Hello! Ask me (almost) anything about traditional music.
Annotation:Johnny Cope (2)
X:1 T:Johnny Cope [2] M:4/4 L:1/8 C:Traditional S:Padraig O'Keeffe R:Hornpipe N:Recorded by Seamus Ennis, January 29, 194 D:From RTE 174 "The Sliabh Luachra Fiddle Master K:ADor d2{ed}B || A2AB A2Bd | efed B2AG | EG{A}GE GABd | {e}dBGA {d}BAGB | A2AB A2 (3Bcd | e2A2 {d}BAG2 | (3efg fa gedB |1 {d}BAAB AGEG :||2 {d}BAAB A2AB || |:c2{d}cB c2G2 | cdef gedB | cBAc e4 | cdec dB{d}BG | cBcd c2G2 | cdef gedg | ea{b}ag ed{e}dB | A2A2 A2AB :|| |:c2cB ABAG | ABcd (3efg dc | BG~G2 dG~G2 | (3Bcd ec dB{d}BG | c2cB ABAG | ABcd efed | ea{b}ag ed{e}dB |1 A2AB A2AB :||2 A2AB A2 (3Bcd|| |:ea~a2 a2ga | b2a2 {b}aged | eg{a}ge gaba | gaba {b}aged | ea~a2 a2ga | b2a2 {b}aged | d2ef {a}gedB | {d}BAAB A2Bd :|| |:e4 edBd | efaf {a}fedB | d4 dBAB | d2fd edBd | e4 {a}fedf | efaf {a}fedB | ABdf eBdB |1 A2AB A2Bd :||2 A2AB A2 fg || |:a2e2 ef~f2 | a2e2 ea~a2 | f2d2 ~d3e | f2d2 d2 fg | a2e2 {a}fedf | efaf {a}fedB | ABdf efdB |1 {d}BAAB A2 fg :||2 {d}BAAB AGEG ||
JOHNNY COPE [2]. AKA and see "Far away Boys (The)." Irish, Hornpipe. A Dorian (Bayard, Breathnach, Moylan, Perlman, Roche): A Mixolydian (O'Neill/1850). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABBCC'CC'DD'EE' (Moylan): AABBCCDD'EEFF (O'Neill/1915): AABB'CC'DEEFF (Breathnach): AA'BBCC'DDEE'FF (Taylor). Breathnach (1985) remarks this hornpipe was borrowed from Scotland[1], and is sometimes called "General Coope" in Ireland. A set of variations printed in Köhler's Violin Repository (Edinburgh, 1881–1885) has been suggested as the source for Padraig O'Keeffe's version of the tune, as well as the G Minor hornpipe "Drunken Sailor (3)." O'Keeffe, a famous fiddler from the Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork/Kerry border in the early-mid 20th century, is often credited with devising the variations, however. Interestingly, Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, who has edited over 1,000 tunes in manuscript form written by O'Keeffe, says that the Kerry master's written version was only a two-part tune. Rather than finding variations in Kohler's or other books, it is thought by Sliabh Luachra fiddlers that O'Keeffe either wrote the variations or attached bits of other tunes to round out his version. Paul de Grae writes: "Seamus Ennis learned the six-part 'Johnny Cope from Padraig, and I believe it was from Seamus that Liam O'Flynn got it. Julia Clifford also learned it from Padraig." Alan Ward writes:
Of those we visited [in Sliabh Luachra in 1976] the only other local musician with a version was Joe Conway who played the standard march as a 'quadrille polka' and also the last two parts of Padraig's version as a barn dance which he named 'The Doon Roses'. Several of Padraig's pupils had not heard of it when we asked them, and in fact Julia may be the only one still playing it regularly.
An interesting alternative to O'Keeffe's source for the tune is suggested from a story told by piper Tim Britton, confirmed by Paddy O'Brien, related to him by a Knock-na-Gree pub owner, Dan Connell. O'Keeffe, the tale goes, learned his six-part hornpipe "Johnny Cope" from his uncle Cal Callaghan, the source for many tunes in O'Keeffe's repertoire. Callaghan lived for several decades in a Scottish community in southern Ohio, USA, before returning to Ireland, and brought back several tunes learned from Scots neighbors, which he passed on to his nephew, "Johnny Cope" among them. County Kerry accordion player Terry "Cuz" Teahan, who spent many decades working and playing in Chicago, called the tune "Far away Boys (The)."
O'Neill (1915) notes: "A footnote in Wood's Songs of Scotland states that this old air originally consisted of one strain. The chorus or burden of a silly song, adapted to it was the first strain repeated an octave higher. The simple air although claimed as Scotch is in the Irish style and known all over Ireland. The (setting printed by O'Neill) without the harmonization was copied from The Repository of Scots and Irish Airs (1799)."
- ↑ The Scottish original is from a song that satirizes the Battle of Prestonpans, 1748, fought between the forces of Bonny Prince Charlie and the British under Sir John Cope.
