Annotation:Handsome Sally (3)

Back to Handsome Sally (3)

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HANDSOME SALLY [3]. AKA and see: "Crossing the Shannon," "Day I Met Tom Moylan (The)," "Ginley's Fancy," "Ivy Leaf (4)," "Man of the House (The)," "McGinley's," "Old Tom," "Paddy Carthy's Reel," "Sally Grant," "Tom Ginley's Fancy." Irish, Reel. E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. There is enough similarity between this tune and "Handsome Sally (1)" to present some confusion, however, the two represent divergent paths. However there is a large number of (more or less) related tunes, including "Autumn Leaves," "Paddy Carthy's Reel (2)," and "Man of the House (The)." The tune is sometimes paired with "Johnny Watt Henry's" (e.g. by Matt Molloy, and by Tony Linnane and Noel Hill).

"Handsome Sally (3)" was very popular in Counties Leitrim and Longford during the 19th century, notes researcher Conor Ward, appearing "in no less than five different manuscripts from this region: Greir MS (c. 1883), O'Farrell MS (c. 1860's), Smyth MS (c. 1900), McBrien-Rogers (c. 1900) and Reynolds MS (c. 1880's)." It is variously entered as a single reel (e.g. Bernie Rogers, 1856-1907, from Killoe, Longford), or a double reel (Larry Smyth). Rogers was Smyth's fiddle teacher, yet the more developed version was entered into his manuscript. Ward suggests that Smyth may have composed the variant bars (i.e. from the ones his student, Smyth, entered into his manuscript) at the end of each strain at a later date in his musical career or that he picked them up from another musician.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]

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