Annotation:Whalen's Breakdown
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WHALEN'S BREAKDOWN. AKA and see "Reel des lutteurs (Le)." Canadian, Reel. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB. The tune was popularized as "Whalen's Breakdown" by the great Canadian radio and TV fiddler Don Messer, originally from New Brunswick, Canada. Québec fiddler Isidore Soucy played the tune as "Reel des lutteurs (Le)" (The Wrestlers' Reel). A 6/8 jig time variant of this reel is called “Bride of the Winds.”
Source for notated version: Vivian Williams (Seattle) [Phillips].
Printed sources: Page (Northern Junket, vol. 6, No. 8), February 1959; p. 22. Page (Northern Junket, vol. 10, No. 10), October 1971; p. 28. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 254.
Recorded sources: Alcazar Dance Series FR 204, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts 2" (1981). Apex 26314 (78 RPM), Don Messer & His Islanders (1949). Apex AL 1610, "The Best Of Don Messer and his Islanders - P.E.I. Series Volume 3" (1960).
See also listing at:
Hear Don Messer's recording on youtube.com [1][][]