The Boys Of 25 reel

This is a tune I picked up from a friend of mine where he played it after Rolling in the Ryegrass. He said he got it from his Clarke Tin Whistle handbook (by Bill Ochs according to Amazon). This is my first attempt at ABC format, so don’t be suprised if I messed it up four ways from Sunday.

Welcome to the "Session", "oi". I’d been intending to post this tune myself, so you’ve saved me the bother. Not a tune you hear very often, in my experience. The "Boys Of The Lough" used to play it over 30 years ago, although I don’t think they ever recorded it. Your "abcs" look more or less OK to me, but I’m not sure that the key should be "D" - [ "Dow" ? ] - and I think some of the "c" notes should be played natural. I’ll post the "abcs" I have, but their won’t be much difference.

I play it regularly in the vain hope that somebody else will learn it. I think "B of L" did record it sometime w. McConnell soloing on the whistle and the band then going into "The Boyne Hunt". At least, that is the medley playing in my head as I write. For northern musicians, the tune is forever associated with the late Fermanagh fiddler Mick Hoy who acquired it from Andy (?) Cassidy, about whom I know nothing. Nor do I know what the 25 refers to. More of Mick’s tunes can be heard on the two excellent "Hidden Fermanagh" recordings. Any one of these is worth more than all your "insert super-group name" CDs put together.

Getting to listen to the MIDI, I found a part where I fudged it: in the second and sixth measure I had it ending with AD D2, where it should have been Ad d2. Sounds better this way. I fixed it in the ABC. Otherwise, I think it sounds okay.

And yes, those should all be C naturals. D’oh! Good call, Kenny. I’ll fix it once I figure out how to write a natural in ABC. it’s =C, right? I hope so, because that’s what I’m writing.

Perhaps it belongs in Dmix if all of the c’s are nats.

I don’t think I’ve heard this one before. It’s nice. The A-part reminds me a bit of The Bunch Of Green Rushes.

Ha super! I heard this tune for the first time a couple months ago when I was introduced to the fabulous recording put out by Peter and Noel Carberry - a grand tune on the pipes to be sure! I’ll inspect for any variants.

Something wrong here. Aren’t those A-part c’s an octave too low? I learned the tune from a Boys of the Lough recording when it first came out. I hate to think it was 30 years ago. I had already heard of Mick Hoy, but hadn’t yet met him. Here is the way I currently play it minus various cuts to separate double notes etc (does it ever make sense to put those in?) but with rolls indicated. It’s not significantly different from what has been already been posted. My ignorance will show, but as it wouldn’t be the first time, I’ll ask anyway. Since most of the c’s are natural, does this make it Dmix?

K: Dmix
dB|: =cAAF G2AB|=cABG AddB|=cAAF G2eg|fdec AddB|
=cAAF ~G2AB|=cABG AddB|=cAAF ~G2 e/f/g|fdec Adde||
f2fg a2ag|fefg afde|fefg abag|fdec Adde|
~f3g ~a3g|f3g afde|feaf gbag|fdec AddB||

This is how I remember "The Boys Of 25" - the differences from the above versions are fairly minor, but I see that "LongNote" has more variations in his 2nd part.

=cAAF G2 AB | =cABG Ad d2 | =cAAF G2 eg | fdec AddB |
=cAAF G2 AB | =cABG Ad d2 | =cAAF G2 eg | fdec Adde |
f3 g a2 ag | fefg afde | fgaf g2 ag | fdec Adde |
f3 g a2 ag | fefg afde | fgaf g2 ag | fdec Ad d2 |

Here’s my transcription of the opening theme from the Clare FM radio trad music programme "The West Wind". The track is from Tommy Keane’s 2010 recording The Pipers Apron (Mulligan Records). They usually only play the first tune at the beginning of the programme but the entire track #2 from Tommy’s album is The Boys of the 25/The Hare’s Paw/The Pinch of Snuff, which will get played all through on occasion. The recording is in G#/Ab but I’ve transposed it down a half step to G for ease of playing.

This had me confused at first, as I was transcribing the tune and trying to find the title, because I assumed the theme to "The West Wind" would be the reel The West Wind! Ah, nothing so unsubtle. Then I realized I had the album but hadn’t listened in a while. Mighty tin whistle/uilleann pipes playing.

X: 1
T: The Boys of the 25
S: Tommy Keane "The Piper’s Apron"
L: 1/8
M: C
K: G
AB | cABG A2 dB | cAAF G2 (3efg | fde^c AddB | cAAF G2 AB |
cABG A2 dB | cAAF G2 eg | fde^c Adde | ~f3 g a2 ag |]
~f3 g afde | ~f3 g ~a2 ge | f2 e^c Adde | ~f3 g a2 ag |
~f3 g afde | fgaf ~g2 ag | fde^c AddB | cAAF G2 |]

Hi Joe, looks like you shifted everything by one bar…?

Whoops, thanks sebastian the metapop! You are correct. <blush> Er, skipped a measure… I’ve changed the tune entry, at least. Also, the key/mode seems to shift around between major and mixolydian, but clearly resolves to D (not G as I previously indicated). Apologies for the confusion. It’s very close to the other transcriptions here.

X: 1
T: The Boys of the 25
S: Tommy Keane
M: C
K: D
d2 B |: =cAAF G2 AB | =cABG A2 dB | cAAF G2 eg |1 f2 ec AddB :|2 f2 e^c Adde ||
~f3 g a2 ag | ~f3 g afde | ~f3 g ~a2 ge | fdec Adde |
~f3 g ~a3 g | effg afde | fgaf ~g2 ag | f2 ec Ad d2 |]

Just totally speculating, but is this a historical reference to Ireland’s process of becoming independent? "Boys" being players in the struggle?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5kEiE6bDxk

play video

stunning, along with Glass of Beer

….. except that the first reel they are playing is "The Milky Way" - composed by Vincent Broderick - and not "The Boys Of 25".