Annotation:Cuban (The)
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" ed ef/e/ | "D" d/c/d/f/ "A" a>g | "D" fA fA | ff "G" g>f | "A" e/f/e/d/ c/A/B/c/ | "D" d2 d2 :||
CUBAN, THE. AKA and see "Bill the Weaver's (2)," "Old One (The)." Irish, Polka (2/4 time). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was played by Sliabh Luahra accordion played Johnny O'Leary who called it "The Cuban". O'Leary played it at a tempo slower than usual for a polka, more as a listening piece. County Cork accordion player Jackie Daly knew it as an old but unnamed Sliabh Luachra melody (hence he named it "Old One (The)").
The name of the Caribbean island 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). However, the polka title has nothing to do with the Caribbean nation, rather, "Cuban" was a nickname for some maternal members of the family of Sliabh Luachra musician Jack “The Lighthouse” Connell, who had darker hair, eyes, and skin complexion than was usual in that region. Perhaps jocularly, the family was said to have a Spanish sailor somewhere in the family tree[1].
