Paddy McGinty’s (barndance) on The Session

This was the Val Doonican recording in the sixties-probably best forgotten. 🙂 The second part of this tune is very similar to Paddy McGinty’s Goat which is maybe a pity. 🙂
Which came first, I wonder?

The Chicken or the Egg? what provenance?

1931 is as far back as I can take it, though that probably originates a few years earlier, the 20s. Yeah, it was ever on my mind, but I never found this, though rarely, with "the goat" added on. However, I know the humour of the folks that used to put this stuff together and carried it as ‘tradition’ before the dance and music police became and established force, most officers having their residence outside the isle of Eire, but not exclusively. Mind you, the ‘grand inquisitors’ did exist and roam the country way back then, witch hunting, deciding what would and wouldn’t be collected or called ‘Irish’, what should be ‘burned’, or changing key signatures and the like to suit their want…

This is a quirky tune however you put it…

Closer to the bone - or the way it is sometimes gnawed now - in song or dance

& - not forgetting the ears, a bit of the song from a lovely bunch of ladies:

http://www.ennissisters.com/music.htm

"The Ennis Sisters - Can’t Be the Same" - track 6

Much preferred to Val Doonican’s 1967 recording.

Mister Patrick McGinty, an Irishman of note,
Came into a fortune, so bought himself a goat.
Said he, "Sure, of goat’s milk I mean to have my fill!"
But when he got his Nanny home, he found it was a Bill.

- - - A NUMBER OF VERSES SKIPPED OVER - - -

Now this old goat of Pat’s had a wondrous appetite
One morning for breakfast he ate some dynamite
A whole box of matches he swallowed all serene
And then he goes and swallows up a quart of kerosene.

He sat by the fireside, didn’t give a hang
He swallowed a spark and exploded with a bang
So if ever you go to heaven you can bet your bottom note
That the angel with the whiskers on is Paddy McGinty’s goat…

C’est la vie…

I hesitated including this - a third part

Barndance!:

1.) Couples in a waltz/ballroom hold, partners facing, man’s back to the centre of the dance space/woman facing him…begin with weight on Man’s R/Woman’s L:

PHRASE (8 bars) - - -

Bar 1: two stamps without taking weight
(M=L, L/W=R, R)

Bar 2: moving in Line-Of-Direction: step-together-step
(M=LRL/W=RLR)

Bars 3-4: REPEAT with opposite footwork and direction

Bars 5-8: REPEAT ALL THAT

PHRASE - - -

Bars 1-6: Couples dance ‘round = 6 X 123, turning as a couple Clockwise and travelling around the dance space in the Line-Of-Direction (Anti-Clockwise/ACW/CCW)…

Bars 7-8: Options - to continue with 123 twice more, or the ‘doubling’/pivot/dreher = 4 X 1 - 2 - 3 - 4…

NOTE: The basic steps (3s) can be danced smooth or with a hop/skip, meaning that the traveling step can be hop-123, and the doubling/pivot/dreher can be a ‘hop-step’… Couples can also just choose to ‘promenade’ the last half of the dance, in an open hold facing and travelling around in the LOD…

2.) Similar to the above except it begins in an open hold (cross-back or waist-shoulder) facing the LOD, man on her Left, the woman to his Right:

PHRASE (8 bars) - - -

Bar 1: two stamps without taking weight (variations exist)

Bar 2: drop hold and turn in toward each other to face the other way, take hold again (man to her R/woman on his L)

Bars 3-4: REPEAT with opposite footwork and direction, still turning for bar 4.

Bars 5-8: REPEAT ALL THAT

PHRASE - - - 8 bars as in the first version of the dance given above…

NOTE: There are Highlands also fitting these descriptions, using the classic stock of ‘Fling’ steps for the ‘stamps’… These could be done easily to either, 32 bars or 16. The finish, dancing around and finishing with the ‘doubling’/pivot/dreher is classic for this family of dances and eventually entered into the dancing of the sets, not to everyone’s acceptance. Later other couple dances and styling entered the sets, especially in the 20s and 30s and was called by the disapproving ‘jazzin”… Some of this styling survives and is now taken as ‘traditional’.

Phrase 2 - Bars 7-8

The ‘doubling’ for these last two bars of the dance should read ‘4 X step (or hop-step)’ and = 1-2-3-4
(M: L-R-L-R/W: R-L-R-L)

X: 5 "Paddy McGinty" ~ Donegal

B: "Dances of Donegal", collected by Grace Orpen, D.M. Wilkie, London, 1931
The first few pages of this book, and its first tune & dance:
"The Fairy Dance" - https://thesession.org/tunes/424

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(page 29 - music notation & dance description)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Barn Dance (Couple Dance)
Tune: "Paddy McGinty" (4/4)

Steps - - - - - - - - - Description - - - - - - - - - Bars

The A part of this dance can be varied in many ways.
Partners stand as for "Shoe the Donkey".
A. - - - Described for the woman.
Stamp twice with the right foot then step to the right, close left foot up and step to the right again. - - - 2
Repeat to the left. - - - 2
Repeat. - - - 4
B. - - - Barn Dance with partner in waltz grip.

Variations of A:
1. Stamp with a straight knee, then with foot close to other heel.
2. Tap foot to toe and heel.
3. Mark rhythm twice by twisting foot with heel raised, etc.

<[ NOTES: An option would be to ‘Barn Dance with partner’ for bars 1-6 and for bar 7 & 8 to turn as a couple with four hop-steps, ‘doubling’… There are, and I’ve danced and known, a number of different Barn Dances/Barndances. ]>

"Dances of Donegal" collected and edited by Grace Orpen, 1931 - ITMA digital copy

ITMA: Irish Traditional Music Archive/Taisce Cheol DÚchais Éireann
http://www.itma.ie/
Grace Orpen’s Local Donegal Dances, 1931
http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/print-collection/donegal-dances-1931
"Dances of Donegal" collected and edited by Grace Orpen, 1931
Click on ‘32 Pages’ to view them, with Grace Orpen’s ‘Figures’/illustrations…
http://www.itma.ie/digitallibrary/book/dances-of-donegal

Paddy McGinty’s barndance

Five settings

Eleven comments

- - - a 1931 notation of the same tune:

Part B - measure 7 - as corrected in the ABC

Paddy McGinty’s goat