Annotation:Hould the Reins

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HOULD THE REINS. AKA and see "Boys of Dublin (The)," "Callen Lasses," "Donnybrook Maid (The)," "Dublin Lads (The)," "Kilfenora Reel (5)," "Lads of Dublin (The)," "Thornton's." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A reel with a variety of titles, none of which seems to have settled permanently on the tune as a general preference. Geraldine Cotter called the tune "Kilfenora Reel (5)," uilleann piper Pat Fitzpatrick recorded it on 78 RPM as "Three Drops of Brandy" and fiddler Seán Ryan recorded it as "Thornton's." Pat Mitchell named it "The Dublin Lads" when, after recording uilleann piper Willie Clancy playing it, Pat inquired of the title, with the reply: "I don't know what it's called, I got it from the Dublin lads."

Researcher Conor Ward finds the tune in the c. 1880's Francis Reynolds (Gaigue, Ballinamuck, Co. Longford ) music manuscript collection under the title "Donnybrook Maid (The)," albeit with strains reversed from "Hould the Reins."

Source for notated version: Brendan Mulvihill (Baltimore, Md.) [Mulvihill].

Printed sources: Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 85, p. 22.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]

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