The Lakes Of Sligo polka

Josh, I’d like to see your comments on this tune. Is this how you normally play it? I ask only because I’ve never heard Lakes of Sligo done in a minor key before…usually it’s in D major. It would make a nice segue to go from major to minor, but seems like the A part would need some tweaking to make it work.

Actually, to all those that may be puzzled on the key signature of this tune, this is how I found it: in D minor. I don’t know if it is just a typo in the music book or what…anyway, I just thought it sounded cool in D minor, which is why I put it on here. I think I’ll put the D major version up soon to avoid controversy.

A friend and I learnt this tune in D major from a tape. It was in a set with ‘The top of Maol’ (A minor). It’s a nice little polka. It’s a catchy little set, I love it, and that is the sole reason we learnt it. When we played it publicly a couple of weeks back, an Irish guy recognised it and was very excited that he could put a name to it (in Australia). Unfortunately I still haven’t got the hang of ABC otherwise I would post the other one ‘The top of Maol’ that isn’t in the session tunes list.

I have just been learning this tune which I have heard on a cheapo
CD from the cheapo shop - it is the first track and played in a very
Scots fiddle style but evidently from the title, very Irish. And yes,
it is followed by ‘To of Maol’ also known as the Queens Polka or the Groves of Gneeveguilla - and I have copied down the abc notation which is as follows and seems to be very similar to what
I am learning:
Groves of Gneeveguilla
1/8
M: 2/4
R: polka
K: Ador
E | A2 AB/d/ | ed BA | GG/F/ GA | Bd B/A/G |
A2 AB/d/ |e/f/g/e/ Bd |e/f/g/e/ dB |1 A3 :|2 A2-A ||
B/d/ | eg a/g/a | ba ga/g/ | e>f ga | ge g/e/d |
ea a/g/a | ba g2 | e/f/g/e/ dB |1 A2-A :|2 A3 ||
I am not familiar with abc either, but together they make a lovely couple and bear out what someone was saying in Top Ten Sessions about polkas being a lot subtler than they are cracked up to be…

I learnt this beguiling traditional tune a couple of weeks ago at a dance music workshop in Devon.
Trevor

This has a few names in Ireland, the commonest being, I think, "The Lakes Of Sligo". A lovely tune to play slowly, as a march. I heard a singer from Canada with a song to this tune - called "The Lass o’ Gowrie" - on Radio Scotland just last year.

Kenny, I’v just had a look at "The Lakes of Sligo" which is on this site. It’s the Dmin version of "The Lass O’Gowrie", which is one reason why I didn’t spot it. The other reason being that "The Lakes" starts FA A{B}c whereas "The Lass" starts FA AB, so the advanced search didn’t pick it up. Anyway, the key difference and note differences are sufficient to separate them as different (but related) tunes.
Trevor

This is usually played as a reel in Scotland and used in sets with tunes like Maxwell’s Rant (particularly for the original dance of this name), The Maryhill Highlanders etc. A typical setting in (in Bb) might go something like:-

F/2E/2|DF FG/2A/2|B>c BA|G>F GB|c>d cF/2E/2|
DF FG/2A/2|B>c d>c|B/2A/2G/2F/2 Bd|c2B|
f/2e/2|df B>c|d/2c/2d/2e/2 fe/2d/2|eg c>d|e/2d/2e/2f/2 gf/2e/2|
df cd|B>c d>c|B/2A/2G/2F/2 Bd|c2B:|

The tune was published in London in a 19thC collection "Melodies of all Nations, arranged for the piano by William Hutchins - C Scotch (sic) Airs"

This is almost as amusing as the Irish Waterman episode! I almost wet myself laughing!
Josh, I would suggest that you think twice about learning tunes from whatever book you got this travesty from.

The D major version is already posted as "Lass O’Gowrie", on 1st July 2003.
Trevor

X: 2
T: Lass O’Gowrie
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: BbMaj
|: F/E/ |\
DF FG/A/ | B>c BA | G>F GB | c>d cF/E/ |
DF FG/A/ | B>c d>c | B/A/G/F/ Bd | c2 B :|
|: f/e/ |\
df B>c | d/c/d/e/ fe/d/ | eg c>d | e/d/e/f/ gf/e/ |
df cd | B>c d>c | B/A/G/F/ Bd | c2 B :|

X: 2
T: Lass O’Gowrie
M: 2/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: DMaj
|: A/G/ |\
FA AB/c/ | d>e dc | B>A Bd | e>f eA/G/ |
FA AB/c/ | d>e f>e | d/c/B/A/ df | e2 d :|
|: a/g/ |\
fa d>e | f/e/f/g/ ag/f/ | gb e>f | g/f/g/a/ ba/g/ |
fa ef | d>e f>e | d/c/B/A/ df | e2 d :|

Submitted on November 24th 2001 by Josh Kane.
https://thesession.org/tunes/393

This tune is also in Johnny O’Leary’s collection as "Tom Billy’s" (but I wouldn’t add that as an alternative title - it would confuse matters somewhat!).

Not the first time I’ve avoided doing that Nigel. On one the addition as an alternate title added almost another 100 recordings. :-D Bless Tom Billy for all the tunes we enjoy that he’s handed down to us through others…

S: “Jimmy Doyle & Dan O’Leary: Traditional Music From The Kingdom Of Kerry”
https://thesession.org/recordings/1247 ~ track 14 (side 2, track 7), the 1st polka of two.

Q: 132 bpm (1 beat = one crotchet/quarter note)

I have also learned this one direct as well from other living sources and situations where the average tempos varied from 120 to 136 bpm (& higher :-P) ~ 1 beat = one crotchet/quarter note…

This tune was originally written by Scots fiddle patriarch Niel Gow. He called it Loch Erroch Side. I first heard the Irish version from Roscommon flute legend Patsy Hanley and knew I had heard the tune somewhere else as well!