Paddy Fahey’s reel

Picked this up at a session at the 2007 National Folk Festival in Canberra. Hope it’s not already here somewhere on the database. It’s also in Breathnach (CRÉ V), 1999; No. 113, pg. 58. See that version under Paddy Fahy’s Reel [19] http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PAA_PAP.htm.

If you play the B natural, flattened in bar 10, I think it gives it more of a Paddy Fahy stamp on the tune. But that’s just my opinion.

You mean make both the Bs flat? Hmm, not sure I agree with you there Paddy.

I made a mistake there Dow. I played it before the sheetmusic was uploaded and didn’t realise that those Bs that I was talking about were already flat. I thought all Bs in the tune were natural but the Bs which are flat in this tune are the ones I was talking about in my previous post. Hope you understand that, I find it difficult to explain myself sometimes.

Is it just me or are those endings a little bit hornpipey?

I was playing some CDs today and discovered which CD my source got it from. It’s the 2nd tune, track 11 of the Kane sisters’ “Under The Diamond”. Turns out they only play the B-part once. Shame because it’s a nice B-part, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to play it twice. I suppose you just have to be aware that if you hear it in a session, then you might hear it played like that. So here’s the version from the Kane sisters:

X: 1
T: Fahey’s
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Cmaj
|:GF|(3EFG CD EFGA|~_B3G c=Bcd|ecBd cBGF|DEB,D G,DGE|
F2EC DEFD|GABG cBcd|ecBd cBGF|DEB,D C2:|
EF|Gc~c2 (3efg de|cBGA _B2GF|DCB,G, _BCEG|c3A BGFD|
Gc~c2 (3efg de|cBGA Bcdf|ecBd cBGF|DEB,D C2||

The 1st tune on that track is this one https://thesession.org/tunes/7105.

I’ve two recordings of Fahey himself playing this tune really wonderfully and they differ quite a bit from the ones above. The most interesting difference in Fahey’s own version is in the first bar of the second part where he uses an F# in this phrase |Gc c2 e^fdg| which is much more interesting to me than |Gc~c2 egde| the one given in Dows transcription. Even the Kane sisters ignore this quirky turn in the tune for some reason.

So here’s my attempt at Fahey’s own playing of the tune. I’m not so used ot ABC so it may not be perfect but it’s quite different to the other versions given.

GF | (3EFG CD EFGA | _B3G c=Bcd | ecBd cBGF| DEB,D G,DGE |

{G}F2 EC DE{G}FD | GABG cBcd | ecBd cBGF | DEB,D C3D |

(3EFG CD EFGA | _BABG c3d | ecBd cBGF | DEB,D G,DGE |

{G}F2 EC DE{G}FD | GABG cBcd | ecBd cBGF | DEB,D C3E ||

|: Gc c2 e^fdg | cBGA _B2 GF | DCB,G, B,CEG | c3A BGFD |

Gc c2 e^fdg | cBGA Bcdf | ecBd cBGF |1 DEB,D C2 EF :|2 DEB,D C3D ||

A version by Athena Tergis in a blazing little set with Liz Carroll and Eileen Ivers in the video Absolutely Irish… nice take on this tune.
X: 1
T: Paddy Fahey’s #25
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Cmaj
|:GF|Ez CD EFGA|~_B3G ~c3d|ecBd cBGF|FDB,D G2 GF|
F2 EF DEFD|~B3G ~c3d|ecBd cBGF|FDB,D C2:|
EF|:Gc ~c2 egde|c_BGA _B2 GF|EC ~C2 C2 EF|GccA _BGF2|
Gc ~c2 egde|eBGA _B2 df|ec=Bd c_BGF |ECB,D [1 C2 EF:| [2 C4:||

Just for the record, Josephine Keegan calls this tune “Ronnie Cooper’s Favorite Fahey” (reel #87 in her tune book A Drop in the Ocean). Can anyone shed any light?