Annotation:O'Reilly's Greyhound

Back to O'Reilly's Greyhound

O'REILLY'S GREYHOUND (Cú Uí Ragallaig). AKA and see "Galway Girl," "Missing Guest (The)," "Murphy's Greyhound," "Outdoor Relief." Irish, Reel. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune was first recorded in 1927 by concertina player William Mullay (see annotation:Murphy's Greyhound), and, in the same year as "Galway Girl", by the Chicago-based Bowen's Irish Orchestra, a group that included father-and-son uilleann pipers Dennis Flynn Sr. and Jr. (along with Tom Cawley and Billy McCormick on fiddles and flute player Paddy Doran, albeit piper Joe Sullivan sometimes was in the lineup, replacing on of the Flynns. There is a picture of the group in Danahey & Hantschel's Chicago's Historic Irish Pubs,, 2011, p. 90 [1]). A setting appears Darley & McCall's Feis Ceóil Collection of Irish Airs (1914) as an anonymous reel (No. 37), collected from the Feis Ceóil competitions at the turn of the 20th century. Breathnach (1996) thinks it has a much better turn (second part) than does O'Neill's "Greyhound." County Clare fiddle player P.J. Hayes called the tune "Murphy's Greyhound." Francis O'Neill printed the tune in one of his later publications (O'Neill's Irish Music, 1915) as "Missing Guest (The)."

Source for notated version: "O'Reilly" [O'Neill]. O'Neill mentions three O'Reilly's in Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913), two pipers and an ancient harper. He most often references Martin O'Reilly (pp. 239-240 [2]), an elderly blind piper from County Galway, an exceptional musician who competed in several Feis at the turn of the 20th century, but who died in dire circumstances in the poorhouse within a decade.

Printed sources: Conolly & Martin (Forget Me Not), 2002; pp. 92-93. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 712, p. 125. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1488, p. 275.

Recorded sources: Columbia Co 33445-F (78 RPM), Bowen's Irish Orchestra (1927).

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]