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Annotation:Jim Moore's Fancy
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JIM MOORE'S FANCY (Roga Seamuis Ui Morda). AKA and see "Flowers of Michigan," "Lady Birr," "Morning Cheer." Irish, Reel. A Mixolydian (O'Neill/Krassen): A Dorian (O'Neill/1001): A Major (O'Neill/1850). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Francis O'Neill learned the tune from a young Limerick man named James Moore in Chicago during the winter of 1875. Moore, a flute player without an instrument, lived in a cold boarding-house across the street from O'Neill and often availed himself of O'Neill's hospitality, ensconcing himself on a "cozy seat on the woodbox back of our kitchen stove" while borrowing O'Neill's flute to play on. Moore, complained a frustrated O'Neill, often did not remember the names of the tunes he played ("a very common failing") and was lost track of when he moved to New York in the spring [O'Neill, Irish Folk Music]. Edward Cronin, a County Tipperary fiddler born in the 1840's, was the only other man Chief O'Neill said he heard playing a variant of the melody. In Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody O'Neill prints a variant called "Morning Cheer," reprinted from the Rice-Walsh manuscript from north Kerry.
Researcher Conor Ward finds "Jim Moore's Fancy" to be a variant of "Down the Broom;"
It appears in several 19th century local manuscripts from County Longford that predate all known published versions of this tune: 1. Stephen Grier MS (c.1883) 2. Larry Smyth MS (c.1900) and 3. Francis Reynolds MS (1885). The latter source, the Reynolds MS, also has a second version entitled "Down the Meadows".
A close cognate of the tune appears in Providence, Rhode Island, music teacher, violinist and dance fiddler George Saunders' 1847 violin tutor under the title "Flowers of Michigan."
Source for notated version: John Moore [O'Neill].
Printed sources: O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 102. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 1236, p. 233. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 510, p. 96.
Recorded sources:
See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
