Annotation:Lilies of the Field (The)

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LILIES OF THE FIELD, THE. AKA - "Lilies in the Field." AKA and see "Come to Your Tay," "P.J. Conlon's," "Sailor’s Jacket (The)." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The reel was was recorded on a 78 RPM for Columbia in New York by accordion player Peter "P.J." Conlon (originally from Milltown, County Galway) in 1929 under the title "Kitty in the Lane (4)" (paired in a set with "Broken Pledge (The)"). There is some resemblance to "Kitty in the Lane (1)" in the second strain. According to New York musician and researcher Don Meade, the "Lilies of the Field" title was an invention of button accordion player Paddy O’Brien of Offaly and Minnesota, who supplied the title to Gavin & Brock for their Gael-Linn album. However, the version of the tune itself is sourced to Conlon's recording. An even earlier recorded version of the tune can be found on a cylinder recording of piper Bernard Delaney, made by Capt. Francis O'Neill, where the introducer (probably O'Neill) gives the title as "Flowers of the Field" (see "The Francis O'Neill Cylinders," disc 2, track 5). O'Neill's title for the tune in his Music of Ireland is "Sailor’s Jacket (The)

P.J. Conlon was an accomplished melodeon player who recorded in the "golden age" of Irish recording, in America in the 1920's and 1930's, although Conlon's own recording career lasted from 1917 to 1929. He came from a musical family where parents, a brother and sister all played fiddle or melodeon. In America he recorded on his own and with fiddler James Morrison and, on other recordings, with flute player Tom Morrison. David Taylor (1992) also believes the tunes "Jenny Picking Cockles," "Take Her Out and Air Her (2)," "Sailor’s Jacket (The)" and "Come to Your Tay" are all similarly structured tunes. "Ballinafad Reel (1) (The)" also contains some related melodic material.

Source for notated version: Bernard Bogue (Counties Monaghan and Tyrone) [Breathnach].

Printed sources: Breathnach & Small (Ceol Rince na hÉireann IV), 1994; No. 105, p. 55 (appears as "Peata Mamaí (2)/"Mammy's Pet (2)"). Taylor (Crossroads Dance), 1992; No. 26, p. 20 (as "P.J. Conlon's").

Recorded sources: Gael-Linn CEF 115, Frankie Gavin & Paul Brock – "Ómós do Joe Cooley." Shaskeen – "My Love is in America" (as "P.J. Conlon's").

See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Hear Conlon's 1929 recording at the Comhaltas Archive [2]