Annotation:New Mown Meadows (The)

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NEW MOWN MEADOWS, THE. AKA and see "Anderson's Reel (2)," "Miss Lane's Fancy," "My Love is on the Ocean (1)," "Old Silver Spear (The)," "Silver Tip (1) (The)," "Silver Spear (The)," "Threepenny Bit (The)," "Top of the Cliff (The)." Irish, Reel. A Dorian: D Dorian {Joyce}: E Dorian ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Joyce): AA'BB' (Moylan). There are different versions of this tune, although generally it is played in either the keys of A Dorian or E Dorian, less frequently heard in D Dorian. The tune is often associated with "Silver Spear (The)," which it resembles, especially in the second strain. It is currently popular in County Clare and has been a favorite of melodeon players.

"Written from memory," says P.W. Joyce, who collected in Munster in the mid-1800's and first published the tune. This is the same period (and, broadly, region) that Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman (1828-1896), of Cork, collected in, and he included the melody twice in his manuscript collection, albeit under the titles "Top of the Cliff (The) and "Silver Top (The)." See also Donegal fiddler Néillidh Boyle's version "Loughnamure Tune (The)," the related "Five Mile Chase (2)" by Donegal fiddler John Doherty, and Francis O'Neill's variant "Threepenny Bit."

Source for notated version: accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded at Na Piobairi Uilleann, October, 1984 [Moylan].

Printed sources: Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 2), 1974; No. 6. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 61, pp. 33-34. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary of Sliabh Luachra), 1994; No. 152, p. 88.

Recorded sources: Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - "The Rushy Mountain" (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Shanachie Records, Noel Hill & Tony MacMahon - "I gCnoc Na Graí/In Knocknagree." Tara 2002, Christy Moore - "The Iron Behind the Velvet" (1978. Learned by concertina player Noel Hill from the playing of his mother, concertinist Margaret Hill of Lissycasey, Co. Clare).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2]
See/hear the reel played by Paddy Glackin, Patsy Hanley, Joe Burke on youtube.com [3]
See/hear the reel played by Martin Connolly in 1990 [4]