Annotation:Come Back Paddy Reilly

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X:127 T:Come Back Paddy Reilly M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Waltz B:Deloughery - Sliabh Luachra on Parade (1988, No. 127) N:From the playing of Terry Teahan Z:Patrick Cavanagh K:D d>f|a4b>a|f2e2d2|B2d2B2|A4B>c|d4c>d|b2a2f2|(e6|e4)f>a| a4b>a|f2e2d2|B2d2B2|A4f>g|a4f2|e2d2e2|(d6|d4)f>a| b4bb|b2a2f2|b2a3f|a4a2|a2f2e2|d2c2d2|(e6|e4)f2| a4b>a|f2e2d2|B2d2B2|A4d>e|f2a2f2|e2d2e2|(d6|d4):||

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Percy French

COME BACK PADDY REILLY. Irish, Air and Waltz (3/4 time). F Major (Sing Out): D Major (Deloughery). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The song "Come back Paddy Reilly" was written and composed by wikipedia:Percy_French (1854-1920), some say in response to a challenge to write a song featuring "Ballyjamesduff." Percy's Paddy Reilly was a real person, however, a man who used to drive him from the station and to appointments. Percy returned to Ballyjamesduff after a hiatus of two decades and was told that Reilly had emigrated to America. In fact, Reilly went to Scotland where he resided for some time before he too returned to Ballyjamesduff, County Cavan. The first stanza of the song goes:

The garden of Eden has vanished they say,
But I know the lie of it still;
Just turn to the left at the Bridge of Finnea,
And stop when half-way to Cootehill.
'Tis there I will find it, I know sure enough,
When fortune has come to me call,
Oh the grass it is green around Ballyjamesduff,
And the blue sky is over it all.
And tones that are tender, and tones that are gruff,
Are whispering over the sea,
"Come back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballygamesduff,
Come home, Paddy Reilly, to me.

The depiction of both person and place is idealized, and probably French's response to the millions who left Ireland in search of work and a better life. French himself had planned to emigrate, but was offered a government service job just before he was to leave. Although the words would suggest a friendly, if not intimate relationship, according to his family Paddy Reilly wasn’t particularly interested in the fact that the song had been written about him, even when he heard it being played. In an interview with the singer Brendan O’Dowda for Irish television, Reilly’s daughter Bridgit Quinn said he hardly remembered French, and never mentioned him.

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