Joe Bane’s polka

Two polkas that I’m calling Joe Bane’s #1 (this one, in A dorian) and Joe Bane’s #2 (in G major) that I’ll submit tomorrow (if I remember). I heard Jackie Daly play them in a session as a set, starting and ending with the A dorian one, with the G major one in the middle. I couldn’t find them anywhere until I heard Chulrua play them five months later. Patrick Ourceau said they had learned them from Jackie Daly, and heard that they came from Joe Bane, Bill Malley, or both. A friend of mine says he heard the A dorian one played in 1978 in west Kerry but doesn’t know anything else about it.

You copy cat with your… *polkas*!! 🙂

Not just any old polkas, but Polkas from East Clare musicians!

I’ve now posted the second (G Major) polka I mentioned above at:
https://thesession.org/tunes/3230

They are both now called “Joe Bane’s”, as Jeremy has requested no numbers in the titles.

I recently found the set of polkas that I thought Patrick Ourceau told me were from Joe Bane recorded by Andrew MacNamara and listed as Bill O’Malley’s. I suppose that as close as they were, their repertoires were essentially the same, but in the interest of completeness, I’ve attached O’Malley’s name to the tune.

X: 2
T: Bill Malley’s/O’Malley’s (#2)
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: A Dorian
|: E |
A2 GE | cd e>d | cA BG | AE- EG |
A2 GE | cd ee/d/ | cA A/A/G | A2 A :|
|: d |
ea ed | ea e>d | cd ef | g2 a>d |
ea ed | ea e>d | cA B/A/G | A2- A :|

X: 3
T: Bill Malley’s/O’Malley’s (#2)
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: A Dorian
|: E |
A2- AG/E/ | cd ed | cA B/A/G/B/ | AE DG |
AB/A/ G/A/G/E/ | B/c/d ee/d/ | cA B/A/^G | A2 A :|
|: d |
e>a ed | ea ed | B/c/d ef | gf/g/ a/g/f/d/ |
ea ed | ea e>d | cA B/A/^G | A2- A :|

“Bill Malley’s-O’Malley’s” (#2) / “Joe Bane’s” (#1)
It works well both ways, or back and forth, but Mary played this classic set, G Major & the relative key A Dorian, with the first tune in the set being ~

“Bill Malley’s-O’Malley’s” (#1) / “Joe Bane’s” (#2)
Key signature: G Major
Submitted on July 1st 2004 by GaryAMartin.
https://thesession.org/tunes/3230

Mary MacNamara, concertina, Clare, plays them as one would marches, an easy relaxed tempo, approximately 110 beats per minute and with a lovely bounce to them… 🙂

The first part of this here tune is used by Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin to sing the song An bhFaca Tú Mo Shéamaisín? on her album A Stór ‘s A Stóirín https://thesession.org/recordings/3689
More notes (esp. concerning Joe Heaney’s version) and lyrics at: https://thesession.org/tunes/291

Jack Canny lived in Canberra for many years and played the fiddle in a similar style to his brother Paddy. Evidently a fiddler named Brad Tate picked up this tune from him and its since become a standard tune among Australian bush bands, where its been ‘flattened out’ into a contra-style reel for dancing. I wonder if Jack originally played it as a polka and it has mutated under the hot Australian sun 🙂

It appears that it may have been a polka all along. https://thesession.org/tunes/3227

Thanks Gary. I would’ve been surprised if the tune hadn’t already been listed.

We’ve been playing this in San Jose, CA and Santa Cruz for years and have known it as “The Clare Polka!” There are apparently several polkas known as “Clare” polkas numbered #1, #2, #3, which probably directly correlate to Joe Bane’s #1, #2, etc. Glad to find these on the session with a bit of back history!