Annotation:Come West Along the Road

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X:1 T:Untitled N:A version of "Come West along the Road" M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Reel B:Stephen Grier music manuscript collection (Book 2, c. 1883, No. 153) 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:G d2 BG dGGB|d2 Bd efge|d2 BG dG G2|1 BABd efge:|2 BABd e2 ef|| g2 bg ef/g/ dg|egdg egdg|g2 bg ef/g/ dc|BABd e2 ef| g2 bg ef/g/ dg|egdg eg d2|efgf ef g2|BABd efge||

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COME WEST ALONG THE ROAD (Bog siar a bótar). AKA - "Bongsheir Abher." AKA and see "Arboe (2)," "Hop along the Road," "Monasteraden Fancy (The)," "Over the Moor to Peggy." Irish, Reel. Ireland, County Sligo. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. A version of the tune was included as an untitled reel in Book 2 (No. 153) of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim piper and fiddler biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894). The title "Come West along the Road" first appears in Francis O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland (1903), although a similar title for the tune, "Hop along the Road," was entered into the 1880's music manuscript collection of John Kerrigan of Enniscrone, Co. Sligo. "Over the Moor to Peggy" is a related tune.

Philippe Varlet reports that the tune was recorded in 1925 by "Fireman" John McKenna [1] on flute and in the 1940's by the Aughrim Slopes and Moat céilíi bands (who called it "Monasteraden Fancy (The)," Monasteraden [2] being a town on the Roscommon/Sligo border, however, see also "Monasterevin Fancy (The)" named for a County Kildare town).

Researchers Fr. John Quinn and Conor Ward believe the Scottish reel "Miss Maria Dundas" to be the precursor tune for "Come West Along the Road." "The 'Come West Along the Road' tune seems to have displaced the rhythm [of "Miss Maria Dundas"] by one beat in the first part." They suggest listening to the two versions to better hear the resemblance rather than comparing the written version of the melodies.

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