Annotation:Bunch of Keys (1)
X:1 T:Untitled T:Bunch of Keys [1] T:Flowers of Limerick [1], The M:C L:1/8 R:Reel B:Stephen Grier music manuscript collection (Book 2, c. 1883, No. 112, p. 24) B: http://grier.itma.ie/book-two#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=23&z=-214.9139%2C341.3446%2C3070.4826%2C1234.6572 N:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) was a piper and fiddler from N:Newpark, Bohey, Gortletteragh, south Co. Leitrim. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmix DGGG G2 Gc|BGdG eGdG|DFEG F2 FG|AFcF dFcF| D2G2G2 GA|BAGA Bcde|fefd cAFA|1 BGAF GG/G/ GF:|2 BGAF GG/G/ G2|| G2 g2 g2 ga|baga bagf|dfeg f2 fg|agfg ag f2| dggf g2 ga|bagf d2 de|fefd cAFA|1BGAF GG/G/ G2:|2 BGAF G2 G/G/ GF||
BUNCH OF KEYS [1], THE. AKA and see: "Ewe with the Crooked Horn (3) (The)," "Flowers of Limerick (1) (The)" "Lady Elmer’s Reel," "Mills are Grinding (1) (The)," "Old Town Reel," "Paddy on the Turnpike (2)" (Ryan/Cole), "Second Wellington," "Telephone Reel," "Yellow Heifer," "Wellington Dance (2)." Irish, Reel. G Dorian (Gm) {Brody}: G Major {O'Neill}: G Major/Mixolydian (Cranitch). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody): ABC (O'Neill): AABBCC (Cranitch). "Bunch of Keys [1]" is a member of a tune family that goes by a variety of titles, set in modes from major (ionian) to dorian, and sometimes in mixed modes. The title refers to door keys, or, as Paul de Grae suggests, it may refer to the winged seeds (called keys) of the ash tree (fabled in Irish folklore), which hang in bunches before dropping. A version of the reel in two parts was entered into Book 2 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim fiddler and piper biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894) as an untitled tune. "Bunch of Keys" was recorded on 78 RPM in 1936 by Sligo/New York fiddler Paddy Killoran, in a medley with "Dublin Reel (The)" and "Miss Thornton." See also the Scottish "Old Reel (The)."
The melody has some antiquity: a version called "Second Wellington" was printed by music publishers J. Alexander & Co. in 1826.
