Annotation:Reel Helena
X:1 T:Reel Helena M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel D:Starr 15758-A (78 RPM), Eugène Demers (1932) D:https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/virtual-gramophone/Pages/Item.aspx?idNumber=1007638460 Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G GGBd d(dBd)|c2 eg g(age)|d2 fa aafa|1,3 gfga b-gd-B|2[M:2/4][B4g4]:|4[M:C|][B3g3][Bg] [Bg]|| d ef| g2 (3fgf e2d2|[G3B3][GB]- [GB]def|g2f2 af-g(d|[e4e4])[e2e2] e/f/g| a2g2 ff(=f^f-|f2)f2- fgfe|d2[d2g2] bgaf|g2 g2- gdef| gagf e2d2|B3B- Bdef|g2f2 afdf|f2 e2- e2ce | a2g2 ff-f=f-|^f2f2- fgfe|d2g2 bgaf|[M:2/4]g2.g2||
REEL HELENA (Reel Héléna). AKA - "Mrs. Napoleon Rooney's Tune." AKA and see "Belledune Quickstep," "Reel la Louise, "Reel Wynda." French-Canadian, Reel (cut time). G Major (Demers): D Major (Songer). Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'AA'B (Demers): AABB (Songer). Fiddler Eugène Demers recorded "Reel Helena" in Montreal in 1932, although a version predated this having been recorded by A. Girard & Bernaquez in 1929. A close version of the tune was published in J.A. Boucher's rare collection Le Répertoire du Violoneux[1] (1933, No. 95, p. 47), albeit under the title "Reel Wynda." Jean Duval notes that the melody was later popularized by the Quebec group Les montagnards laurentiens. Radio and TV fiddler Don Messer recorded it in the 1940's as "Belledune Quickstep." The tune was in the repertory of the Drody family, originally from Douglastown, eastern Gaspé, Québec, who called it "Mrs. Napoleon Rooney's Tune," after the neighbor woman from whom they learned it.
