Tie The Ribbons reel

This reel is heard on The Chieftains 2 (track 9).

From Frankie (Gavin) Goes To Town… first tune, first time around. Frankie tears through this at warp speed, and I still love it, though playing at earth-bound speed. I searched, and couldn’t find it under any other name. Maybe more experienced players or scholars might have done…

This one’s in “O’Neill’s Music of Ireland” as “Tie the Ribbons.”

This is on Paul Brock and Enda Scahill’s “Humdinger” as The Dublin Lasses.

This tune is also on a cassette by Anisa Angarola, an excellent classical guitarist, with Tommy Hayes (bodhran), Valerie King(flute) and Joemy Wilson (dulcimer). The cassette is called “Irish Airs and Dances”, recorded in 1991 Dargason Music and supposedly is available on CD.

I overlooked Thomas Axworthy (recorder). So sorry!

X: 1
T: Tie The Ribbons
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Edor
|:BGEF GBAG|FGAG FDFA|BGEF G2 ef|gefd Beed|
BGEF GBAG|FGAG FDFA|BGEF G2 ef|gefd Be e2||
|:g3a bgeg|f3g afdf|g3a bgef|gefd Beef|
gfga bgeg|f3g afdf|gabg fgaf|gfed Be e2||

Recorded way back when by John McKenna and Michael Gaffney on a 78, I noticed a version of this straightforward enough reel was also recorded by Tomás Ó Huigín on one of the Fr. Henebry wax cylinders and thought I’d write out the setting on the 78. This isn’t of course to be confused with the Old Maids of Galway, otherwise usually called Johnny When You Die, to give the title used by Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. I swear up and down I’ve seen it in various books too; DMI 741, Murtough Molly, is a bit similar but only up to a point. Browsing quickly through Ryan’s I see some similarity to Paddy the Piper and the Evergreen Lasses, for instance; but neither are quite this tune in their entirety.

Probably a close relative to Tie The Ribbons… https://thesession.org/tunes/2572
No wonder that you think you’ve seen it before. 🙂 TTR is in O’Neill’s for instance.

So right you are, Sebastian. Jeremy, or whoever, feel free to delete this entry and add my setting to TTR.

I wonder why Tunepal, thesession.org, and Google Searches never nail down these things for me. All I found searching for BGEF GBAG FDAD BDAD etc is the Golden Keyboard. Of course now I look and find TTR and my own tune too, making me think the Internet is messing with me…

There’s beautiful rendition of this tune on Chieftains 2 played by Michael Turbridy. He plays it after ‘Pigtown’ and before the Little bag of Spuds.

From the playing of Figgy Duff, who learned it from Art Stoyles.

In the All of O’Neill’s series: https://youtu.be/kv8u-k93fao

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