Annotation:Within a Mile of Dublin (2)
X:1 T:Within a mile Dublin [2] M:C L:1/8 R:Reel S:Rev. Luke Donnellan – “Oriel Songs and Dances", S:Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society (vol. II, No. 2, 1909; No. 10) N:The tune was set by Donnellan in the dorian mode, but works better in the N:mixolydian mode, as set by Gerry O'Connor Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Dmix ADDE FEFG|ADDB cABG|ADDE FEFG|ABcA BGGB:|| Addc AGFG|Adde fdec|Addc AGFG|ABcA BGG| Addc AGFG|Adde fdeg|afge fdec|ABcA BG G2||
WITHIN A MILE OF DUBLIN [2]. AKA and see: "Club Reel," "Giobarach (An)," "Kerry Lasses (2) (The)," "Maid of Ballintra," "Meadow in Bloom (The)," "Through the Fields (3)," "Sarah's Reel," "Road to Dublin (The)," "You're a Long Time a-Courting." Irish, Reel (cut time). D Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach, O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AAB (O'Neill/Krassen). Brendan Breathnach (1976) finds the tune under the title “An Giobarach” in a manuscript from Waterford. He lists one (of several) alternate titles as “The Maid of Ballintra,” however, Paul de Grae thinks this is incorrect. The reel can be found as “Meadow in Bloom (The)” in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper wikipedia:James_Goodman_(musicologist). The title “Within a Mile of Dublin” appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997).
Irish researcher Conor Ward finds the melody, usually known as “Within a Mile to Dublin,” appears as “Road to Dublin (The)” in the c. 1883 Stephen Grier music manuscript collection of County Leitrim. Grier’s version, which matches the one printed by Francis O’Neill (1903), is one of the earliest sightings of the tune, notes Ward, who also finds it as an untitled “Irish Reel” in one of Kerr’s Merry Melodies volumes.
Musician and researcher Paul de Grae
