Annotation:I Looked East and I Looked West

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I LOOKED EAST AND I LOOKED WEST. AKA and see “Martin Mulvihill's Polka,” “Paddy Scanlon's.” Irish, Polka. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title is similar to that of the American old-time tune "Been to the East, Been to the West." Source Julia Clifford learned the tune in Lisheen, County Kerry, but had no name for it. The present title comes from fiddler Maurice O'Keeffe who gave it this name when he played it for John Coakley in July 1976; as Paul de Grae points out, it is one of the few Sliabh Luachra polkas that is not simply named after an influential musician. It appears in the Mulvihill collection (1986) as “Paddy Scanlon's,” and flute player Mike Rafferty called it “Martin Mulvihill's Polka.”

Source for notated version: New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].

Printed sources: Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 282, p. 91 (appears as “Martin Mulvihill’s Polka”).

Recorded sources: Old Hat Music OH!02, "The Old Hat Dance Band" (1992). Topic Records, Julia Clifford – “Music from Sliabh Luachra.” Topic Records, John & Julia Clifford – “The Humours of Lisheen.”

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]

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