Annotation:Devanney's Goat
Tune properties and standard notation
DEVANNEY'S GOAT (Gabhar an Dubhánaigh). AKA - "Devanny's." Irish, Reel. D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Flaherty): AABB (Breathnach, Harker/Rafferty, Miller). Bronx flute player Jack Coen attributes the composition of the tune to Tommy Whelan, a flute player and composer from the Woodford, east Galway, area; a member of the old Ballinakill Ceili Band. Devaney was a neighbour of Whelan's, indeed, the owner of a goat who was nibbling on the vegetables in Whelan's garden when the tune came to him. The tune is often associated with Eddie Moloney of Ballinakill, East Galway.
Source for notated version: fiddler Paddy Ryan, 1970 (Co. Roscommon, Ireland & Birmingham, England) [Breathnach]; flute player Harry McGowan (b. 1937, Carrowmore, County Sligo) [Flaherty]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ II), 1976; No. 267, p. 138. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 157. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 95, p. 30. McGuire and Keegan (Irish Tunes by the 100, vol. 1), 1975; No. 48, p. 13 (appears as "Devanny's"). Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 145, p. 95. Treoir, vol. 39, No. 4, 2007; p. 30.
Recorded sources: BMG 09026 63377-2, Cherish the Ladies - "At Home" (1999). Claddagh CCF21, Noel Hill - "The Irish Concertina." Gael-Linn CEF 103, Frankie Gavin - "Croch Suas É/Up and Away" (1983. 1st tune of "Eddie Moloney's Set"). Green Linnet GLCD 1160, Patrick Street - "Cornerboys" (1996). Skip Healy - "Farewell New England Shores." See also listings at: Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1], Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [2].