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Paddy On The Turnpike reel

Also known as The Auld, The Bunch Of Keys, Lady Elmer’s, The Old, Paddy On The Handcar, Paddy On The Turn Pike, Páidín Ar An Bhóthar Dola, Páidín Ar An Ḃóṫar Dola, Patti On The Turnpike, Patty On The Turnpike, Plumber’s, Reel Du Plombier.

There are 106 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with

Paddy On The Turnpike appears in 2 other tune collections.

Paddy On The Turnpike has been added to 21 tune sets.

Paddy On The Turnpike has been added to 233 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Seven settings

1
X: 1
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
AG|:EAAB A2AB|cAdB cBAG|EGGF G2GA|BGAF GFED|
EAAB A2AB|cBAB cdef|gage dBGB|1 cABG A2AG:|2 cABG A2cd||
eaab a2af|bfaf gfed|efga g2gf|bfaf gfed|
eaab a2af|bfaf gfef|gage dBGB|1 cABG A2cd:|2 cABG A2z2||
2
X: 2
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmin
DGG^F G2GA|BGdG eGdG|DFF=E F2FG|AFcF dFcF|
DGG^F G2GA|BAGA Bcd=e|f=efd cAFA|BGAF G4:|
|:dgg^f g2ga|baga bgaf|dffg f2fg|agfg afgf|
dgg^f g2ga|bagf dcd=e|f=efd cAFA|BGAF G4:|
3
X: 3
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gdor
DGGF ~G3A|BG~G2 dGBG|DFFE ~F3B|AFcF dFcF|
DGGF ~G3A|BGGA Bcde|~f3d cAFA|1 BGAF ~G3F:|2 BGAF ~G3c||
|:dggf ~g3a|bg~g2 bgaf|dffe ~f3g|af~f2 afgf|
dggf ~g3a|bg~g2 gfde|~f3d cAFA|1 BGAF ~G3c:|2 BGAF ~G3F||
4
X: 4
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gdor
F|"Gm"DGG^F G2 GA|"G"=BGdG eGdG|"F"AF{G}FE F2 FG|"F"AFcF dFcF|
"Gm"DGG^F G2 GA|"Gm"BAGA Bcde|"Dm"fgfd "F"cAFA|"Gm"BG"D"A^F "Gm"G3:|
|:c|"Gm"dgg^f g2 ga|"Gm"bgdg bg"Dm"af|"F"cffg f2 cf|"F"afcf afgf|
"Gm"dgg^f g2 ga|"Gm"bagf dcde|"Dm"fgfd "F"cAFA|"Gm"BG"D"A^F "Gm"G3:|
# Added by Tate .
5
X: 5
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Ador
E/A/A/A/ AA/B/|c/B/A/B/ c/B/A/G/|E/G/G/G/ GG|E/G/G/G/ GG|
E/A/A/A/ AA/B/|c/B/A/B/ cc/d/|e/d/e/f/ g/f/e/d/|cA Az:|
|:ea ea|e/d/e/f/ g/f/e/d/|Bg Bg|B/A/B/c/ dz|
ea ea|e/d/e/f/ gd|e/d/e/f/ g/f/e/d/|eA Az:|
6
X: 6
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gdor
|:DGGA GFGA|BGdG _eGdG|CFFG FEFG|AFcF dFcF|
DGGA GFGA|BABc dcde|fgfd cAFA|BGAF DG G2:|
|:dgga gfga|bgga bgg2|cffg fefg|affg aff2|
dgga bagb|abag fedc|defd cAFA|BGAF DG G2:|
7
X: 7
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gdor
|:DGGA G^FGA|BGdG _eGdG|CFFG FEFG|AFcF dFcF|
DGGA G^FGA|BABc dcde|fgfd cAFA|BGAF DG G2:|
|:dgga g^fga|bgga bg g2|cffg fefg|affg af f2|
dgga bagb|abag fedc|defd cAFA|B/A/GAF DG G2:|
# Added by DaveF .

Twenty-eight comments

Paddy on the Turnpike

A friend of mine once wrote words for this. I just like the melody - it’s one of the few things I like to play slowly 🙂 (It’s also one of the few things I can actually play on the hammered dulcimer!)

What gives?

My biggest beef with Irtrad session music is that fully half of it is in the key of G or it’s associated modes, and now here is a tune which I find typically played in G and it is transposed up to A? Is this tune typically played in this key in sessions?

A Dorian

A Dor is a kind of G, right? 🙂

Glauber, you are so right…

forgive my earlier outburst….I must have been grumpy about something when I wrote that, but now I can’t remember what.

Actually, I learned the tune in G Aeolian (a B-flat major scale). It is a great tune in any key. Besides, if I am truly "put out" by so many session tunes ‘in or on’ G, then I should welcome seeing one done "in or on" A.

Maybe, I was thinking about a different tune…"Paddy on the Dreary Plateau". :O)

Scotty,
This is a G minor (G aeolian?) version of the tune I found in the New England Fiddler’s Repertoire. It differs in detail from the A dorian version posted here but is essentially the same tune. How does it equate to the G min/aeo version you know?

K:Gmin
DGG^F G2GA|BGdG eGdG|DFF=E F2FG|AFcF dFcF|
DGG^F G2GA|BAGA Bcd=e|f=efd cAFA|BGAF G4:|
|:dgg^f g2ga|baga bgaf|dffg f2fg|agfg afgf|
dgg^f g2ga|bagf dcd=e|f=efd cAFA|BGAF G4:||

Trevor

It’s played in G

You’re right scottythefiddler. It is usually played in G. In fact I’ve *never* heard it in A. It presumably comes from a scottish tune, which lacks the third part. Can’t remember the Scottish version name. Anyway Tommy Peoples plays the Irish version on one of his early albums.

Padddy on a ……

I pretty sure I have a recording of this tune as Paddy on a Handcar.

The Gdor version of this was posted as The Bunch Of Keys and can be found here: https://thesession.org/tunes/344. One version I play is a simple 2-part setting in Gdor, similar to the one Trevor posted above:

X: 1
T: Paddy On The Turnpike
T: Bunch Of Keys, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gdor
DGGF ~G3A|BG~G2 dGBG|DFFE ~F3B|AFcF dFcF|
DGGF ~G3A|BGGA Bcde|~f3d cAFA|1 BGAF ~G3F:|2 BGAF ~G3c||
|:dggf ~g3a|bg~g2 bgaf|dffe ~f3g|af~f2 afgf|
dggf ~g3a|bg~g2 gfde|~f3d cAFA|1 BGAF ~G3c:|2 BGAF ~G3F||

Key of A

In SW PA, Western MD and WV fiddlers normally play it in the A dorian from way back.

Andy McGann’s setting

Andy McGann plays this in G Mixolydian on ‘It’s a Hard Road to Travel’. It quite nicely combines the lift of the ”Turnpike’ setting with the sombre mood of the ‘Keys’ setting. Not very sessionable, mind you.

Scottish Version

This tune is played in G minor in the Scottish version and is called The Auld Reel. It has been recorded & performed by many under that title, including Natalie MacMaster.

Different rhythm

I just watched a video on youtube with Butch Baldassari playing this tune on the mandolin. He uses a different rhythm with this tune. He called it a shuffle. I think, too, that it’s also called eighth note swing.
Triplets: quarter - eighth notes. Pretty neat.

Butch Baldassari - Mandolin Workshop ~ including "Paddy on the Turnpike"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKcw0oYA0c


It’s called bluegrass. While the shuffle has been around awhile, it’s not old time, it’s not Irish… It’s a kind of quasi-jazz, but it too can be great craic…

http://www.homespuntapes.com/

Butch Baldassari’s Bluegrass Mandolin Workshop
http://www.homespuntapes.com/Instruments/Mandolin/bluegrass-mandolin/butch-baldassari-s-bluegrass-mandolin-workshop

It’s listed here as "Patty on the Turnpike", an sometimes, after messing around with a melody and ‘making it different’, bluegassers will rename it in some cute fashion like this. But it might just be the website folk hearing it wrong. 😀

Sorry, having just read my own writing, I meant to say that the take on it that way isn’t old time or Irish but bluegrass. The ‘shuffle’ is very much a part of old-time music, though mostly associated with the bow rather than the plectrum..

another tune name

In Quebec I’ve heard the name Reel du Plombier or Plumber’s Reel. A superlative dance version of the tune also has been done on a recording by Wild Asparagus years ago.

~

nothing’s perfect. The link goes to 6’27" but the embedded video plays from the start.

Posted by .

Time Parameter

Thank you, Na éisc. I’ll have to try that in the future. Great clip!

Paddy on the Turnpike YouTube time start

The time parameter I used on the above link no longer works. So I’m testing to see what happens with just the seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlT3CmtKTqo#t=387


I posted the link, it didn’t work, & now I’m editing this to ask if anyone knows "why does a YouTube time start work differently even though the same arrangement of characters is entered?"

When I type in the parameters on the end of the YouTube link it takes me right to the time entered.
If I copy & paste it the link it directs to the original start time ~ 0:00

Posted by .

B flat

I is in my guitar book in B flat….

The Old Reel, X:6

This is the version that Ossian play on their Seal Song album, as closely as my ears can catch it anyway.

Re: Paddy On The Turnpike

I think the tune John Doherty is playing with Pete Seeger above at 6:17 is Lord MacDonald’s https://thesession.org/tunes/507, known in US as Leather Britches. Great recording.

Re: Paddy On The Turnpike

As Rachael and Ceolachan noted, Paddy is very well-known in the bluegrass repertoire. Butch would probably know this recording from the Father of BG Bill Monroe. And Monroe likely heard the tune from his uncle Pen Vandiver, an old-time fiddle player in Kentucky who finally "hung up his fiddle and he hung up his bow" in about 1932. Most all the old-time Ozark fiddlers know it, at a peppy tempo. Yes, it’s different, but not so different from Bunch of Keys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOtpTPEf4rQ