Annotation:Glen Reel (The)
X:1 T:The Glen Reel M:2/2 L:1/8 C:Ed Reavy R:reel Z:Joe Reavy N:Glens are not always pictures of springtime greenery. Ed remembers N:them much as Nora did in Syngeis Shadow of the Glen- "and seeing N:nothing but the mists rolling down the bog, and the mists again, and N:they rolling up the bog, and hearing nothing but the wind crying out N:in the bits of broken trees left from the great storm, and the streams N:roaring with the rain." Ireland is the terrible beauty of the dark glen N:in the depth of its wild wind and storm. K:Gmin GF ||: DGGA B2 AG | Agfd cAGF | DGGA B2 AG | AdcA AGGF | DGGA (3BcB AG | Agfd cAGF | DGGA B2 AG |1 AdcA AGGF :| |2 AdcA AGG^f || gbag fdd=e | (3ff=e fd cAGA | gbag fdd^c | dg^fa gfga |(3bag (3ag^f gfd_e | (3=ff=e fd cAGF | DGGA B2 AG |1 AdcA AGG^f |2 AdcA AGGF||
GLEN REEL, THE. Irish, Reel. G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. Claimed by his son Joe as a composition of County Cavan/Philadelphia fiddler Ed Reavy (1898-1988). It is, however, basically the same as "McSweeney's Reel," sourced from the playing of Donegal fiddler John Doherty. It is likely that Ed Reavy picked it up from Neil Doherty or other Donegal fiddlers in Philadelphia. To add to the confusion, east Galway/New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty claimed it as a composition and called it "Feeding the Birds."
