The London Lasses reel

Computer playing silly b**gers - will comment later.

Great reel. Has been associated a lot with the Galway Rambler but is also frequently played after St Anne’s. At our session we go for the latter.

A “fundamental” tune for flute players . Never played better than by Conal O’Grada ( after the “Galway Rambler” - as Bannerman suggests).

I think this is a great whistle video for thi song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZM4lt3sZY

play video

There’s a very different version on Kevin Burke & Jackie Daly’s album:

X: 1
T: London Lasses
D: Kevin Burke & Jackie Daly - The Eavesdropper
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
G2BG AGBd|gedB AGEF|G2BG AGBd|gedB AcBA|
G2BG AGBd|gedB dega|bgag egge|1 dBAB GDEF:|2 dBAB G2 (3ggg||
|:g2bg agba|gedB defa|g2bg agea|gedB BAAf|
g2bg agba|gedB dega|bgag egge|1 dBAB G2 (3ggg:| 2 dBAB GDEF||

Burke & Daly version of the tune has just been posted as Castlemahon Lasses: https://thesession.org/tunes/11242

I picked up this version from video a Japanese tin whistler called Hatao uploaded on Youtube, I don’t know if it’s original of his or not. Anyway, I’ve been using the notations listed here for a long time and I wanted to give something back:

X:1
T:London Lasses, The
S:Hatao (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ZM4lt3sZY)

play video

R:Reel
C:?
Z:Gerard Guillemas
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:G
“G”~G3BDGBd|eaage~g3|~G3BDGBd|egdBAGFA|
~G3BDGBd|eaage~g3|“C”bgagegfa|gedBAGFA|
“G”~G3BDGBd|eaage~g3|~g3de~g3|egdBAGFA|
~G3BDGBd|eaage~g3|“C”bgagegfa|gedBAGFA||
“G”~g3gedBe|d~G3BGB/c/d|“C”gGfGeged|B~G3B~A3|
“G”gaagfgge|d~B3dega|“C”bgagegfa|gedBAGFA|
“G”g3gedBe|d~G3BGB/c/d|“C”gGfGeged|B~G3B~A3|
“G”gaagfgge|d~B3dega|“C”bgagegfa|gedBAGFA||

The A part of the first setting reminds me a lot of the B part of For the Sake of Old Decency https://thesession.org/tunes/2777

Fred Finn and Peter Horan - 2nd reel, following “The Duke Of Leinster” :
https://youtu.be/l3MYnIB7RFc

play video

This setting is from Jerry O’Brien’s Accordion Instructor , where it’s labeled as “Donegal Lassies” (see https://www.itma.ie/digital-library/score/obrien-tutor-61 for the ITMA transcription). The B part in O’Brien is singled – I doubled it here as it feels like a typo (but you never know). I haven’t added that as an alternate title here, to avoid the confusion with Brian Finnegan’s jig. The O’Brien instructor also includes one-row button tablature not reproduced here or on ITMA.

This is a setting in D that I got from Ted McGraw, who got it from a handwritten manuscript by George Walker.

From the playing of John Whelan on 7 April 2021

Who was it who posted that the composer of this was one “James McEnery”, and where is the proof for that, please ?

Don’t know who posted the composer, Kenny, but perhaps they were looking here:
https://thesession.org/tunes/11242

and maybe here:
https://www.irishtune.info/tune/7118/

It’s all a bit confusing.

I did see that, DonaldK, and have had a look at the 2 relevant volumes of Breathnach. Whereas the name James McEnery is mentioned in association with “The Castlemahon Lasses” in Vol.5, there is no link whatsoever anywhere between James McEnery and the reel “The London Lasses” which I posted. Thanks for your interest.