The Humours Of Westport reel

Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a reel in the key of F and a fine reel it is.

If you’re really uncomfortable with playing this tune in F you could transpose it up to G, but then you’re going to have to stretch as far as the high C note.

The F note that opens the tune and recurs in the first part can be played as a roll or as triplet (FGF or FAF).

Hooray for Brother Steve, who identified this tune in a set by the Bradley Bros. for me. Liam and Anthony play this set as follows:

Beare Island Reel (2x)
Humors of Westport (2x, B first, then A)
Seany Dorris (3x)
Humors of Westport (1 B and 1 A)

A really mighty set, and a helluva lot of fun to play (and to dance to!).

Their setting of this tune is very similar to Jeremy’s, as in:

||F2 cF dFcF|(3FFF cF BdcA|F2 cF dFcA|BAGA (3BAG cA|
|F2 cF dFcF|(3FFF cF BdcB|Acfa gecA|1 BAGA (3BAG cA:|2 BAGA (3BAG (3cde||
|~f3e fcAc|fAcf (3def ge|effe fcAc|BAGA (3BAG ce|
||~f3e fcAc|fAcf (3def ge|agfe fcAc|BAGA (3BAG ce|
|effe fgef|(3fff ef efge|effe fcAc|BAGA (3BAG cA|
|Ff (3fff FfAf|(3FFF Af [Bf]3 ^g|agfe fcAc|BAGA (3BAG cA||

I was tought this tune by the famous fiddler Bruce McGregor. He called it “The Clyde-Side Lasies” and played the parts the other way round. I have recently found out that it can also be known as "Col McBain, so what is its proper bloody name!!!

The closest relative of this tune is the Clydesdale (or Clydeside) Lasses, which is played with the parts the other way round and has been in print in Scotland from at least 1800; Colonel MacBain is quite a different tune

change the flat to 2# (f and c) and see if you like it in scubadiving on the Altiplano type of Bminor mode. (or is it F# caddys fly phrygian?)

This is on the second track of Ben Lennon’s “Dog Big and Dog Little” CD. The band reverses the order of the A and B parts, to advantage, imho. Try it.

https://thesession.org/tunes/1771

The B part sounds a bit like Pretty Peg.

AKA The Milestone at the Garden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wozi-LFjZYM&feature=rec-r2

play video

Played by Sean Og Graham,Eamon Murray, Stevie Dunn and Gerd Thompson, from about 2.20

Go here for the original Scottish version https://thesession.org/tunes/12100

I hadn’t come across Daley’s reel played in that set (bosted by bogman) - sounds really good. Anyone got the music for it?

As learned from Jimmy Keane, and similar to the rendition by Nuala Kennedy (et al) on “Gone Dancing”.

I learned this tune from the eponymous recording of Seamus Creagh and Aidan Coffey. The play it close to (raised “a notch”) D, as do Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daley on their Recording Rolling on. Here’s my transcription, which made after being surprised that nobody else had it in a key of D setting here.

X:1
T:Humours of Westport, The
R:Reel
S:Séamus Creagh, Aidan Coffey
Z:Transcription Tom Lockney
L:1/8
K:D
|:d2dc dAFA|d2d2cdec|d2dc dAFA|GFEF GABc|
d2dc dAFA|d2d2cdeg| fdec dBAF|1 GFEF GABc:|2 GFEF GBAG||
|:F/E/D AD BDAD|FDAF GBAG|F/E/D AD BDAF|GFEF GBAG|
F/E/D AD BDAD|FDAF GBAG|FAdf ecAF|1 GFEF GBAG:|2 GFEF GABc||

And, yet another person who plays it in D. Indeed, a nice teaching video, and to me sounds very close to what Seamus Creagh is playing on his recording. Here’s the “lesson” on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcd7jJvjRm0

play video

Anybody care to venture a guess about who first played it in “D” since it seems to be called an “F” tune by most?

There must be an interesting explanation for why this tune is in F. Here’s my hypothesis:
On a summer evening, a bunch of blue-grassers are playing music at some brewery. The lead guitarist whimsically says, “You know what, lets play this tune in F!” The banjo player approves, puts a million cabos on his banjo, and says, “Lets hit dem new notes!” Chaos ensues.

“The Humours Of Westport” is in “O’Neill’s 1001” - #457 [ my edotion ] - key of “F”.
According to “Wikipedia” : “Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music named after Kentucky mandolin player and songwriter Bill Monroe’s band, the Bluegrass Boys [2] 1939-96, ….. ”
“The Humours Of Westport” in “F” precedes “Bluegrass” by at least 32 years.
QED.

Simple transcription with no variations or ornamentation.

I see this tune It is in Selected Tunes from
“Johnny O’Leary of Sliabh Luachra”
(ed. Terry Moylan; Dublin 1994). That’s where I took the name from.

But this setting of the tune is not like the one in the book. This one is another setting I first heard from the Breton band Gwendal in their album Rainy Day, first track. They play this reel from 4:13 to 5:12 here (I added a comment with the link that will get you directly to the beginning):

https://youtu.be/nQvj5NmOFZA

play video

They happen to play the parts the other way around as it is in the book of Johnny O’Leary’s tunes. I have kept the same order in the parts as in the book.

Pat Barton also plays this setting of the tune in one of the videos in his YouTube channel. He plays the parts in the same order as in the book. He gives the tune another name: Because He Was A Bonny Lad.

I have a very basic question: on fiddle or mandolin, when rocking back and forth between the f on the D string, do people normally rock on the index finger or the middle finger? As a beginner, I want to be a good boy and cover the right part of the neck with the correct fingers but it feels horrible using the middle finger currently. Happy to suck it up and learn it but not if nobody else bothers to do so.

It would be your middle finger on the F# on the D string, Lye_Valley_Ned. Otherwise you’d come unstuck when you got to the B note (normally index finger) at the start of the fourth bar.
Playing the F# with your index finger would put you in 2nd position, which is very rarely used in trad playing.

Thanks Donald! I have been trying it and it gets less wobbly once you accept you have to do it 🙂 As you say, it makes sense to play it the way you say to make getting to the B. Thank you for being so generous with your time and knowledge, I really appreciate it very much.
Denis

Learnt from Boxing Banjo - Round 2

This is the lovely version played by John Carty and Michael McGoldrick on the CD ‘At our Leisure’. The tune rolls along effortlessly with their playing. Curiously on the recording the first part is repeated (as written here) on the first time through the tune only, thereafter the second part is played as written here for the repeat. McGoldrick is playing the tune on a ‘C’ chanter.

For the benefit of pipes, whistle and flute players here is the Carty/ McGoldrick version transposed into D without the repeat.

As heard at the closing concert at last year’s wonderful Ennis Trad Fest, November 2022.