Annotation:Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel
X:1 T:Kiss the Maid behind the Barrel M:C L:1/8 R:Reel S:James Goodman (1828─1896) music manuscript collection, S:vol. 3, p. 84. Mid-19th century, County Cork Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G DG G2 AG G2|BABd cABG|DG G2 AG G2|defd cA GF:| dg g2 ag g2|dg g2 agfd|df f2 gf f2|defd cAGF| dg g2 ag g2|dg g2 agfd|afge fefd|cded cAGF||
KISS THE MAID BEHIND THE BARREL(S) {"Pog An Cailin Taob Iar De'n Stanna," "Tabhair Póg don Gearrchaile taobh thiar den Bhairille," or "Pog an Cailin Ar Cul an Stanna"}. AKA and see "Bruisus (The)," "Clonmel Lassies," "Clonmel Lasses," "Fair Haired Kate," "Gearrchaile taobh thiar den Bhear (An)," "Kiss a Maid Behind her Mother," "Kiss the Maid Behind the Bar/Kiss the Maid Behind the Barn," "Maid Behind the Bar (2) (The)," "Maid Behind the Counter (The)," "Sally Kelly (2)." Irish, Reel (cut or whole time). G Mixolydian/Major (O'Neill/1850, Stanford/Petrie): G Major (Breathnach, Flaherty, Goodman, O'Neill/1001). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Goodman, Stanford/Petrie): AABB (Kennedy): AABBC (Stanford/Petrie): AABCDD (Flaherty, O'Neill): ABCDEF (Breathnach). As the alternate titles "...behind the Bar" and "...behind the Counter" suggest, the title refers to a woman serving drinks or tending bar, which in some instances (such as at a fair or race) was temporarily erected with boards placed atop barrels.
The tune was entered into the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection (vol. 3, p. 84) of Canon biography:James Goodman (County Cork). Later, Chief Francis O'Neill published two versions that feature an occasional C # note, thus obscuring the tonality in parts of the tune, between G Major and D Major. Dublin artist and music collector George Petrie (c. 1790–1866) had several versions of the reel, five of which appear in Charles Villiers Stanford's 1905 collection of Petrie's work. Stanford/Petrie version No. 885 is identified as "a Cork reel" while his No. 887 is "Set in the county of Limerick." Breathnach (CRÉ 1, 1963) prints a version of the tune under the title "Maid Behind the Bar (2) (The)" and says he never heard the reel with the F natural that Petrie prints. The reel in Breathnach/Small's CRÉ V, from the playing of Kerry fiddler Denis Murphy, is "a special version which can be heard among Sliabh Luachra musicians, longer than the usual setting" (Jackie Small/CRÉ V). "Potlick (The)" is a related melody, while "Trim the Velvet" appears to be a distantly related tune.
O'Neill made a cylinder recording of the tune being played by uilleann piper Patsy Touhey. See also the related "Steampacket (The)" family of tunes. Researcher Conor Ward finds "Brown Red (The)", entered into the latter 19th century music manuscript collections of Stephen Grier (County Leitrim) and Rev. Luke Donnellan (south Ulster), as a related tune and a distanced cousin of the "Kiss the Maid..." tune family.
