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Leather Away The Wattle-O polka

Also known as An TSeanbhean Uasal, Breaking On The Rocks, Buail Leat Leis An Bata, Cheese, Dermot Latch’s, The Grand Auld Dame Britannia, The Grand Ol’ Dame Britannia, The Grand Old Dame, The Grand Oul Dame Britannia, The Grand Oul’ Dame Britannia, The Half Door, The Half-Door, The Halfdoor, Johnny Redmond, Johnny Redmond’s, Ladies’ Chain, Leather Away The Wattle O, Leather Away With The Wattle, Leather Away With The Wattle-O, Leather The Bottle-O, The Lisdoonvarna, The Little Lisdoonvana, The London Bridge, The Rathmore, Rose Tree, Rose Tree II, The Rose Tree, Tearing Away With The Wattle, TSeanbhean Uasal, The Water Street, Waves Of Tory, The Waves Of Tory.

There are 35 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

Leather Away The Wattle-O appears in 4 other tune collections.

Leather Away The Wattle-O has been added to 23 tune sets.

Leather Away The Wattle-O has been added to 145 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Eight settings

1
X: 1
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:f/e/|dA FA|d>d df|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
(3agf ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
|:e|ff/f/ fd|gg/g/ ge|ff/f/ fa|gf ef/g/|
af ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
2
X: 2
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:dA FA|d>e fd|ed cd|e>f ge|
af ge|d/e/d/B/ A>F|GB A>G|FD D2:|
|:f>e fd|g>f ge|f>e fa|gf ef/g/|
af ge|d/e/d/B/ A>F|GB AG|FD D2:|
3
X: 3
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
dA FA|d2 dc/d/|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
f2 fe/f/|g2 ge|f2 fa|gf ef/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/ FD D:|
dA FA|d2 dc/d/|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
|:f2 fe/f/|g2 ge|f2 fa|gf ef/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/ FD D:|
dA FA|d2 dc/d/|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
f2 fe/f/|g2 ge|f2 fa|gf ef/g/|
af/a/ g/f/e|dB AF|GB A/B/A/G/ FD D:|
4
X: 4
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:f/e/|dA FA|d>d df|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
|:e|f>f ff|z gg2|f>f f a|gf ef/g/|
af ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
5
X: 5
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
(3ABc|dA FA|d2d/e/f/g/|ed cd|e/f/g fg|
af ge|d2 AF|G/A/B/c/ AG|FD D|
d/e/|ff fd|gg ge|ff fa|gf ef/g/|
af ge|d2 AF|G/A/B/c/ AG|FD D|
6
X: 6
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A|:dA FA|de fe/f/|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af g/f/e|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|1 FD D2:|2 FD De||
|:ff/f/ fe|g2 g2|ff/f/ fa|gf ef/g/|
af g/f/e|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|1 FD De:|2 FD D2||
7
X: 7
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A|:dA FA|de fe/f/|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af g/f/e|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|1 FD D2:|2 FD De||
|:f2 fe/f/|g2 gf/e/|f2 fa|gf ef/g/|
af g/f/e|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|1 FD De:|2 FD D2||
8
X: 8
T: Leather Away The Wattle-O
R: polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:d2 FA|dB df|e2 B/c/d|ef g2|
ab/a/ ge|fd AF|GB AG|1 FD D2:|2 FD De||
|:f2- fd|g2- ge|fd fa|gf e2|
ab/a/ ge|fd AF|GB AG|1 FD De:|2 FD D2||

Twenty-five comments

A great polka, used as the tune for the song "The Grand Oul’ Dame Britannia".

Leather Away The Wattle O

This is a great tune, but the name is a mystery. Does anyone have a clue what it means? How does one leather ones wattle and why would one want to?
Bill M

I’ve been playing this tune for years and have never had a name for it, so many thanks. This was one of the first tunes I learnt and associated with Irish music and that’s going back a long way. I play this as the second tune in a set with a tune called ‘Captain McGuire’ which I believe could be American.

Posted by .

I learned this tune 25 years ago under the name "tearing away with the wattle" Later on I was told the name "the rathmore polka"
I play it as the first tune in a set followed by "dennis leary’s" &"john ryans".

Posted by .

I learn’t this tune way back in the sixties under the title "Waves of Tory" - why has it got so many names?

And who said that ITM had no useful purpose!Bill M

"The Half Door" / "Leather Away the Wattle-O"

Submitted on June 23rd 2006 by Woofyos.

M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Dmaj
|: dA FA | d>e fd | ed cd | e>f ge |
af ge | d/e/d/B/ A>F | GB A>G |FD D2 :|
|: f>e fd | g>f ge | f>e fa | gf ef/g/ |
af ge | d/e/d/B/ A>F | GB AG | FD D2 :|

Leather wattle-o is not the same tune as The Half Door

I have requested the tune The Halfdoor bit i am not getting the right tune e-mailed to me.

Re: Leather wattle-o is not the same tune as The Half Door

There’s never a guarantee, Bernard, but I did send you one suggestion. Is the tune you’re looking for a jig, reel or what ?Who have you heard playing it ? The more information you give us, the more likely it is we can help.

Posted by .

Re: Leather wattle-o is not the same tune as The Half Door

I’ll email you my version, which is also called the grand olde dame

Re: Leather wattle-o is not the same tune as The Half Door

its a polka, right?

Just maybe your source or you have confused a name?

Try offering us a few bars ~ there’s a load of helpful folk here who will likely find the tune for you, but for now, you might just have the wrong name attached to your wants, as you will see wit the following links that all these sources currently online dealing with Irish and related music agree with the entry here at TheSesh…

https://thesession.org/tunes/2286

Fiddler’s Companion
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html
Alphabetical Files
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FCfiles.html
LEA - LEG
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/LEA_LEG.htm
Leather Away the Wattle-O
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/LEA_LEG.htm#LEATHER_AWAY_WITH_THE_WATTLE
HAA - HAP
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/HAA_HAP.htm
The Halfdoor
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/HAA_HAP.htm#HALFDOOR

T:Halfdoor
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:240
R:Polka
B:Richard Darsie’s Traditional Tune Sourcebook
N:4/4 in book; transcribed as 2/4 here
Z:Lorna LaVerne
K:D
B/c/ |
dA FA |d2 dc/d/ | ed cd | ef gf/g/ |
af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ | FD D :|
e |
f2 fe/f/ | g2 ge | f2 fa | gf ef/g/ |
af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ FD D :|

the sectionalised web-wide abc index
http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/index/split.html
H ~ no "Half Door" of any sort
http://staffweb.cms.gre.ac.uk/~c.walshaw/abc/index/split/wwabcH.html

Richard Robinson’s Tunebook
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/tunebook.html
Search Form ~ no ‘Halfdoor’, ‘Half Door’ or ‘Half-Door’ of any sort
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/search/searchform.html

John Chambers offerings
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/homepage.html
Tunefind
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind
Half Door

X: 1
T: the Half Door
T: the Lisdoonvarna Polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
Q: 240
R: Polka
B: Richard Darsie’s Traditional Tune Sourcebook
N: 4/4 in book; transcribed as 2/4 here
Z: Lorna LaVerne <Muse1950@aol.com>
F:http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/march/RoseTree2.abc 2006-06-23 19:04:46 UT
K: D
B/c/ \
| dA FA |d2 dc/d/ | ed cd | ef gf/g/ |
| af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ | FD D :|
e \
|: f2 fe/f/ | g2 ge | f2 fa | gf ef/g/ |
| af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ FD D :|

HA ~ one entry for Half Door
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/ndx/HA.html

X: 1
T: the Rose Tree #2
T: Leather Away the Wattle O
T: the Half Door
T: the Lisdoonvarna Polka
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
Q: 240
R: Polka
B: Richard Darsie’s Traditional Tune Sourcebook
N: 4/4 in book; transcribed as 2/4 here
Z: Lorna LaVerne <Muse1950@aol.com>
K: D
B/c/ |
dA FA | d2 dc/d/ | ed cd | ef gf/g/ |
af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ | FD D :|
e |
f2 fe/f/ | g2 ge | f2 fa | gf ef/g/ |
af/a/ g/f/e | dB AF | GB A/B/A/G/ FD D :|

Mind you, it seems they all have relied on our member ‘Richard Darsie’ and his ‘Traditional Tune Sourcebook’… 🙂

The version I heard at ‘Bush Dances’ in Australia.
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Dmaj
|:f/e/|dA FA|d>d df|ed cd|ef gf/g/|
af ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|
|:e|f>f ff|z gg2|f>f f a|gf ef/g/|
af ge|dc AF|GB A/B/A/G/|FD D:|

Leather Away the Wattle-O

I’ve also heard it called Upstairs in the Tent, Skin the Goat, and, in my first band, it was known as Yah-Tiddlie-Ah-Tah ( from the beginning of the B part onomatapoeically ).
It is, of course, the second tune in Dave Swarbricks’ Spanish Ladies Medley on that old album Rags,Reels, and Airs.

To the initial question

The following from The Fiddlers Companion.

‘The title “Leather Away with the Wattle” breaks down as: ‘leather away’ i.e. to go at something vigorously, and ‘wattle’ i.e. a stick, or ‘to have a vigorous go with the stick’. This phrase could apply to various things, but is also a euphemism for male masturbation.

What nonsense. Seems like trite schoolboy logic to me. Wattle bark is a principle source of tannin for cureing hides into leather.

A beautiful flying dance polka. Easy to imagine it still ringing around inside your head the day after the dance, with the images of pretty girls, swirling dress’s and flashing smiles still sweet to the memory, giving relief to the tedium of a low paid, hard working job.

You could add Touchstone’s "The New Land" as having a recorded version of this polka ("Cheese"), in the set called "Three Polkas." If anyone know names for the 2 polkas that follow "Cheese", let me know! Thanks!

Frank Quinn - The Water Street Polka No.1

The fiddler Frank Quinn (1893-1964) of Greagh, Drumlish, Co. Longford recorded this polka as the first tune in a set entitled "The Water Street Polka" in January, 1929.

Cheese, X:6

From the playing of Three Bean Salad, following after Ievan’s Polka, and leading into their polka "Purseholder #3".

Re: Leather Away The Wattle-O

It’s entitled "Brass Nuts" in Tony Sullivan’s English & Scottish Tunes book.

Re: Leather Away The Wattle-O / Waves of Tory

I have a vague recollection of this being played by the Radio Eireann Orchestra to some programme like The Kennedys of Castleross - am I delusional, or does anyone else have a similar memory ??