Annotation:Paddy O'Carrol (1)
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PADDY O'CARROL{'S JIG} [1] (Paidin Ua Cearbaill). AKA – "Paddy O'Carroll." AKA and see "Bad Luck to this Marching," "Exile's Lament (The)," “Flight of the Wild Geese (3) (The),” "Origin of Ireland." Irish, Scottish, English; Double Jig. D Major (Cole, Haverty, Kershaw, O'Neill/Krassen, 1001 & 1850): G Major (Kennedy, O’Farrell, O'Neill/1915). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Haverty): AABB (most versions): AABBCCDD (Eames, Kennedy, O’Farrell). A jig of unknown provenance, attributed to both Irish and Scottish sources. In England, “Paddy O’Carrol” appears in J. Balls’ Gentleman’s Amusement, Book 3 (London, 1815, reprinted in 1830), as well as O’Farrell’s c. uilleann pipe Pocket Companion (London, c. 1808), wherein the tune’s provenance is given as “Scotch”. John Murphy's A Collection of Irish Airs & Jiggs with Variations (1809), while published in Edinburgh, suggests an Irish provenance. Louis Jansen named it as Irish in the title of his rondo setting of the jig ("Irish air arranged as a rondo for the Pianoforte") published in London, 1810. The name 'Paddy O'Carrol' has theatrical associations: a 1784 Dublin production bears the title The New Register Office; or, Paddy O'Carrol in High Life where the main character, Paddy O'Carrol was played by Owenson.
The composition is attributed to Scottish composer James Oswald in William Bradbury Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883). An earlier American printing of the tune was in Edward Riley’s Flute Melodies, vol. 2 (New York, 1817). "Origin of Ireland" is the name of a comic song (in dialect) set to the tune that appeared in Tony Pastor's Irish America Comic Song Book, etc. (1870):
Wid all condexcinshin, I'd turn yer attinshin
To what I would minshum ov Erin so green;
An' widout hesitashin I'd show how that nashin
Became ov creashin the gem and the queen.
Pastor was a mid-19th century New York variety stage entrepreneur, and presumably the song was a stage piece.
Country dance directions to “Paddy O’Carrol” appear in London dancing master Thomas Wilson's Treasures of the Terpsichore: or a Companion for the Ball Room, published in London by W. Calvert in 1808. The jig was included by Waverton area, Cumbria, musician John Rook in his large manuscript collection of 1840, and it was entered into the 1859 music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames (p. 72) and the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman (p. 109).
New York City researcher, writer and musician Don Meade identifies the melody as a “piping version of the fiddle tune now best known as ‘Richard Brennan’s Favorite’ (after a Sligo fiddler) from a 78 recording by Michael Coleman.” "Exile's Lament (The)" is a cognate melody.
Source for notated version: he music manuscript of Joseph Kershaw, a musician from Slackcote, Saddleworth, North West England who began his entries around the year 1820 [Knowles].
Printed sources:
Clinton (Gems of Ireland), 1841; No. 22, p. 11.
Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 68.
Giblin (Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music), 1928; no. 72.
P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs, vol. 2), 1858; No. 163, p. 74.
Hughes (Gems from the Emerald Isle), London, 1867, No. 22, p. 6.
Knowles (Joseph Kershaw Manuscript), 1993; No. 72.
Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 145, p. 35.
Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; No. 4, p. 36.
Murphy (Irish Airs and Jigs), Edinburgh, 1809; No. 7.
O’Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 3), c. 1808; p. 59.
O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 191, p. 104.
O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 56.
O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 986, p. 183.
O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 202, p. 47.
MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 175.
Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 99.
Surenne (Songs of Ireland), 1854; p. 77.
Recorded sources:
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]