Cuban (The)

 CUBAN, THE. AKA and see "Bill the Weaver's [3]," "The Old One." Irish, Polka. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was played by source Johnny O'Leary at a tempo slower than usual for a polka, more as a listening piece. The name Cuba is derived from a native word, Colba, of unknown meaning. Christoper Columbus named the island Juana (in honor of Prince Juan of Castille), but the native name stuck (Matthews, 1972). Source for notated version: recorded by Breandan Breathnach from the playing of accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border); it was originally learned from Sliabh Luachra fiddler Padraig O'Keeffe [Moylan]. Printed source: Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 7, pp. 5-6. Recorded sources: Gael Linn CEF 092, Julia and Billy Clifford - "Ceol as Sliabh Luachra." Gael Linn CEF 176, Jackie Daly - "Many's a Wild Night" (1995. Appears as "The Old One," due to the fact that Daly has been playing it for years). Topic 12T312, Billy Clifford.

X:1 T:The Old One T:The Cuban D:Jackie Daly, "Many's a Wild Night", track 12(b) M:2/4 N:"The Old One/Cuban" is one case where the chord sequence N:might be misleading. The A chords shown in the first part N:are much better as "A no-3rds", and the Gs as some G-chord N:notes against an A bass, as described previously. L:1/8 R:polka Z:Paul de Grae K:Amix "A" e>e fe | e/f/g/e/ a2 | "G" BB/B/ d/B/A | BA/B/ d/B/A | "A" e>e fe | e/f/g/e/ a2 | "G" BA/B/ dB | "A" A2 A2 :|| "D" fA fA | ff "G" g>f | "A" e/f/e/d/ c/A/B/c/ | "D" d2 d2 :||
 * "D" fA fA | ff "G" g>f | "A" ed ef/e/ | "D" d/c/d/f/ "A" a>g |

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