Annotation:Paddy's Rambles through the Park
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PADDY’S RAMBLES THROUGH THE PARK (Fánaíocht Pháidí timpeall an Gharraí). Irish, Slow Air (3/4 time). Ireland, County Donegal. A Dorian: B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A popular air in County Donegal. Paddy Glackin has recorded an influential rendition of the piece in the key of A Minor as did the famous Donegal fiddler John Doherty. According to Caoimhin Mac Aoidh (Between the Jigs and Reels, 1994), this air was associated with the Banshee (a being whose eerie wails fortold the death of a person with the surname beginning with ‘O’ or ‘Mac’). He quotes John Doherty, who told the story of a Donegal man who was crossing through a pairc (pronounced ‘park’), or farm field, on his way home late one night. In this park the farm hands had piled large cairns of stones to clear the fields, and it was here that Doherty’s hero heard the wailing lament of the Banshee. At the first cry he looked behind the nearest cairn, and of course found nothing, but on approaching the next cairn he heard it again, and again he looked for but did not find the singer. Doherty said this pattern repeated itself “through the park all night ‘till a little while before daylight in the morning. And the song that the Banshee sang Paddy had it all learned and it’s called ‘Paddy’s Rambles Through the Park.’ It’s a very old, weird kind of an air.” Jimmy Campbell, from Glenties, Donegal, identifies Paddy as having wandered from “sí to sí”, in other words, from fairy mound to fairy mound, all night. The sleeve notes Doherty’s album “Bundle and Go” say that he learned the tune from the lilting of his great-grandmother, Nannie Rua McSweeney. Musicians Dezi Donnelly and and Dermot Byrne both play it in the key of B Minor.
Source for notated version: fiddler Simon Doherty (County Donegal) [Feldman & O’Doherty].
Printed sources: O’Doherty & Feldman (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; p. 96.
Recorded sources: Claddagh CNF 003, Peter Campbell (et al) – “The Fiddle Music of Donegal, vol. 3.” DD9901, Dezi Donnelly – “Familiar Footsteps.” Gael-Linn CEFCD 153, Paddy Glackin – “In Full Spate.” Green Linnet GLCD 3077, John Doherty – “Bundle and Go” (1993, originally recorded in 1984 and issued on Topic records, also on Ossian OSSCE17). Hummingbird HBCD0007, Dermot Byrne. Lavalla Records LA01, James Keane – “James Keane: Live in Dublin.” John Doherty – “The Fiddler and the Fairy.” Ronan Browne – “The Wynd You Know.” Shanachie 78031, James Keane – “Sweeter as the Years Go By.” Dezi Donnelly - "Familiar Footsteps."
See also listing at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Hear John Doherty's recording on youtube.com [2]
Hear Dezi Donnelly's recording on youtube.com [3]