The Maid I Never Forgot reel

I was after this tune for ages. I originally heard it on the Arty McGlynn/Nollaig Casey album "Lead the Knave", but it was only marked down as Eminor reel. I even got in touch with the publishers (Tara Music), but they didn’t know what it was and neither did Arty! I eventually stumbled across it by complete accident as an abc file on the web.

As with the album, I usually put t with Lads of Laois, but a major key tune such as Trip to Herve’s or Maid behind the Bar goes well with it.

Still one of my favourite tunes after so many years.

A pure gem. Not often heard thesed days.
The melancholy and energy in it seem to match its name.

I’ve been wondering for a while about a name for the "Bm reel" on the last track of Padraig Rynne’s album "Bye a while". Because the setting is different and it’s transposed so far up, it seems like a different tune. I always thought it was a modern composition, but then figured it would have been credited as such on the album sleeve notes. It always niggled because there was something familiar about the tune, so I eventually got round to transcribing it, and when I transposed it into the more likely key of E minor, I started playing it differently and realised I already knew the tune! Here is the Bm setting (note that his octave leaps have been simplified to held notes):

X: 1
T: The Maid I Ne’er Forgot
T: "Bm reel"
S: Padraig Rynne - Bye a While
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Bmin
B3c d3e|fBbB afge|edBc deed|aec’b afec|
B3e d3e|fBbB afge|edBc deed|1 afge fedc:|2 afge fB~B2||
|:~f3a ~b3B|d’Bc’a bafe|~f3e deed|afge fedc|
B2fB aBfB|~B2bB afge|edBc deed|1 afge fB~B2:|2 afge fedc||

…and transposed a 5th down into Emin:

X: 1
T: The Maid I Ne’er Forgot
T: "Bm reel"
S: Padraig Rynne - Bye a While
N: Transposed down a 5th into E minor for comparison with the standard session setting
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Emin
E3F G3A|BEeE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|dAfe dBAF|
E3F G3A|BEeE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|1 dBcA BAGF:|2 dBcA BE~E2||
|:~B3d ~e3E|gEfd edBA|~B3A GAAG|dBcA BAGF|
E2BE dEBE|~E2eE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|1 dBcA BE~E2:|2 dBcA BE~E2||

Of course, I could’ve just read the comments in the recording section more carefully and seen Kenny’s link to this tune from last year, but that would’ve been way too easy 🙂

Just noticed a couple of errors in my last transcription…

X: 1
T: The Maid I Ne’er Forgot
T: "Bm reel"
S: Padraig Rynne - Bye a While
N: Transposed down a 5th into E minor for comparison with the standard session setting
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Emin
E3F G3A|BEeE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|dAfe dBAF|
E3A G3A|BEeE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|1 dBcA BAGF:|2 dBcA BE~E2||
|:~B3d ~e3E|gEfd edBA|~B3A GAAG|dBcA BAGF|
E2BE dEBE|~E2eE dBcA|AGEF GAAG|1 dBcA BE~E2:|2 dBcA BAGF||

This tune (the variation part) is called Gorman’s by the band Orion on their album Blue Room.

I’m not sure where I heard this reel, but it’s a lovely flowing E minor tune.

This sounds like The Maid I Ne’er Forgot.

https://thesession.org/tunes/269

http://youtu.be/l_PHtMA3doY

play video

This tune goes back — at least — to O’Neill (ON1001 #790). Josephine Keegan also includes a setting of the tune in her 2004 collection A Drop in the Ocean, under the title The Stone Ditch.

i think it’s a fine mysterious melody…
i did it ‘oriental style’
thanks for the posts!

Bm

And now we have Matt Molloy playing it on a Bb flute as "The Girl I’ll Ne’er Forget" on his 2018 album "Back To The Island."

Which I absolutely love.

Anyone know what kind of flute Matt used on this track? I know it was a Bb… I had one on order from Grinter in 2018 but unfortunately things happened :( Looking for a good maker with comparable design

John Gallagher makes great flat flutes. I have the first modern 8-keyed B flute (as far as I know), and John made it. It’s based on meticulous drawings of a couple Bb Rudall and Rose flutes, that he scaled up.

Matt’s flute is a Siccama-style band flute made by Hawkes, but because it’s high-pitch, it’s actually closer to B than Bb on quite a few tracks.

Thanks Nico! I’ve actually managed to locate a keyless Olwell in Blackwood! I’ll have to get post mounted keys… I’m so used to using keys for scooping up into notes that it’s hard to go without!

Just found this played by Martin Byrnes on "Youtube" - many thanks to Bernie Stocks for posting it :

https://youtu.be/Vn9RpF57fbM

play video