Paddy Taylor’s reel

Gluabers post of “Ah, Surely” reminded me of another great flute player - Paddy Taylor, this is one of his tunes. I like all of the Paddy Taylor tunes I’ve ever heard, but this is a truely great reel. The Highlight is that funky triplet sequence in the last few bars, that and the C nat C# toggling keeps you on the edge of your seat. I first heard this reel from Paddy Keenan, he gave me a copy of his CD & “Na Keen Affair” where Tommy Peoples does a great setting of it for a few times through than he’s joined by Keenan on the pipes. I was hooked on it, it is kind of a smarty pants tune & not too many people play it in my area but I’ve heard it’s a staple in Beantown.

…in SF Bay Area--everybody seems to play it. Known here simply as “Paddy Taylor’s.”

Another tune commonly called “Tripping up Stairs” is:

FAA GBB| FAd fed| ~c3 ABc| dfe dAG| FAA GBB| FAd fed| ~c3 ABc| dfe d2…

This reel seems to have moved north from the San Francisco Bay area to our little corner of the Pacific Northwest. This is the setting we play, which is also very close to Martin O’Brien’s version on his “An Crann Carraige” CD.

X:1
T:Paddy Taylor’s
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Gmaj
FEDF A3F | GEcE dEcE | FEDF ABAF |1 GEcE EDD2 :|2 GEcE EDDB ||
K:D
Addc d3A | (3Bcd ef gfed | Addc dfed | =cAGE EDDB |
Addc d3A | (3Bcd ef g2fg | afge d2cA | (3Bcd AG FDDE ||
F3G A2dG | GGdG GBAG | FEFG Add=c | (3ABA GE EDD2 :||

The version Solas plays.

Just noticed that this is basically the same tune (minus the third part, and fudging the specific notes a bit) as “Repeal Of The Union”, O’Neill’s 1001 #459.

https://thesession.org/tunes/545

The B parts are different enough (but I admit that the A parts are similar enough, and as it happens, we once mixed up the two tunes).

Alan Kelly makes the claim in the sleeve notes of his CD “Mosaic” that this was a joint composition between Paddy Taylor and Martin Wynne. I have no way of knowing whether or not this is true, but this is the only place I have ever heard that claim.
I first heard this great reel played by Joe McKenna in Buncrana, Co. Donegal in 1976, when he was the Senior All-Ireland champion on uilleann pipes. I subsequently heard it paired with “The Four Courts” by “De Danann” in the late 1970s, here :
https://youtu.be/sR9ppZQUW8Y

play video

Based on playing of Eoghan O’Sullivan, Gerry Harrington and Paul de Grae, The Smoky Chimney https://thesession.org/recordings/512

Great version here played by Ciaran Kelly, recently posted on “Youtube” :
https://youtu.be/LEW8maMk3Pw

play video

PS - starts around 1m 22s.