Annotation:Happy Days of Youth (2)

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HAPPY DAYS OF YOUTH [2], THE ("Laeta aoibin na n-oige" or "Laete seanmar na h-oige"). AKA and see "Hawthorn Bush (The)," "Miss Duns Fancy." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (O'Neill/1850, 1001 & 1915): AABB' (O'Neill/Krassen). A version of the tune appears in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon biography:James Goodman under the title “Miss Duns Fancy.”

Source for notated version: Francis O'Neill learned the tune from an accomplished West Clare flute player (and Chicago police patrolman) named Patrick "Big Pat" O'Mahony, a man of prodigious physique of whom he said: "the 'swing' of his execution was perfect, but instead of 'beating time' with his foot on the floor like most musicians he was never so much at ease as when seated in a chair tilted back against a wall, while both feet swung rhythmically like a double pendulum" [O'Neill, Irish Folk Music].

Printed sources: O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 255, p. 132. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 116. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1311, p. 246. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 574, p. 106.

Recorded sources:

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