Convenience Reel (The)
CONVENIENCE, THE. AKA and see "Knock on the Door (The)," "McDonagh's Reel (5)." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCC (Songer): ABB'C (Mallinson): AABBCC (Taylor): AA'BB'CC (Taylor/Tweed). The title refers to a 'convenience', a throne, crapper, toilet, loo, etc., from which derives the alternate title "Knock on the Door." It was composed by whistle player Olcan Masterson of Dundalk, who was competing at a 1977 Fleadh in Ennis in 1977. With the pubs and other session venues bursting to the seams in the town, a spontaneous session started up in the only place available, a public toilet, where Olcan played this tune. It was picked up by another session player, box player John Skelton (later of The House Band), who recorded it with his band Shegui with the title "The Convenience Reel." Different versions start on different strains of the melody. Susan Songer (who gives the tune's provenance as Scottish) remarks that this tune was for many years the signature tune of the Seattle Irish traditional band The Suffering Gaels. Karen Tweed remarks the tune was "extremely popular in sessions in the early '80's."
Sources for notated versions: Uncle Gizmo (Massachusetts) [Songer]; French fiddler Vincent Blin [Taylor/Tweed].
Printed sources: Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 30, p. 14. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 53. Taylor (Where's the Crack), 1989; p. 9. Taylor (Traditional Irish Music: Karen Tweed's Irish Choice), 1994; p. 16.
Recorded source: DMPCD 9401, Karen Tweed - "Drops of Springwater" (1994).