The Queen Of May reel

This is the version of The Queen of May heard on Chieftains 1 (track 5).

Listen to Dezi Donnelly and Mike McGoldrick playing this tune together: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7may.ram It starts around 20:30, the second one in the set. Smashing!

Nice catch, Hiroyuki, and thanks for posting the link. Here’s what I hear Dez Donnelly playing on that Ceili House track (and I transcribed his playing on The Rainy Day under that tune here in the database as well).

X: 1
T: Queen Of May, The
T: P.J. Crotty’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: E dorian
Bcdf eBdB|AD F/E/D FAAd|Bcdf edBc|dB A/A/=c BEGA|
B3 B BAdB|AD F/E/D FAAd|Bcdf edBc|dB A/A/=c BEGA||
B2 eB fBeB|defa afed|~B2 eB fBeB|dB A/A/=c BEGA|
(3Bcd eg ~f3 e|defa afea|fbba ~f3 e|dB A/A/=c BEGA||

Will, you’re my hero too.

Needless to say, Harry Bradley and Jesse Smith also recorded this great tune together. I have to learn it in a few days.

Interesting to note that the set played by McGoldrick and Donnelly is precisely the same as that recorded by Padraic Mac Mathuna on ‘Blas Na Meala’

I notice, Turophile, that you posted this tune as being in B minor. in terms of notation, this is of no consequence, as the key signature is correct. But I have noticed that backers are often flummoxed by this tune. Something in the opening phrase suggests a B-minor chord, but then, when they try to continue backing in the key ofBm, it doesn’t work. As Will CPT shows in his abc, it is actrually in E dorian. Bm can be used as the opening chord (Em and G both work as well), but the second chord (in bar 2) should be D, not A as is often assumed by backers.

I agree about the correct key signature have changed it to E dorian.

A nice Tommy Potts three part version of this tune can be found in CRE I.

the juneberry site has a Michael Coleman recording of this tune:
http://www.juneberry78s.com/sounds/mo33001t10.mp3

he plays the B part twice toward the end…interesting…

it’s the 2nd tune - after Dr. Gilbert’s

This tune is called The Tap Room by Josephine Keegan in her tunebook “A Drop in the Ocean”. However, it seems that that title really belongs to the tune treated at thesession.org/tunes/711 . A confusing situation.

This version is from O’Neills (under Kitty Losty’s Reel), unchanged other than changing the key there from Em to Edor.

Another version I have lying around (again as Kitty Losty’s Reel), I can’t be certain where it’s from but I think it’s a Leo Rowsome version.

I transcribed this version from the Francis Reynolds MS1 of Gaigue, Ballinamuck, Co. Longford, dated 1885. The tune is entitled ‘The Ladies’ Taproom’ (No.27) in this document.

Played by Roger Sherlock on flute [ 1st reel ] :
https://youtu.be/nRr5C_LRtJ4

play video

Tune 498 in O’Neill’s 1001.

Kyle Borley plays a nice version of it:

https://youtu.be/r9qTSOczWQ0

play video

Already here under “The Queen of May”, with “Kitty Losty’s” as an alternative title.