Annotation:Pretty Girls of Mayo
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PRETTY GIRLS OF MAYO (Cailini deasa Mhuigheo). AKA and see "Bloom of Youth (The)," "Limerick Lasses," “Music in the Forge,” “My Sweetheart Jane,” "Peigín Leitir Mór," "Sweeney's Reel," "Sweet Biddy of Ballyvourney," “Tameen's Reel," "Top of the Morning.” Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach, Cranitch): AA’B (Taylor): AABB (Mulvihill): AA’BB’ (Harker/Rafferty)1. Brendan Breathnach notes that he found an untitled version in P. W. Joyce's Ancient Irish Music (Dublin, 1912 {reprint}, 51). The variant in O’Neill, “Sweet Biddy of Ballyvourney,” has a different second part, which Breathnach says does not go with the tune. The song "Peigín Leitir Mór" is sung to this air in Conamara, as is the song “Goodbye Mursheen Durkin.” The reel was first recorded by flute player Tom Morrison in 1925 under the title "Limerick Lasses," followed by uilleann piper Edward Mullaney with fiddler Patrick Stack in 1926 (Victor 79012) as "Mullaney's Fancy", and eight years later by south County Sligo fiddler Paddy Killoran (1904-1965) in New York in 1934 (as "Pretty Girls of Mayo").
Sources for notated versions: fiddler Tommy Potts (Ireland) [Breathnach]; Paddy Cronin [Mulvihill]; Paddy Killoran [Lyth]; set dance music recorded at Na Píobairí Uilleann in the 1980’s [Taylor].
Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ I), 1963; No. 75, p. 34. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; p. 95. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 142, p. 43. Lyth (Bowing Styles in Irish Fiddle Playing, vol. 1); p. 62. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 51, p. 13. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; p. 7. Treoir, vol. 36, No. 2, 2004; p. 25.
Recorded sources: Decca 12081 (78 RPM), Paddy Killoran (1934). Topic Records TSCD679T, Bobby Casey & Andy Boyle - “It was mighty!” (Various artists). Yazoo Records, Paddy Killoran – “The Wheels of the World, vol. 2” (1996. Various artists).
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]
Hear Paddy Killoran's 1934 recording on youtube.com [3] (2nd tune in set).