Annotation:Trim the Velvet (1)
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X:1 T:Trim the Velvet (1) M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:O'Neill's Music of Ireland. 1850 Melodies, 1903, p. 247, no. 1320 Z:François-Emmanuel de Wasseige K:G G2(BG) AGFD|G2(BG) cAFA|G2(BG) AGFD|de=fd cA^FA:| Tdcde dBGB|dedB cAFA|Tdcde dBGB|de=fd cA^FA| d3e dBGB|dedB cAFA|d2df e2ef|ge=fd cA^FA|| |:g2gb a2af|g2(ab) c'baf|gfgb abaf|de=fd cA^FA:| (3BAG (dG) BGGA|(3BAG (dB) cAFA|(3BAG (dG) BGGB|de=fd cA^FA| (3BAG (dG) BGGA|(3BAG (dB) cAFA|BG (3GFG cA (3A^GA|de=fd cA^FA|]
TRIM THE VELVET ("Deasaid/Daesuig an Srol" or “Bearr an Veilbhit"). AKA and see "Geehan's Reel," "Grazier (The)," "Green Garters (2)," "Humors of Flip (The)," "Potlick (The),” “Railroad (4) (The)," "Sally Kelly (2).” Irish, Reel (cut time). G Major (Breathnach, Flaherty, Harker, Mallinson, Mulvihill): G Major/Mixolydian (O'Neill): D Major (Carlin). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD (Breathnach, Flaherty, Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson): AABCD (O'Neill/Krassen): AABBCCD (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AABBCDD (Carlin, Mulvihill). "Trim the Velvet" was a reel recorded and popularized by County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman (1891-1945) in his 1927 recording, although Coleman’s recording starts on what is generally played today as the fourth part.
The tune is called “Humors of Flip (The)” in County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman’s mid-19th century manuscript collection, although Goodman also entered a jig with the title "Trim the Velvet (2)." This proves the title "Trim the Velvet" was extent in Ireland since the mid-19th century, however, the first appearance of the reel in print with that title is in Francis O'Neill's 1903 Music of Ireland. Breathnach finds a tune by the title “Kiss the Maid behind the Barrel” in a manuscript from Castleisland, County Kerry, although he says that name usually refers to a different, although related, tune. Whistle player Micho Russell, from Doolin, County Clare, knew it as “Potlick (The).” “Sally Kelly” is a Leitrim name Breathnach finds for “Trim the Velvet.”
East Clare fiddler Paddy Caney, a member of the famous Tulla Céilí Band, recorded a version of the reel that was used as the prestigious signature tune for Ciarán Mac Mathúna’s Job of Journeywork program on Radio Éireann for several years.