Annotation:Northern Road to Tralee (The)
X:1 T:Northern Road, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Single Jig S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 396 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D d|AGF A2D|DED FED|AGF A2D|F3 d2| AGF A2D|DED AGF|EFE E2F|G3B3:| |:ABc d2F|AGF d2F|ABc dAF|B3d3| [1 ABc ded|cBA d2A|Bcd EFE|G3 B3:| [2 faf gec|fdB AFD|EFE E2F|G3 B2||
NORTHERN ROAD TO TRALEE, THE (Bóthar ó Thuaidh go Trágh-Lí (An)). AKA and see "Keep Your Feet Johnny," "Northern Road (The)," "Stir Thy Feet Johnny/Stir Your Feet Johnny." Irish; March, Jig, Slide, Air (6/8 time). Ireland, Co. Clare. E Flat Major/Mixolydian (Stanford/Petrie): D Major (O'Neill). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Stanford/Petrie): AAB (O'Neill/1915): AABB' (O'Neill/1850 & 1001). "An ancient Clare march" [Stanford/Petrie]. A variant can be found in the Stanford/Petrie collection under the title "Bóthar ó Thuaidh go Trágh-Lí (An) (No. 1318), and in Volume 1 (p. 229) of the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper James Goodman as "Bóthar ó thuaigh chum Tráighlí." A number of lyrics, often children's or nonsense songs, have been set to the melody. One set [1], from Fionán Mac Coluim (County Kerry), published in his Cosa buidhe árda do’n aos óg (Dublin, 1916), goes:
An bóthar ó thuaidh, an bóthar ó thuaidh,
An bóthar ó thuaidh chun Trá Lí.
An bóthar ó thuaidh 's an cóngar aduaidh
'S an bóthar ó thuaidh chun Trá Lí.
An bóthar ó thuaidh, ó thuaidh, ó thuaidh,
An bóthar ó thuaidh chun Trá Lí.
An bóthar ó thuaidh 's an cóngar aduaidh
'S an bóthar ó thuaidh chun Trá Lí.
Translation
The road north, the road north,
The road north to Tralee.
The road north and the short cut south
And the road north to Tralee.
The road north, north, north,
The road north to Tralee.
The road north and the short cut south
And the road north to Tralee.
There are also slide versions of the melody.
