The Floating Crowbar reel

I believe this tune to be a composition of BRENDAN McGLINCHEY,
the great Co. Armagh fiddler. He recorded it himself on a record he made on the Belfast “Outlet” recording label sometime in the 70s.

This has also been recorded by the Battlefield Band who say that it was a popular session tune in Scotland in the 80s

Arty McGlynn on the album “McGlynn’s Fancy” recorded the version of the tune I am trying to learn.
Before I start, I was wondering does anybody know the following, what guitar tuning he is using? Are there tabs available for this tune? Is it a hard one to master?
All help on this is appreciated, as I don’t have much time to learn it.

I had a look at this for tedtrad. I think there’s a small, but significant typo(?) here - the “b” note in the 5th bar of the 2nd part should be a “B”. Otherwise, I think this is an accurate transcription. Difficult on guitar, I would think ( unless you’re Arty McGlynn, of course). Incidentally, “McGlynn’s Fancy” isn’t in the “Recordings” section yet. Maybe someone could remedy that?

X: 1
T: Floating Crowbar, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
|: dB|AD D2 AD D2 | AD D2 A2GF | EG G2 AGcG |EF F2 GABd |
AD D2 AD D2 | AD D2 G2FG |A3B cded |1 cAGE D2 dB :|2 cAGE D2 (3EFG ||
|: Add^c d2 (3B^cd | eaag efga |eA A2 AG (3EFG |A3G EFGE |
Add^c d2 (3B^cd | eaag efge |afge fded |1 cAGE D2 (3EFG :|2 cAGE D2dB ||
|:AD D2 AD D2 | AD D2 A2GF | EG G2 AGcG |EF F2 cBBA |
AD D2 AD D2 | AD D2 G2FG |A3B c4 |c2 cB cBAG ||
|: Add^c d2 (3B^cd | eaag efga |eA A2 AG (3EFG |A3G EFGE |
Add^c d2 (3B^cd | eaag efge |afge fded |1 cAGE D2 (3EFG :|2 cAGE D2dB ||

Who composed The Floating Crowbar?
https://thesession.org/discussions/29053#comment617830

I spoke to Richie (brother of Finbar) Dwyer who said it’s one of Finbarr’s compositions. He (Richie) mentioned a Michael McMahon who was present when Finbar composed it.

According to Richie, Finbar has composed around thirty tunes. Some are pretty weird. Michael, another of Richie’s brothers, is another composer of “traditional” tunes.

Richie himself seems to sprout tunes.

…has a floating C in it (for a mix major / mixolydian mood)

Here’s Kevin Griffin, Eoin O’Neill and Quentin Cooper playing a set that starts with The Floating Crowbar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-EvT2BOSqM

play video

https://youtu.be/q5JmkhhOZAY

play video

Here’s a simple setting that I play on the whistle, not unlike either of the above settings but maybe a little more basic. It’s a great tune to practice your cranns.

Lúnasa’s version (without the variations).

I’m wondering if there is any back story about the name of this tune… some weird or seemingly nonsensical names - especially for those of us foreigners who don’t have a lot of knowledge of the Irish culture of the old days - have a rational explanation or basis, just one we don’t have the background knowledge or dialect to understand. Or maybe it’s just a bit of 70’s silliness… Anybody know? Apologies if this has been covered before!

Finbarr Dwyer was asked why he so named the tune.
His reply reportedly was: “Well, if a pitchfork can ramble…”

suitably enigmatic… thanks

Regarding the name. It’s my understanding, from a friend of mine who worked on building sites for most of his working life, that “the floating crowbar” refers to a crucial point in the process where concrete is starting to “go off”; when it’s in an intermediate state between liquid and solid and you know it’s at that critical point because it appears still to be quite liquid but a crowbar will float on it… I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that statement (or even that I’ve managed to convey the gist properly) but he’d have very little cause to make it up.