Annotation:Plough and the Stars (The)

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PLOUGH AND THE STARS, THE. Irish, Reel. F Major (McNulty): G Major (Mulvihill). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (McNulty): AABB (Mulvihill). The title is, of course, the same as that of the famous work by Irish playwright Sean O’Casey (and not a few Irish pubs). ‘Plough’ is an old name for the northern hemisphere constellation better known as The Big Dipper. The tune is often attributed to Irish-American Long Island fiddler and banjo player Larry Redican (1908-1975), however, support for a definitive attribution is still wanting.

Source for notated version: Larry Redican (New York, NY) [Mulvihill].

Printed sources: McNulty (Dance Music of Ireland), 1965; p. 13. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 203, p. 55.

Recorded sources: Carl MacKenzie - "Highland Classic." Hear the tune played by accordion player John Towey at the Comhaltas Archive [1] (2nd tune in set, preceded by "Vincent Broderick's").

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]

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