Annotation:Rollicking Boys of Tandragee

Back to Rollicking Boys of Tandragee

ROLLICKING BOYS OF TANDRAGEE. AKA - "Rollicking Boys around Tandaragee." AKA and see “Boys of Tandragee,” “Boys of Tandernagee,” “Burke's Jig (2),” “Hills of Glenorchy (1),” “Paddy McFadden's Jig (2),” "Over the Hills," “Paddy O'Carroll's (2),” “Pat Burke's.” Irish, Air (6/8 time) and jig. E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. See also cognate tunes “Old Grey Cat (The),” “Smuggler's Reel,” and the air “Wild Hills of Wannie's (The).” The tune is known in Scotland as “Hills of Glenorchy (1).” Gordon Turnbull says it seems to be a jig version of the reel known as “Smuggler's Reel,” and, in Scotland, a reel and strathspey called “Grey Cat (The).”

The jig is she vehicle for the song "The Rollicking Boys around Tangragee," from the repertoire of Ulster singer Paddy Tunney, who learned if from his Uncle Mick (Michael Gallagher), who was born in 1891. Sean O Boyle and Peter Kennedy first recorded it around 1952 from the singing of the Tunney family [c.f. Tunney, The Stone Fiddle, pp. 91-92]. At that time Gallagher was employed as a boot repairer in Belleek, although he had previously been a farmer; he also lived for several decades in Glasgow. Gallagher's songs were learned from his parents and grandparents on both sides of the family, as well from members of the extended families, and others in the community. The song begins:

Good luck to all here now barring the cat
That sits in the corner there smelling a rat,
O wheesht your philandering girls and behave
And saving your presence, I’ll chant you a stave.
I come from a land where the praties grow big,
And the girls neat and handy can dance a fine jig;
And the boys they would charm your heart for to see,
Those darling colleens around Tandragee.

Chorus:
So here’s to the boys who are happy and gay,
Singing and dancing and tearing away;
Rollicksome, frollicksome, frisky and free,
We’re the rollicking boys around Tandragee.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : -

Recorded sources: - Danu TM 002, Danú - "Danú" (1997). Folktrax FTX- 163, Brigid & Paddy Tunney & Mick Gallagher - "The Mountain Streams" (1975. Originally recorded 1952). Great Meadow Music GMM 2018, Frank Ferrel & Joe Derrane – “Fiddledance” (2004. Learned from the late west Clare concertina player Tommy McCarthy). Green Linnet GLCD 1196, Kevin Burke - "Kevin Burke in Concert" (1999). Topic 12TS139, Paddy Tunney - "A Wild Bees Nest." Topic Records TSCD677T, Mick Gallagher - "The Flax in Bloom: Traditional Songs, Airs & Dance Music in Ulster" (2014. Various artists). The Yanks - "The Yanks" (2013). Dún Aengus - "Fortified" (2010).

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Hear Mick Gallagher's recording on youtube.com [2]