Roddy McDonald’s Fancy reel

This is my ABC rendition of this wonderful fiddle tune, as played with me in a show here with Dezi Donnelly. I have not found it anywhere on the internet. If someone else knows this tune, I would be very interested in seeing their version, perhaps closer to the source, as Dezi’s playing is full of variarious, and perhaps not the real melody. Dezi played it in a set that started off with Michael McGoldrick’s slip jig “Farewell to Walley Range” followed by this reel.

This is “Roddy McDonald’s Fancy”, a setting of the Irish “Blackberry Blossom” put into the piping scale with parts added. It is an arrangement/composition of Pipe Major Donald McLeod. It is not “Johnny McDonald’s” which is another reel altogether. The confusion arises, I believe, because the “Battlefield Band ” recorded the 2 of them “back-to-back”, and someone, somewhere along the line has switched the titles round. I think the 2 reels are on the “Home Is Where The Van Is ” LP, but I could be wrong.

I’ve looked at your abcs, Bracha, and there are a few odd notes. I’ll post the original abcs from Donald McLeod’s pipe setting in the near future. If you want to play it as Dezi Donnelly’s version as a fiddle tune, then fair enough, but there are no high b notes in pipe music, and no g sharps. Do me one favour, please Bracha - change the title to “Roddy McDonald’s Fancy”, because that’s what the tune is.

Sorry about the delay, but here’s the version from the bagpipe collections: it’s in “A”, but as it’s a pipe tune, the “G”s are natural.

ec B2 cAAB | c2 cB ceaf | ec B2 cAAB | cffe f2 fa :|
ecef a2 af | ecBc ecca | fef=g a2 ec | Bffe f2 fa |
ecef a2 af | ecBc ceaf | ecB2 cAAB | cffe faec |
B2 cB AAAB | c2 cB ceaf | ecBc AAAB |1 cffe f2 ec :|2 cffe f2 f=g|
a2 ea aefa | efae faec | aeea feac | Bffe f2 f=g |
a2 fa f2 fa | eAfe ceaf | ecBc AAAB | cffe f2fa |

Thanks Kenny for the name and transcription.

I just learnt this from some friends after hearing it in a session at the National Folk Festival in Canberra. The version they gave me was a bit more Irish sounding than Kenny’s transcription. Also I’ve noticed there were no Gs - # or nat, which kind of gave it less of a mixolydian bagpipey sound, and more of a straight major feel. They said this version came from the playing of Michael McGoldrick and friends:

X: 1
T: Roddy McDonald’s Fancy
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
af|:ecBd cA~A2|BccB c2af|ecBd cAAB|cffe f2af:|
~e3f ~a3f|e2cA BAFA|ecef a2fe|Bffe f2ec|
~e3f ~a3f|e2cA BAaf|ecBd cAAB|cffe f2ec||
|:~B3c A3B|BccB c2af|ecBd cAAB|1 cffe f2ec:|2 cffe f2ef||
a2ef aefa|efae f2ef|a2ef aefe|cffe f2ef|
ac’ba fbaf|eafe Bcaf|ecBd cAAB|cffe f2af||

I’ve been messing about with the bits I like from different versions of this and came up with this:

X: 1
T: Roddy McDonald’s Fancy
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Amaj
af|:ecBd cAAB|c2cB ceaf|ecBd cA~A2|cffe f2af:|
ecef ~a3f|e2cA Bcaf|ecef aAfe|Bffe f2af|
ecef ~a3f|e2cA Bcaf|ecBd cA~A2|cffe f2ec||
|:~B3c A3B|c2cB c2af|ecBd cA~A2|1 cffe f2ec:|2 cffe f2ef||
a2ef aefa|efae fAef|a2ef aAfe|Bffe f2ef|
a2ba fbaf|eAfe Bcaf|ecBd cA~A2|cffe f2af||

Great tune this one. Here it is played by two Skye lads, Angus Nicolson on pipes and Coll MacDonald on Fiddle. Starts about 2.50

slightly belated, here’s the link………… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGrVuAT60gU

play video

and here’s another clip, from 1.45……. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYy1JMTS_WQ

play video

The first tune there is the Kylebrack Rambler https://thesession.org/tunes/361

Well spotted Kenny. I noticed the connection but I couldn’t remember the name of that tune:
Here’s the link to The Blackberry blossom;
https://thesession.org/tunes/1365

Oh right, I wondered why the youngsters were playing a funny version of Blackberry blossom in A !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NwW6ScwhGI

play video

3rs reel in the set, from 1m 40s………..

https://youtu.be/HgSaVTmfVZs

play video

Recorded on “There’s A Buzz”, not “Home Is Where The Van Is”.

Added the title of Cronan’s, which the tune is published as in Angus MacDonald’s collection. I am not sure which title Donald MacLeod intended, as I don’t think it appears in any of his own works.

This is the tune as I recall it being played.

Did my best to transcribe the powerful version on the Glasgow Session - Finbar Dwyer’s Set, where it comes as the second tune after the Kyleback Rambler