Annotation:Rakes of Kildare
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RAKES OF KILDARE (Na Racairaide/Racairi Ua Cill-Dara). AKA and see "Ailteoiri Na Cille," “Arthur McBride,” “Barndoor Jig,” “The Fair of Drumlish,” "The Galbally (Cranbally) Farmer," "Get Up Early," "The (Old) Barn Door Jig," "Let Us Leave That As it Is" (Fagamaoid sud mar ata se). Irish, Double Jig. A Dorian (Allan's, Johnson, Kennedy, Kerr, O'Neill/Krassen): G Dorian (Roche, version #2): G Major/Mixolydian (Cole, O'Neill, Williamson): G Major (Harker/Rafferty, Roche, first version). Standard tuning. AAB (Kennedy, Kerr): AABB (Cole, Johnson, O'Neill, Roche [#1], Williamson): AABB' (Allan's, Harker/Rafferty). The word ‘Rakes’ in the title appears to be short for ‘rakehell’, which itself stems from the Old Icelandic word "reikall," meaning "wandering” or “unsettled." Popularly rakes referred to stylish and spirited young men. The name Kildare means ‘Church of the Oaks’. O'Sullivan (1983) finds the tune (which appears in many collections of Irish music) earliest in print (in this form) in Levey's Dance Music of Ireland (1858), where it is called only "A jig." O’Neill (1913), however, is convinced the tune was derived from an ancient march melody called “Get Up Early,” which the Irish collector Edward Bunting obtained in 1802 from one R. Stanton at Westport, County Mayo.
American versions have been collected in New England and Michigan. It is sometimes used as a tune for morris dancing in England.
Various sets of words have been set to the tune, including the Irish song “Goidé sin don té sin.”
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. NMAS 1972, Natalie MacMaster - "Fit as a Fiddle" (1993). Folkways 8826, Per's Four"Jigs and Reels." Fretless 122, "Oldtime Fiddling, Vol. 10." Angus Cameron – “Strings to the Bow” (1977). Pibroch MacKenzie – “The Mull Fiddler” (1969). Bob Smith’s Ideal Band – “Better than an Orchestra” (1977). Shanachie 34014, James Kelly, Paddy O’Brien & Daithi Sproule – “Traditional Music of Ireland” (1995). Topic TSCD 669, Davie Rogerson (et al) – “Ranting and Reeling: Dance Music of the north of England” (1998. Northumbrian fiddler Rogerson was born in 1901). WMT002, Wendy MacIsaac – “That’s What You Get” (1997?).
See also listings at:Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording IndexJane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info
Source for notated version: fiddler Andy Keezer (Bear Lake, Michigan) [Johnson]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 60. Giblin (Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music), 1928; 95. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 235, p. 72. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 7: Michigan Tunes), 1986-87; p. 11. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 159, p. 38. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880; No. 21, p. 37. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), 1922; No. 25, p. 7. Moffat (202 Gems of Irish Melody), p. 1. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 32. Ó Lochlainn, 1939; No. 42. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 847, p. 157. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 108, p. 33. Robbins, 1933; No. 184. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1), 1912; No. 87, p. 39 (appears as "The Galbally Farmer"). Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 3), 1927; No. 103, p. 32. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 70.
Recorded sources: