Annotation:Green Fields of Rossbeigh (The)
GREEN FIELDS OF ROS(S)BEIGH, THE (Páirceanna Glasa Ros Beithe). AKA and see "Green Banks of Rossbeigh," "Kerry Reel (1) (The)," "Witch of the Glen (The)." Irish, Reel (cut time). E Minor/Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Moylan): AABB (Breathnach, Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson). Recorded by County Cavan/Philadelphia fiddler and composer Ed Reavy (1898-1988) for the Victor company in Camden, New Jersey, in 1927 (Victor 21593B), under the title "Tom Clark's Fancy." However, the first recording of the tune (under the "Rossbeigh" title) was by Miltown, County Kerry, fiddler Michael Hanafin (1880-1970) in 1926. In the liner notes to "From Galway to Dublin" Varlet & Spottswood note that Hanafin emigrated to Boston, Mass., around the turn of the last century, and that he performed in piano-player Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band (Hanafin and his brother William were friends of Sullivan's father). Susan Gedutis, in her book See You at the Hall: Boston's Golden Era of Irish Music And Dance (2005, p. 22) records this remembrance by Gene Frain, a Boston piper, pianist and flute player, who as a child knew Hanafin:
I would jump a streetcar with my father, down to Central Square. Where Mike was there was always music. There was a saying years ago--you buy a barroom, put Mike in it, and Mike would draw the Irish from everyplace. He was a nice guy to talk to. Entertaining, as well. He'd play the tin whistle; he'd play the violin. When he got a real good crowd going, he'd sell the place and move right to a new joint. He had a good thing going.
