Buckley's Fancy
BUCKLEY'S FANCY (Roga Ui Buacalla). AKA - "Buckley's Favourite [1]." AKA and see "After the Sun Goes Down," "Albany Beef," "Lord St. Clair's Reel." American, Irish, Canadian; Reel. Canada, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Elias Howe (c. 1867) prints contra-dance directions along with the tune. O'Neill's "After the Sun Goes Down" is a related reel, fairly close in melodic contour, as is Roche's "Lord St. Clair's Reel." "Albany Beef" shares a part with "Buckley's Fancy." Just possibly (although admittedly unlikely), this is an example of "reverse migration," with U.S. sources predating O'Neill and Irish ones, and it may be that the tune originated with one of the Buckley family of black-face minstrel entertainers (see note for "Dar's Sugar in the Gourd"). However, this is probably a long-shot, for Buckley was a common name. There was a James Buckely, for example, a Limerick piper who was P.W. Joyce's source for several tunes in his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). Some similarities to "Atlantic Wave."
Sources for notated versions: Lorin Simmons (Prince Edward Island, collected in 1930's) [Bayard]; Joseph Doucette (b. 1910, West Prince County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; fiddler Fred Finn (1919-1986, Kiltycreen, Kilavil, County Sligo, Ireland) [Flaherty]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; Appendix No. 10, p. 576. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 14 (appears as "Buckley's Favorite"). Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 80. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 82, p. 26. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 90 (appears as "Buckley's Favorite Reel"). O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 97. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1211, p. 228. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 487, p. 93. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 283, p. 143. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 43. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 83, p. 15.
Recorded sources: See also listings at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [], Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [].
X:1 T:Buckley's Fancy M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 487 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G D2 | G2 BG dGBG | ABcd (3efg dB | G2 BG dGBG | ABAG FDEF | G2 BG dGBG | ABcd e2g2|(3bag (3agf gedB | GBAF G2 || ef | gfga gede | gabg ageg|agab agef | gabg e2 de | gfga gede | gabg agef | gfga gedB | GBAF G2 ||
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