Annotation:Big Pat

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BIG PAT'S (DANDY) REEL. AKA and see "Tie the Ribbons (1)," "Trim the Bonnet," "Jimmy the Creelmaker," "Salamanca (3)," "Pigeon House (The)," "Dandy Reel (2) (The)," "Hills of Clady (The)," "Clady Reel (The)," "O'Connell's Trip to Parliament (2)." Irish, Reel; New England, Hornpipe. E Minor (O'Neill): B Minor (Tolman). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill/1850): AABB' (O'Neill/Krassen): AABB (Tolman).

Source for notated version: Francis O'Neill learned the tune from an accomplished West Clare flute player (and Chicago police patrolman) named Patrick "Big Pat" O'Mahony, a man of prodigious physique of whom he said: "the 'swing' of his execution was perfect, but instead of 'beating time' with his foot on the floor like most musicians he was never so much at ease as when seated in a chair tilted back against a wall, while both feet swung rhythmically like a double pendulum" [O'Neill, Irish Folk Music]. "Big Pat" was the source for several tunes in the O'Neill, including "Out on the Ocean," "Fisherman's Widow (The)" (AKA "Rambling Pitchfork (The)"), and the hornpipe "Bantry Bay."

Printed sources: O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 94. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1979; No. 1192, p. 225. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 16 (appears as "Big Pat," a hornpipe).

Recorded sources:

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