Annotation:Chicago Reel (The)
X:1 T:Chicago Reel, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 797 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Ador AB|c2 ed cAGE|GFGA GAcd|ecgc acgc|edcd efge| c2 ed c2 AF|GFGA GBcd|eaag efdB|(3cBA BG A2|| AB|cdef g2 ef|gage dBGB|cdef gagf|baag aged| cdef g2 fg|abaf gbag|fefd efed|(3cBA BG A2||
CHICAGO REEL, THE (Cor Catair Sicaigo). AKA and see "Roll Her on the Mountain (2)," "Smiling Susan." Irish, American; Reel. C Major/A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (O'Neill/1001): AABB (Alewine, Mallinson, O'Neill/Krassen, Vallely). The American name Chicago takes its name from the Native American word chicagou, or the onion place, a hollow where wild garlic grew at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Since the tune first appears in O'Neill's 1907 Dance Music of Ireland (it did not appear in his 1903 Music of Ireland) one can surmise the title was a product of some member of the Irish Music Club in Chicago of that time, O'Neill's primary sources for tunes. An early sound recording of the tune was made by Chicago fiddler Patrick Stack and uilleann piper Edward Mullaney, both sources of O'Neill's and one-time members of the Irish Music Club. However, the tune predates O'Neill's collection, as versions appear in the 1883 music manuscript collection of Gortletteragh, south County Leitrim, as "Roll Her on the Mountain (2)" and as "Smiling Susan."
