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Annotation:Paddy Ryan's Dream (1)
X:2 T:Paddy Ryan’s Dream [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:O’Neill – Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 461 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amin G>E (3EEE cABG|EGDC B,CDB,|(3A,A,A, A,B, CDEG|1 cAB^G ABcB:|2 cAB^G (3AAA A2|| B2|Aaa^g aecA|Ggg^f gdBG|Aaa^g ae=fd|edcB (3cBA BG| Aaa^g aecA|Ggg^f gdBG|AcBd cedf|edcB ABcB||
PADDY RYAN'S DREAM [1] (Aisling Paidin Ui Riain). AKA and see "Miss Lyall (2)," "Mooney's Favourite," “Mooney’s Reel (2),” “Tullagh Reel (The).” Irish, Reel. A Minor (Cranitch, Miller & Perron/1977): A Dorian (Miller & Perron/2006, O'Neill): A Mixolydian/Dorian (Feldman & O’Doherty). Standard tuning. AB (Miller & Perron/1977): AA'B (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AABB (Cranitch, Miller & Perron/2006): AA'BB' (Feldman & O’Doherty, O’Malley, O'Neill/Krassen). The tune was popularized by County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman (1891-1945), the first to record the reel, in New York in 1921. “Paddy Ryan’s Dream” is a derivation of the Scots strathspey and reel “Miss Lyall (1)/Miss Lyall (2),” composed by Captain Simon Fraser, also known as “Mrs. Grant of Laggan’s Strathspey” (the title under which it was later printed by the Gows). The “Mooney’s Reel (2)” title was employed by County Donegal fiddler John Doherty (1895-1980). A version of the tune set as a Highland is known in County Donegal as “Cat that Kittled in Jamie's Wig (The)." See also the variant “Humors of Ennistymon (2),” in Kerr's collection.
There is a story that goes with this tune (from Ted Furey): Paddy Ryan was the son of a widow who lived in the Midlands. He had a dream that he went to Dublin, and that he walked to and fro on the bridge without stopping, and that he found his fortune there. He told this strange dream to his mother, who sold her only cow, and said: "Padraig, go to Dublin and see about your dream." So Paddy went on the train to Dublin, and there he marched up and down on O'Connell Bridge. He hardly had any money left, but after a while he met a neighbour from home, who said: "What are you doing here, Paddy? Have you come to Dublin?" "Well," said Paddy, "I had this funny dream three nights in a row that I should find my fortune here on O'Connell Bridge in Dublin." "Well," said the neighbour, "that's strange. I also had a dream three nights in a row that there was a crock of gold buried at the back of your garden, under a gooseberry bush." "Oh, I don't believe that", said Paddy. But that night he took the train back to where his mother lived in County Offaly, and he said: "Mother, find me a spade", and started digging under the gooseberry bushes in the garden, and it was true; under the last one, which was all dry and nearly dead, he found three crocks full of gold. So Paddy and his mother could buy a lot of cows and build a new house, so wasn't it true that he found his fortune marching up and down O'Connell Bridge in Dublin?
