Wallop Away The Wattle, O! polka

This is a polka from East Galway learned from the duet playing of Ballinakill musicians, Kevin and Sean Moloney. It’s also on Maeve Donnelly and Peadar O’Loughlin’s “The Thing Itself,” but misnamed “Leather Away the Wattle-O.”

I originally called it “the East Galway set polka” seeing as it ws the music for the East Galway set. And was told it would be played after My Love is But a Lassie/The Dark Girl Dresed in Blue. Then somewhere I found another name for it but can’t recall where - “Please Give a Penny to the Poor Old Man ”. I think it’s also called the Ballinakill Polka.

Flute player Mike Preston, who played with the Tulla Ceili Band in the late 1950s and early 60s, calls this tune “Pussy Got the Measles” after a song sung to this air, the first verses of which are:

Pussy got the measles and she died, poor thing
She died, poor thing, oh she died, poor thing
Pussy got the measles and she died, poor thing
Oh, oh, the poor, wee thing

We got some linen and we wrapped her up
We wrapped her up, oh we wrapped her up
We got some linen and we wrapped her up
Oh, oh, the poor, wee thing

this tune is actually the one that was played for the last figure of the popular 19th century dance, The Original Lancers Quadrille, before it evolved into the present day Lancers set dance. The tune was published in several 19th century books e.g. ‘The Lancers Quadrille’ in Cameron’s Selection of Violin Music (1859), page 52. Jackie Small included it in CRÉ Vol.5 entitled ‘Cuadrill: Na Lancers’ (No.105).

See https://thesession.org/tunes/13154 Please Give a Penny to the Poor Old Man, which seems like a duplication. Is this maybe a fling or a barn dance?

Name from Monks of the Screw. They do indeed play it as a polka.

A polka from the repertoire of Andrew “Sonny” Riordan, fiddle player from Ballinahulla, Co. Kerry. Sonny was a student of Padraig O’Keeffe and had a wealth of tunes, such as this one. He’s passed on some of his music to his nephew, John Walsh, a valuable source of Sliabh Luachra lore in his own right.

The transcription is from a tape of Sonny’s own playing. The Scully’s, Newmarket crowd, led by John’s friend Timmy O’Connor, play a very similar version of this polka and call it Sonny Riordan’s – as mentioned above, it was recorded by The Monks of the Screw.
https://thesession.org/recordings/3302
https://scullysfest.bandcamp.com/album/brathar-na-n-l-2

Here’s a fascinating ‘My life and music’ essay penned by Sonny for a local journal: http://sliabhluachra.ie/pdfs/andrew-sonny-riordan.pdf