Paddy Kelly’s” on Athena’s album is either a completely different setting or a different tune. It’s in G and has the same myxolidian sound but otherwise the melody is very distinct from the tune here. The sheet music for the daisy field here makes it “g major” with some f naturals and on the other page https://thesession.org/tunes/5127/comments
it’s described as “g minor”. I’m not sure either notation does it justice. I’ve always thought of it very much as a modal tune with a lot of “nyah”; Paddy Canny’s version is (of course) very nice indeed.

https://thesession.org/tunes/3221

Athena Turgess was in Aberdeen some years ago as part of Niamh Parsons’ band. She played the above reel - which I posted - as part of a solo. I spoke to her very briefly in a session afterwards, and it was me who told her that the reel she played was Paddy Kelly’s, which I’d heard played by Joe Burke and Finbarr Dwyer. She hadn’t known the title, and therefore composer. I haven’t heard her CD, but I’m assuming this is the tune she recorded.

My iTunes library has 13 tracks containing tunes called Paddy Kelly’s. The ones that match the tune given here are:
Josephine Marsh Band
Ceili Bandits
Damien Connolly
I also have 4 tracks containing tunes called The Daisy Field, each of which is this tune:
Paddy Canny
Mike & Mary Rafferty
Tim Collins
Kevin Crehan

Most, but I don’t think all, of the other 10 Paddy Kelly’s I have, are https://thesession.org/tunes/3221. These include:
Kelly/O’Brien/Sproule (the eponymous album)
Keville/Weir/Dhonaile
Carberry
Tergis
Jesse Smith
Mary MacNamara

Yet a third Paddy Kelly’s is played by Bernard O’Sullivan and Tommy McMahon, and by Joe Burke (Celtic Souls). A fourth one is played by Kelly/O’Brien/Sproule (Traditional Music of Ireland) and Tony Cuffe (Caledonia). I don’t know whether either of these are in the database here.

Here’s another P. Kelly’s: https://thesession.org/tunes/8261

https://thesession.org/tunes/8261 is the third and fourth ones I referred to above. Turns out they’re the same, but with enough differences in the mode to confuse me. On the other hand, the Kelly/O’Brien/Sproule recording has yet a different Paddy Kelly’s (starting a set with a Johnny Doherty tune).

Seen it called the “Eel in the Sink”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfIJ54ugWvI

play video

A more accurate transcription of the Joe Burke recording…

X: 2
T: Paddy Kelly’s
S: Joe Burke & Charlie Lennon - The Bucks of Oranmore
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
B|dG~G2 dGBd|c=F~F2 cFAc|dG~G2 DGBG|BdcA ~G2Bc|
dG~G2 DGBd|c=F~F2 CFAc|dG~G2 DGBG|BdcA G3:|
B|dggf gagf|dedc ABcA|dggf gagf|defg ~a2gf|
dggf gagf|dedc ABcA|dG~G2 DGBG|BdcA GABc|
dggf gagf|dedc ABcA|dg~g2 bgaf|defg ~a2gf|
dggf gagf|dedc ABcA|dG~G2 DGBG|BdcA G3||

Gminor is a nice key for this, especially on fiddle, but its too tough for me on the banjo.
The only loss is the nice drop G’s in the 2nd part that Carty does. So I started with original
poster’s notes, abc2abc -t 2’d them, then tweaked some of the notes. Sometime I’ll tweak
them more to match John Carty’s gnarly.

Go here for better transcriptions and more info on this tune https://thesession.org/tunes/2125

I enjoy the Mary McNamara recording of this tune.

Maybe an Ed Reavy tune? https://www.facebook.com/440307056097641/photos/a.440348336093513/1762173767244290/?type=3&theater

Put together from various parts transcribed from the playing of Macdara O Raghallaigh, the second tune in this video.

https://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_623_1micheal_and_mac_dara_o_raghallaigh/

Why write it simple when it can be written complicated ?
I am surprised by the signatures adopted in the different versions which are present here.
To my ears, and this is reinforced by the “hesitation” of this tune between Fnat anf F# (thus indicating we are probably with a mixolydian tune), and after having transcripted the setting played in the above video by Kirsten Allstaff, Yvonne Casey & Eoin O’Neill, I can say : it’s definitely Gmixolydian, as the resolution note is G.
I am going to publish this transcription, not because it is different from what as been previously posted, but because it is more readable from my point of view.