Annotation:Longford Collector
X:1 T:Longford Collector M:C| L:1/8 K:G G3A Bcdf|edBc dedB|G3A BcdB|AcBA GEDE| G3A Bddg|edBc d2 ef|gbaf gedB|1 AcBA GEDE:|2 AcBA GE D2|| g3 a gedf|edBc d2 ef|gbaf gedB|AcBA GE D2| g3a gedf|edBc d2 ef|gbaf gedB|1 AcBA GE D2:|2 AcBA GEDE||
LONGFORD COLLECTOR, THE (Bailitheoir Longphoirt). AKA and see "Bonny Boy (3) (The)," "Lady Clare Quick Step," "Longford Beggarwoman (The)," "Longford Maid (The)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach, Mulvihill): AAB (Sullivan): AA'BB' (Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson, Moylan, Songer, Tubridy). A version of the tune appears in the large mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork cleric and uilleann piper Canon biography:James Goodman under the title “Lady Clare's Quick Step.” Researcher Conor Ward finds that local musicians' manuscripts from counties Leitrim and Longford may contain the earliest sightings of this tune. "A version in the key of F appears as an untitled reel in the biography:Stephen Grier MS (c.1883) of Gortletteragh, Co. Leitrim," notes Ward, "and in the Larry Smyth MS (c.1900) of Abbeylara, Co. Longford entitled "Longford Beggarwoman"." The tune was also sometimes known as "The Longford Beggarwoman" in the County Clare border area near Galway (Peter Woods).
"Longford Collector" is the second tune of a famous and much imitated Michael Coleman medley that includes "Tarbolton Reel" and "Sailor's Bonnet (The)." Barry O'Neill, in his notes for the LP "Wheels of the World," states that the title was known to County Sligo/New York City fiddler Michael Coleman [1] as "The Longford Beggarwoman." The story goes that Coleman was playing the tune in a taproom and after he finished someone asked him the name, which he gave as "Longford Beggarwoman". Immediately, a plate sailed across the room and crashed on the wall near his head, followed by an irate woman shouting something to the effect that she was from Longford and they weren't beggars there. Another version has her saying 'there were more beggarwomen in Sligo than ever was in Longford.' Very soon afterward Coleman entered the studio to record his famous Tarboton Set ("Tarbolton Reel," "Longford Collector," "Sailor's Bonnet") at which time he made the name change. See also the related "Long Strand (1) (The)." Researcher Conor Ward also links "Longford Collector" with Rev. Luke Donnellan's "My Love is in America (4)."
