Annotation:Spanish Lady (The)

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X:96 T:Thady Regan R:polka H:The melody of the song "The Spanish Lady" D:John McKenna & James Morrison 1928 (Columbia) Z:id:hn-polka-96 M:2/4 L:1/8 K:D FG AB/c/|de de/f/|ge fd|1 BA A>G:|2 BA A2|| fa af|ed de|fa af|ed e2| fa af|ed de/f/|ge fd|BA A>G||

SPANISH LADY POLKA. AKA "Spanish Ladies Polka." AKA and see: "As I Went up to Dublin City, "Doran's Ass," "Finnegan's Wake," "French Musician (The)," "Paddy Doyle's Ass," "Siege of Ennis," "Thady Regan." Irish, Polka (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title comes from a song that was set to the tune, the beginning given here as sung by The Dubliners

As I came down through Dublin City,
At the hour of twelve at night;
Who should I spy but a Spanish lady,
Washing her feet by the candlelight.

First she washed them, then she dried them,
Over a fire of amber coals;
In all me life I ne'er did see,
A maid so sweet about the soul.

An instrumental version of the melody was recorded in Sept., 1928, in New York (released in 1929) for Columbia records by Leitrim flute player John McKenna (1880-1947), and Sligo fiddler James Morrison (as "Thady Regan," paired with "Trippin' on the Mountain").

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Mary O’Hara [Miller & Perron].

Printed sources : - Black (Music’s the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 233, p. 125. Mallinson (100 Irish Polkas), 1997; No. 97, p. 38. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music, vol. 3), 1977; No. 62. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 135. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 9.

Recorded sources : - Columbia 33342-F (78 RPM), John McKenna & James Morrison (Fretless 119, Rodney & Randy Miller - "Castles in the Air" (1975). John McKenna Society MCKSOC002, John McKenna - "The Music and Life of John McKenna. 'The Buck from the Mountain'" (2014). Tradition TLP 1024, Mary O'Hara – “Songs of Ireland” (1958).

See also listing at :
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Morrison & McKenna's 1929 recording at ITMA [3]

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