Annotation:Gold Ring (3) (The)
X:1 T:Gold Ring [3], The T:Old Gold Ring, The T:Fáinn Óir Ort B:Breathnach's CRE I, no. 47 Z:Transcribed by Paul de Grae R:double jig M:6/8 L:1/8 K:D D/B,/|~DB,A, DFA|dfd ~edA|~BdB AFD|~EDE FDB,| ~A,G,A, DFA|dfd ~edA|~BdB AFE|FDD D2:| |:B|~AFA dfa|~bgb afd|~gag ~faf|~ede fdB| ~AFA dfa|~bgb ~afd|BdB AFA|Bdd d2:| |:f/e/|dFF ~AFE|DFE DFA|dfd ~ede|fdB BAB| dFF ~AFE|DFE DFA|dfd ~ede|fdd d2:| |:B|~AFA dfd|~BAB dAF|DEF EDE|FDB, ~B,BA| ~AFA ~dfd|~BAB dAF|DEF ~EDE|FDD D2:||
GOLD RING [3], THE (Fainne oir ort). AKA and see "Fáinn Óir Ort," "Old Gold Ring," "Sligo Gold Ring." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). D Major (Flaherty, Mulvihill): D Mixolydian (Breathnach). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. A fairly common jig, not related to the "Gold Ring" printed by O'Neill. Seán Keane says the melody "evolved into jig metre from a martial air." Breathnach called it "Fáinne Óir Ort" (A gold ring on you) to avoid confusion with O'Neill's "Gold Ring (1) (The)," but said his source Sonny Brogan called it "The Gold Ring." This may be the four-part tune of this name which is the composition of the great Co. Mayo/New York fiddler John McGrath (1900-1955). Paul de Grae remarks, "All the old fiddlers in Arfert (North Kerry) used to play it," and says their version was similar to that printed by Breathnach. This tune appears as an untitled tune in The Northern Fiddler (1978) at the top of p. 232. Sligo fiddler Paddy Killoran, from Ballymote, recorded this version of the "Gold Ring" tune in Novemeber, 1937 (paired with "Haste to the Wedding (1)"). Fiddler Seán Ryan's (d. 1985) jig "Nimble Fingers (3)" is the last two parts of "The Gold Ring [3]." The jig is sometimes called "The Sligo Gold Ring" to differentiate it from the “Fermanagh Gold Ring” (“Gold Ring (1) (The)").
