Annotation:Rose Anne's
X:1 T:Rose Anne's D:Jackie Daly, "Many's a Wild Night", track 12(a) M:2/4 L:1/8 R:polka Z:Paul de Grae K:A E ||: "A" A>G Ac | "E" B>A Bc | "A" A>G Ac | ea "D" a2 | "A" A>G Ac | "E" B>A Bc | "A" AF EF | "D" D2 D2 :|| ||: "A" eA Ac | "Bm" B/c/B/A/ Bc | "A" eA Ac | ea "D" a>f | "A" eA Ac | "Bm"B/c/B/A/ Bc | "A" AF EF | "D" D2 D2 :||
A / | E / | A / | / D | A / | E / | A / | D / :|| ||: A / | Bm (or E, bass B) | A / | / D | A / | Bm / | A / | D / :|| alternative end to either part: bass run on 5th & 6th strings (6th = D) - |AF#EF# | D D |
ROSE ANNE’S. Irish, Polka (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is sourced to Glounreigh, County Cork, musician John Linehan (1860-1932), who labelled it a reel in his c. 1910 music manuscript collection, although it is played as a polka. Fiddler Maurice O'Keeffe (1919-) of Kiskeam, north Cork, had the tune from his teacher, Linehan, with whom he studied from the age of ten. Linehan himself was aged seventy-five at the time. O'Keeffe recalled:
He was a very hard teacher on me. He’d sit at the top table, and he wore a long moustache, and he’d always pull me up if I even put a finger in the wrong place. I became so afraid of him that I started to mitch in the bushes, behind our house, rather than going up to face him. When my Mother asked me if I’d learned any new tunes, I told her I was still learning the one’s from the previous class.
Eventually O'Keeffe mastered his discomfort and Linehan taught him to read and write music, along with a trove of local tunes.
Jackie Small (CRÉ V, 1999) says the tune is reminiscent of “Comin' Thro' the Rye (1).”
