The Return To Miltown reel

There are more than one in Ireland, but only the one that counts musically as far as I know. See you there. This reel is from Donegal.

I know this tune with F-naturals in the A-part and F#s in the B-part (Kenny - as a flute player, you have probably selectively learned the all-F# version). The following setting comes from Henrik Norbeck, and is more-or-less the one most familiar to me.

T:Return to Milltown
M:4/4
K:Ddor
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|F2FD E2ED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmix
|:d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|d2de f2ed|=cAGE EDD2|
d2de f2ed|(3B^cd ef gfge|fafd eged|=cAGE
EDD2:|

The following is a very closely related tune, The Ferry Banks. This setting comes from Richard Robinson’s Tunebook.

T: The Ferry Banks
M:4/4
K:DDor
D2AD EDAD | CE2D CEGE | D2AD EDAD |CDEG cGEC |\
D2AD EDAD | CE2D CEGE |
F3D E3D |1 CDEG cGEC:|2\
CDEG cGED |: \
K:D
d3e f2ed | cdef g2fe |
dcde f2ed | =cAGE EDD2 |\
d3e f2ed | cdef g3e | =f2fd efed| =cAGE EDD2:|

I learnt this tune in Siobhan Peoples’s and Paul Bradley’s class at the Willie Clancy week - but we learnt it with the parts the other way round - the second part first and vice versa. Also, we learnt it that, in the part which you have first, the F’s are naturals, making that part in D minor - the other part was still in D major though.

Just been messing round with David’s version of this and come up with some ideas:

T:Return to Miltown
M:4/4
K:Ddor
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|D2AD EDDB,|CDEG AEGE|
D2AD EDDB,|C2EC FCEC|FAFD EzED|CDEG AEGE:|
K:Dmaj
|:GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|dDGA f2ed|=cAGE ED~D2|
GAde f2ed|cdef (3gag fe|fafd ezed|=cAGE
ED~D2:|

Go here for a tune with a similar B-part that appears in O’Neill’s https://thesession.org/tunes/680.

Here’s a great version suitable for Scottish pipes by Ross Ainslie and Jarlath Henderson

X: 1
T: Return To Miltown, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
|: ~A2 BA ~A2 BA | G2 BG cABG |~ A2 BA ~A2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB |
~A2 A/A/A AcBA | G2 BG cABG | c2 cA B2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB :|
|: eaae ^c2 BA | BAB^c d2 cd | eaae ^c2 BA | Beed BA B/^c/d |
eaae ^c2 BA | BAB^c d2 ed | c2 cA B2 BA | GA B/^c/d gedB :|

a more flute friendly version… playing those F natural can be tricky but this can be easily played on the flute with some practice ! I’ve learned this reel from Frankie Kennedy on an old tape. He doesn’t play the A in the first part, he plays an E instead.

Last tune in a set off Swarbrick’s Smiddyburn album, entitled “Ril Gan Ainm”.

Compare also “Tap the Barrel” (https://thesession.org/tunes/2336). Alan Ng considers these tunes to be the same; I think their (slight) difference lies in the first part.

Slightly cleaned up version, similar to X2 above but without the extra stuff at the end, and with F naturals in the first part.

From a Portland tunebook.

We used to play this version many years ago, probably inspired by Gerry O’Connor (playing fiddle, not banjo) with Wild Geese.
Excellent tune!

E Dorian