Annotation:Crooked Road to Dublin (The)

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X:1 T:Crooked Road R:reel M:4/4 L:1/8 K:G ~G2 AG FGAF|~G2 FG AdcA|~G2 AG FGAd|fdcA ~d2 cA| ~G2 AG FGAF|~G2 FG AdcA|~G2 AG FGAd|fdcA ~d2 Bc|| d~g3 fgaf|d~g3 agfe|d~g3 fgag|fdcA ~d2 Bc| d~g3 fgaf|d~g3 ~a2 ga|bgaf g ~a3|fdcA ~d2 cA||

CROOKED ROAD TO DUBLIN, THE. AKA - "Crooked Road (1) (The)." AKA and see "Duke of Leinster's Wife (The)," "Ladies' Pantalettes (1) (The)," "Lady's Panteletts," "Smiles and Tears of Erin (The)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Mitchell, Mulvihill): AAB (Harker/Rafferty): AABB (Phillips). Daniel Michael Collins, in liner notes to Shanachie 29009, says this is a fairly common session tune which stresses triplets in the 'A' part and rolls in the 'B' part. Alan Ng finds the "Crooked Road" as the first tune in the "Ladies Pantalettes" set on a few recordings, leading some to refer to the tune by the name "Lady's Pantelette's/Duke of Leinster's Wife," which really refers to another, unrelated tune. "Crooked Road to Dublin" was recorded in New York by famed County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman (1891–1945) c. 1924. 20th century Irish music collector and musicologist Brendan Breathnach printed the melody as "Smiles and Tears of Erin (The)" (CRÉ I, no. 101), about which researcher Conor Ward remarks:

This tune was recorded in New York in November 1934 by the ‘Smiles and Tears of Erin’ Orchestra as the second tune in a set entitled ‘Master Rogers - Reel Medley’. This 78 record is presumably the source of Breathnach’s title for this tune in CRÉ1 No.101. ‘The Smiles and Tears of Erin’ was a group of Irish musicians put together by the Longford fiddler Jim Clarke (1887-1938). They were joined on this record by the fiddle and melodeon player Frank Quinn (1893-1964). Quinn and Clarke lived a few miles away from each other in Drumlish, Longford before they both emigrated to New York. They named this track in honour of their fiddle teacher Bernard Rogers (1856-1907) a local fiddle master who lived beside them.

Although similarly titled, "Crooked Road to Dublin" is not either of the "Crooked Way to Dublin" versions in printed in Frank Roche's early 20th century publications.

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - fiddler Andy McGann (New York) [Phillips]; piper Willie Clancy (1918–1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; (Jr.) Cronin [Mulvihill]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources : - Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 63, p. 20. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 81, p. 76. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 27, p. 7. Phillips (Fiddle Case Tunebook: British Isles), 1989; p. 13.

Recorded sources: -Green Linnett GLCD 1155, Martin Hayes – "Under the Moon" (1995). Tara Records 2002, Christy Moore – "The Iron Behind the Velvet" (1978. Learned from the playing of John Kelly on concertina, John Regan on accordion and Paddy Glackin on fiddle). Shanachie 29009, "Andy McGann & Paul Brady" (learned by fiddler McGann from Michael Coleman. Liner notes to the album say McGann "remembers Coleman writing the Crooked Road for him").

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]
Hear Michael Coleman's 78 RPM recording on youtube.com [4]

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