Annotation:Katie's Fancy

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X:1 T:Katie's Fancy M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig B:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 46 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G/E/|DEF G2A|Bgf efg|dBG FGA|BGB AFD| DEF G2A|Bgf efg|dBG FGA|BGG G2:| |:d|gfe agf|gfe dBG|gfe dcB|AGA BGE| DEF G2A|Bgf efg|dBG FGA|BGG G2:| |:d|dgf gab|eag fed|bag fag|fge d2d| ece gfe|dec Bcd|cAF DFA|BGG G2:|]

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KATIE'S FANCY (Roga Caitilin). AKA and see "Boys of Tralee (The)," "Humors of Cork (2) (The)." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. Nicholas Carolan (1997), in his biography of collector and compiler Captain Francis O'Neill, reviewed notes on how O'Neill said he happened to acquire this tune (which O'Neill briefly relates in Irish Folk Music, 1910, pp. 94-95), which he got from a Mr. Gillan, originally from County Longford, and then a retired businessman living in Chicago. It seems that Gillan was visiting his boyhood home in Ireland when he heard of a celebrated fiddler nearby, a Mr. Peter Kennedy (c. 1822-1902), who lived on a farm outside Ballinamore, County Leitrim. Kennedy himself had the tune from a traveling flute player, whom he overheard playing it in the street, though, by the time Kennedy caught up with him he had gone on to other tunes. Kennedy eventually had to go to the flute player's lodgings and pay 4 pence to the fluter for the manuscript. Gillan obtained the tune from Kennedy, though when he returned to Chicago he kept the tune closely guarded, only allowing it to be played on special occasions for particular friends. Knowing of the existence of the tune, Chief O'Neill contrived with Gillan's daughter (a pianist) who agreed to help him obtain it, and while O'Neill engaged Gillan in conversation, the daughter slipped upstairs and copied the melody, which she later gave to O'Neill. O'Neill made sure the tune was distributed to the Chicago Irish musical community, where it became quite popular.

O'Neill printed a version of the tune in his Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1923), under the title "Humors of Cork (2) (The)," obtained from the music manuscripts of fiddler James O'Neill (who had assisted Francis O'Neill in his first two works, Music of Ireland, 1903, and Dance Music of Ireland, 1907). It is a two-part jig and is cognate with the first two parts of "Katie's Fancy." Conor Ward links the tune with "Boys of Tralee (The)," printed in Glasgow by Kerr in the 1880's.

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