Annotation:Boil the Breakfast Early (1)

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BOIL THE BREAKFAST EARLY (Ullmuig An Prim-Beile Go Moc). AKA and see "Court Her Along the Road," "Lasses' Fashion (The)," "Peadar's Reel," "Wild Irishman (8)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill, Stanford/Petrie, Vallely): AA'BB' (Harker): ABC (Alewine, Mulvihill). The reel is popular with uilleann pipers. Donal Hickey, in his book Stone Mad for Music (1999), writes that laughter was not too far from the surface in Slibah Lucahra (a Cork/Kerry border region), and that wittiness in both men and women was a valued gift. As an example he relates the yarn about a man who was being given his breakfast by a neighbor before he and the man of the house went to the bog to labor. 'How do you like your egg, Denny, hard or soft?' inquired the Mrs.-came the immediate reply, "Boiled with another one!"

Sources for notated versions: "From (the Irish collector) Mr. Joyce" [Stanford/Petrie]; Frank McCollam (Ballycastle, County Antrim) [Mulvihill]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources: Alewine (Maid that Cut Off the Chicken's Lips), 1987; p, 10. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; p. 239. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 55, p. 17. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 118, p. 31. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 789, p. 137. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 891, p. 225. Vallely (Armagh Pipers Club Play 50 Reels), 1982; No. 22, p. 12.

Recorded sources: Columbia Legacy CK 48693, "The Best of the Chieftains" (1992). Folkways FW 6818, Leo Rowsome (1966. A re-release of the HMV IM 283 78 RPM recording of 1937). Shanachie 79093, Paddy Glackin & Robbie Hannan - "The Whirlwind" (1995. 3-part version learned from the playing of piper Leo Rowsome).

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]