KITTY McGEE/MAGEE (Caitilin Ni Micaeda). AKA - "Katty Magee." AKA and see "Picking of Sticks," "Picking Up Sticks." Irish, New England; Jig. D Major (most versions): B Flat Major (Stanford/Petrie). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Stanford/Petrie): AABB (most versions). "Picking Up Sticks" is a related melody. Curiously, the American reel "Sweeping the Town[1] is melodically and structurally similar, taking into account the change from triple to duple time. The resemblance may be coincidental, or a more substantive (derivative) relationship may at some time surface.
Additional notes Source for notated version : - Janet Foster [Spadaro]; Pete Sutherland with the Arm and Hammer String Band [Phillips].
Printed sources : - Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 161. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 6: Jigs), 1982 (revised 1991, 2001); p. 7. Levey (Dance Music of Ireland, 2nd Collection), 1873; No. 7, p. 3 (appears as "Katty Magee"). Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 3. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 72. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 716, p. 133. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 369. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 120. Spadaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; p. 24. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 513, p. 130. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 31.
Recorded sources : - F&W Records 6, Fireside String Band- "Square Dance Tunes for a Yankee Caller." "Front Hall 03, Dudley Laufman- "Swinging on a Gate." The Kicking Mule 216, Arm and Hammer String Band- "New England Contra Dance Music."
See also listing at : Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
↑. "Sweeping the Town" has an obscure provenance, but seems to have no great antiquity. It was popularized in the latter 20th century through the playing of fiddlers in Seattle and the Pacific northwest,
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