Annotation:Tailor's Thimble (3)
X: 1 T:Tailor's Thimble [3], The M:C| R:reel H:Also in Edor, #572 Z:Henrik Norbeck F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/mirror/kirby98.fsnet.co.uk/ta/Tailors_Thimble_The_3.abc K:Ador cAAG A2dB|cA~A2 dBGB|cAAG ABcd|1 e2ge dBGB:|2 e2ge dega|| |:b2gb abga|bage dega|1 b2gb abgd|efge dega:|2 b2gb abgd|efge dBGB||
TAILOR'S THIMBLE [3], THE (Méaracán an Táilliúra). AKA and see "Tommy Morrison's." Irish, Reel (cut time). A Dorian: E Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Flaherty, O’Malley): AABB (Breathnach). Tailor’s thimbles were sturdy rings of metal often made without a top, or cap, as the tailor would push the needle from the side of the device. The tune, a single reel whose title is usually applied to an unrelated jig melody, was recorded in New York in 1929 during the 78 RPM era by Sligo fiddler James Morrison {died c. 1947} and County Leitrim born flute player John McKenna {1880-1947} (paired with “The Red-Haired Lass”). Morrison, who also played the tin whistle, was nicknamed “The Professor” for his teaching and his formal musical skills. That the sobriquet was well-deserved is illuminated by Frank Flynn, who remembered that Morrison had never heard “The Tailor’s Thimble” before McKenna played it for him. Morrison took the tune down in notation on the spot and two days later the pair recorded it.
The melody is in the “Gravel Walks”/”Highlandman” family of tunes (compare with see “Gravel Walks (The),” “Highland Man that Kissed His Grannie (1),” “Jenny Tie Your Bonnet,” “John Stenson's No. 1”). Compare also with County Leitrim fiddler Stephen Grier's "Tailor's Thimble (2)," similar in the first strain. See also an untitled reel in Breathnach, Ceol Rince na hÉireann vol. 3, 1985; No. 143, p. 67.
