Annotation:Lucky in Love
X:1 t T:Lucky in Love M:4/4 L:1/8 R:reel Z:transcribed by Caroline Foty K:G |: ~g3d BGGA|BGdc BAAd|~g3d BGAB|1 cedc BGBd :|2 cedc BGGA| |: BGdG eGdG|GBdB cAAc|1 BGdG eGdB|cedc BGGA :|2 GABd ~a3g|fdef gaba||
LUCKY IN LOVE (Ádh an Ghrá). AKA and see "Oh Gang with Me to Yon Town," "I'll Gang Nae Mair to Yon Town." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'. Similar in parts to "Tansey's Favourite (1)."
Harry Bradshaw and Jackie Small say the tune probably owes its popularity to Tents, Tarmon, County Leitrim flute player John McKenna [1] (1880-1947), who emigrated to New York in 1911. "Lucky in Love" was apparently a local Leitrim tune that McKenna brought into the standard repertoire through his influential 1934 78 RPM recording. Its origins are Scottish, however, c.f. Robert Bremner's Scots tune "Oh Gang with Me to Yon Town" (also "I'll Gang Nae Mair to Yon Town"). Reg Hall (1995) agrees, and says the McKenna's 1934 recording (where the tune was paired with "Bloom of Youth (The)") "was seminal for many later up-and-coming flute players around southern Sligo." Fr. John Quinn finds a similar tune as an untitled reel (for which see "Reel (90)") in Book 2 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim fiddler and piper biography:Stephen Grier (c. 1824-1894).
New York flute player and uilleann piper Patrick Fitzpatrick (originally from County Leitrim) recorded a reel in 1917 for Columbia Records (Columbia A2309) called "Three Drops of Brandy" which shares the same first strain with "Lucky in Love." Fitzpatrick's tune was also recorded by piper Patsy Touhey, on a cylinder [2].
