Annotation:Over the Moor to Peggy
X:1 T:Over the Moor to Peggy R:reel Z:id:hn-reel-710 Z:transcribed by henrik.norbeck@mailbox.swipnet.se M:C| L:1/8 K:G d2BG DG~G2|DGBG ABce|d2BG DGBd|cBAB c2Bc:| |: dg~g2 egdB|dg~g2 ABcA|dg~g2 defd|cBAB c2Bc:||
OVER THE MOOR TO PEGGY (Trasna an mhóinteáin go Peige). AKA and see "Arboe (2)," "Come West Along the Road," "Bog Siar an Bóthar (Come West Along the Road)," "Monasteraden Fancy (The)." Irish, Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Breathnach). A different tune than the Northumbrian "Over the Moor to Betty" and the Irish "Over the Moor to Maggie (1)/Over the Moor to Maggie (2)." O'Neill prints a version called "Come West Along the Road," albeit with a different second part.
The tune was played by the great flutist John McKenna (b. 1880, Tents, Tarmon, County Leitrim) who recorded it in New York in 1925, accompanied by banjo player Michael Gaffney (b. 1896, Mullaun, Co. Roscommon). Despite being from different counties, they were in fact neighbors in Ireland, points out Reg Hall (1995), and only lived a mile from each other. Both emigrated to New York (in 1911 and 1915, respectively), where they paired to produce a number of successful recordings and to entertain in the Irish dance halls of the 1920's and 1930's. "Over the Moor to Peggy" is distantly related in the first strain to the family of tunes that includes "Ballina Lass," "Gearrchailiu Chontae Mhuigheo," "Hag's Reel (The)," "Johnny When You Die (1)," "Mayo Lasses (The)," "Old Maid of Galway (The)," "Paddy's Gone to France," and the Cape Breton variant "West Mabou Reel."
Researcher Connor Ward compares the tune also with the melodically and harmonically similar "Scutcher's Reel," from Rev. Luke Donnellan's c. 1909 manuscript collection.
