Paddy Shannon’s reel

This was a tricky one. The version is from Liz Carroll’s “A Friend Indeed”. I wanted to post it bare bones, but for the curious her ornamentation goes approximately:

|:e|dg{a}ge dGBG|{FG}F2DE FGAc|dg{a}ge dGBG|DCB,C DGG2|dg{a}ge dGBG|{FG}F2DE FGAc|~d2de fdef|defd ~g3:|
|:G|DG~G2 AGFG|ABcA d3e|=fedc BGFG|AG=FD DCB,C|DE=FE DG~G2|AG~G2 ABcA|d3e =fedc|AGGF G3:|

There’s some inconsistency in the recorded B part. She puts in an extra two beats in the first round of the B section but then subtracts them back out in the second round. As recorded it’s:

|DGG2 AGFG|ABcA d3e|=fedc BG^FG|AG=FD DCB,C|DE=FE DGG2|AGG2 ABcA|d3e =fedc|AGGF AGGF G3 G||
|DGG2 AGFG|ABcA d3e|=fedc BG^FG|AG=FD DCB,C|DE=FE DGG2|ABcA |d3e =fedc|AGGF G3||

So the beats work out to: 34 + 30 = 64 and “momentum is conserved…”. I don’t know if this was deliberate, but such an odd shifting of beats seems impractical for actual session playing so I’m assuming the “default” version is as posted.

It’s a snappy little reel with some ingenious melodic phrasing. There is a substantially different setting of it on JC tunefinder.

I rarely hear this tune. I have it (somewhere) on a tape I recorded in 1981 in the Harbour Bar, Portrush, Antrim (the scene of many a great night’s music in the early 80s)played nicely by fiddler Deirdre Shannon and fluter/ poet/ professor Ciaran Carson. I never had a name for it and never heard anyone else play it. I suspect Deirdre must be Liz Carroll’s source. Paddy Shannon is a relative of Deirdre’s maybe. Her dad?

Yes correct about the source. The liner notes say: “I learned the first reel from Deirdre Shannon, a fine fiddler from Co. Antrim. The tune is her father’s own composition.” So yeah, presumably Paddy is Deirdre’s dad.

This version is transcribed from the first Trian album, where it’s credited to Paddy Shannon.

You can hear it on Four Men and a Dog’s “Barking Mad” CD, where it’s listed under it’s alternative name.

sorry , “its”

https://thesession.org/tunes/3047

I always thought the order of the parts as posted was wrong. I tracked down that Harbour Bar recording and, sure enough, Deirdre and Ciaran play the tune the other way round. Presumably, as the tune was made by Deirdre’s dad, Deirdre and Ciaran’s order is correct.

This is more or less the way Deirdre and Ciaran played it one night in 1981in the Harbour Bar, Portrush, county Antrim. Much nicer I think.
K: Gmaj
|GF|:DGG2 AGFG|ABcA d^cde|=fedc AGFG|
|AGFD DCC2|DE=FE DGG2|AGFG ABcA|d^cde =fedc|
|1 AGFG AGGF G3 F:|2 AGFG AGGF G3 B||
|dgge dGBG|FADE FGAB|dgge dGBG|DCB,C DCC2|
|dgge dGBG|FADE FGAB|cBcd fdef|1 defd g3 e:|2 defd g3||

It works well in G mixolydian throughout (f natural all)