Annotation:Tom Steele (1)

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X:1 T:Tom Steele [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:O'Neill's Music of Ireland. 1850 Melodies, 1903, p. 239, no. 1271 Z:François-Emmanuel de Wasseige K:D d>D (3DDD F>A (3ABc|dfaf gfec|d>D (3DDD FA{e}dc|BGEF GABc| d>D (3DDD F>A (3ABc|dfaf (3gag bg|afge fdec|BGEF GABc|| d2(fd) adfd|(3ded af gfec|d2(fd) adfd|BGEF GABc| d2(fd) adfd|(3ded af g2(fg)|(3agf (3gfe fdec|BGEF GABc|]

TOM(M) STEELE ("Tomas Stiul" or "Tomas Ua Cruaid"). AKA and see "Cill Beathach," “Drogheda Lasses (1) (The),” “Hand Me Down the Tackle,” "Hielanman's Kneebuckle (The)," "Laurel Groves (The)," “Pure Drop (2) (The),” "Reidy Johnson's (2)." Irish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AAB (Miller & Perron/2006): AABB' (Cranford/Holland, Miller & Perron/1977): AA'BB' (O'Neill/Krassen). Thomas Ennis Steele (1788-1848) was a colleague of the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell (for more, see note for "Tom Steele"). Early versions of the tune can be found in the music manuscript collections of the Gunn Family, County Fermanagh, c. 1865, under the title "Boys of New York (2) (The)," and, as a distanced but cognate reel (in the second strain) in the mid-19th century Leonard-Kernan music manuscript collection from Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford, where the tune was entered with the exact date of "August the 12th, 1845.” The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997).

"Tom Steele" was recorded in the 78 RPM era in New York by the Flanagan Brothers in 1928, Hugh Gillespie in 1938, and Michael Coleman in 1921 (albeit under the set title “Reidy Johnson's,” the name of a female Irish-American accordion player). Dublin piper Tommy Reck recorded the melody as a pipe solo in his first commercial release, for the Copley label, paired with “Scholar (The)” and “Salamanca (1).” Pipers tend to call the tune “Hand Me Down the Tackle<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/2/6/2633uj2p4coyf97rxgx9rmyhqxfvni3/2633uj2p.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/2/6/2633uj2p4coyf97rxgx9rmyhqxfvni3/2633uj2p.png" width="649" height="89" alt=" X:1 T:Hand me Down the Tackle [1] M:4/4 L:1/8 K:D "D"dD~D2 FDFA|"D"dfaf "A7"gfec|"D"dD~D2 FDFA|"G"BGEF "A7"GABc| "></div> .”

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - fiddler Séamus & Manus McGuire (Co. Sligo) [Miller & Perron].

Printed sources : - Carlin (Master Collection of Dance Music for the Violin), 1984; No. 214, p. 126. Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 106, p. 41. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; vol. 1, No. 2. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 107. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 109. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1271, p. 239. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 539, p. 100.

Recorded sources : - Columbia 33302-F (78 RPM), The Flanagan Brothers (1928). Copley 9-191-A (78 RPM), Tommy Reck. Decca Records 12186 (78 RPM), Hugh Gillespie (1938, paired with "Farewell to Leitrim"). Green Linnet GLCD 3066, Hugh Gillespie - "Classic Recordings Of Irish Traditional Fiddle Music" (1992). Outlet 3002, Paddy Cronin "Kerry's Own Paddy Cronin" (1977). Rounder Records 7057, Jerry Holland – “Parlor Music” (2005). Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40481, Brian Conway – “First Through the Gate” (2002). Viva Voce VVCD007, The Flanagan Brothers - "Tunes We Like to Play on Paddy's Day" ().

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]

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