Johnny Going To Ceili reel

I wasn’t sure about posting this one or not as it is pretty similar to Jigging the Donkey and the Beauty Spot already listed here. Despite “Johnny Going to Ceili” being as different from those two tunes as they are from each other, it clearly shares an incestuous relationship with them, and it would be interesting to here any stories people might know about the tunes.

I originally got this tune from Cathal McConnell’s album: On Lough Erne Shore and discovered, while in Ireland, that this tune has long been popular in the Fermanagh tradition. Apparently Cathal got the tune from the playing of John Maguire (who played Fiddle, Flute, Whistle and Piccolo) father of Sean Maguire. This transcription is what I play, which is close to Cathal’s Playing of it (though I can’t check as this must be one of the many albums I’ve lent to someone and can’t remember who….)

I forgot to say that this tune is a thumping great flute tune which Cathal plays with Long Slender Sally and the Gossoon the Beat His Father, but it works pretty nicely on fiddle too.

I learned this tune from Harry Bradley in a workshop some weeks ago. I don’t think he decided what tunes to teach in advance: this tune more than likely popped out of his flute by accident. Anyway, here’s his version:

K: Dmix
AG~G2 Addc|ABAG EDEG|AG~G2 AddB|cBAG EGD2:|
eg~g2 edcd|edeg a3g|eg~g2 edcA|GAcd edd2|
eg~g2 edcd|edeg a2ag|eaag ~e3d|^cAcd e2d2||

This is actually very similar to Norbeck’s transcription of Cathal McConnell’s version, so I guess Harry probably learned it from Cathal’s recording. Gary Hastings recently recorded this tune on “Slan le Loch Eirne” and I happened to record him playing it from a radio programme. It seems listed as “The Gosson that Beat His Father,” but that’s obviously a mistake.

Slainte, what Henrik has transcribed is apparently my playing of the tune but, of course, I learned it straight off McConnell’s album when it first came out.

So LongNote, did Henrik transcribe your playing off your records, or his own tape of your playing?

Oh, yeah. It doesn’t say it was directly transcribed from C. McConnell’s recording. Now we got your real name, LongNote.

As I continue to do, I made tapes of tunes for anyone who was interested. I suppose Henrik got his hands on a copy of one of these as I only got to know him after my years in Sweden. No shortage of great musicians in Sweden and Denmark who can play both Irish and their own trad music equally well.

Oooo, I’m interested! Me! Me!

For what it’s worth, this is the way I currently play this tune. It doesn’t differ much from my version to be found on Henrik’s site nor from Harry B’s version as posted above by slainte. As Harry and I are both from the north, that isn’t surprising, I suppose. I have to confess to having no training whatsoever in music, so I have tried to transcribe my own playing by using the ABCs as posted as a guide and making the necessary changes. If there are mistakes, please correct me.

K: Dmix
dc|: AG~G2 Addc|ABAG EDEG|AG~G2 AddB|cBAG EGD2:|
eg~g2 ed B/c/d|edeg a2ag|eg~g2 edcA|GAcd edd2|
eg~g2 ed B/c/d|ed e/f/g a2ag|eaag ~e3d|^cA B/c/d edd2||

Also on Danu’s “All Things Considered.” They mistakenly call it “Beauty Spot.”

One of those reels in which -if played slowly- I imediately hear a driving, haunting 6/8 march… It’s all there for you to play if you remove a couple of chosen quavers in each bar…
readymade so to speak

I recently came across this tune in Hugh Shield’s edited collection of the James Goodman manuscripts, where it’s called Back the Change. The version that Goodman collected is similar but not the same as the version posted here. ’Tis a lovely tune!

Just sounds like a version of the Beauty Spot to me. There are lots of versions of that tune - some of which are much more different to the standard session version than this one is.

https://thesession.org/tunes/1270

X: 1
T: Johnny Going To Ceilidh
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
||A3G Addc|A2AG ED (3EFG|A~G3 A2dB|cBAG EADG|
|A3G Addc|A2AG ED (3EFG|A~G3 c4|cdAG EAD2||
||e~g3 ed (3Bcd|edeg a3g|e~g3 edcA|GA (3Bcd ~e3 dg|
e~g3 ed (3Bcd|edeg a3g|eaag ege|dBA (3Bcd egdB||
“variations”
|A3G Addc|A2AG ED (3EFG|A~G3 c4|cdAG EADG|
|A3G Addc|A2AG ED ED|Eccc AddB|cBAG EADG||

X: 1
T: Cros An Lomanaigh
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
M:4/4
|~B3A GBdB | cBAG FGAF | DG~G2 ~A3B | cBAG FGAF |
DG~G2 ~B3A | GBdB c2Bc | dBcA BcAG | FGAc BGG ||
B | dg~g2 bg~g2 | defg af (3gfe | dg~g2 bgge | fdcA BGGB |
dg~g2 bgaf | defg af (3gfe | dg~g2 dg~g2 | ~a3g fdcA ||

I Love Cathal’s version but can’t go any further than Tommy Peoples with Paul Brady(mandolin) on “Welcome Here Kind Stranger”
https://youtu.be/v0QguSX45GE

play video

I quite agree, J.D. Duffy - hard to beat that.