Annotation:Paddy O'Carrol (1)

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X:1 T:Paddy O'Carrol [1] S:Riley's Flute Melodies, II (1818-20) L:1/8 M:6/8 K:G d3/4c/4|BGG {B/}AGG|BGG {B/}AGG|GBd gdB|Ad^c =cBA| BGG {B/}AGG|BGG {B/}AGG|GBe gdc|B3/2c/2AG2:| |:g3/4a/4|bg{a/g/f/}g af{g/f/e/}^f|gfe dcB|bg{a/g/f/}g af{g/f/e/}^f| gec' d'2d'3/4=c'/4|bgg aff|gfe dcB|GBd gdc|B3/2c/2AG2:|]



PADDY O'CARROL{'S JIG} [1] (Paidin Ua Cearbaill). AKA – "Paddy Carrol," "Paddy O'Carroll." AKA and see "Bad Luck to this Marching," "Exile's Lament (The)," “Flight of the Wild Geese (3) (The),” "Origin of Ireland, "Rossy Castle." Irish, Scottish, English; Double Jig (6/8 time). D Major (Cahusac, Cole, Goodman, Haverty, Kershaw, O'Neill/Krassen, 1001 & 1850): G Major (Kennedy, O’Farrell, O'Neill/1915): F Major (Forde). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Haverty): AABB (most versions): AABBCCDD (Eames, Kennedy, O’Farrell). A jig of unknown provenance, attributed to both Irish and Scottish sources. In England, “Paddy O’Carrol” appears in J. Balls’ Gentleman’s Amusement, Book 3 (London, 1815, reprinted in 1830), as well as O’Farrell’s c. uilleann pipe Pocket Companion (London, c. 1808), wherein the tune’s provenance is given as “Scotch”. John Murphy's A Collection of Irish Airs & Jiggs with Variations (1809), while published in Edinburgh, suggests an Irish provenance, as does Richard Fitzmaurice's Fitzmaurice’s New Collection of Irish Tunes , also published in Edinbury a few years earlier in 1807. Fitzmaurice's title, however, was "Rossy Castle", a reference to Ross Castle in Killarney (Co. Kerry). Louis Jansen named it as Irish in the title of his rondo setting of the jig ("Irish air arranged as a rondo for the Pianoforte") published in London, 1810. If "Rossy Castle" is the earliest name that can be found for the tune, it must have acquired the "Paddy O'Carroll" name soon afterwards, but the literary name 'Paddy O'Carrol' itself is older and has theatrical associations. A 1784 Dublin production bears the title The New Register Office; or, Paddy O'Carrol in High Life where the main character, Paddy O'Carrol was played by Owenson.

The composition is attributed to Scottish composer James Oswald in William Bradbury Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (Boston, 1883), although the nature of that assertion remains unknown. An earlier American printing of the tune was in Edward Riley’s Flute Melodies, vol. 2 (New York, 1817). "Origin of Ireland" is the name of a comic song (in dialect) set to the tune that appeared in Tony Pastor's Irish America Comic Song Book, etc. (1870):

Wid all condexcinshin, I'd turn yer attinshin
To what I would minshum ov Erin so green;
An' widout hesitashin I'd show how that nashin
Became ov creashin the gem and the queen.

Pastor was a mid-19th century New York variety stage entrepreneur, and presumably the song was a stage piece.

Country dance directions to “Paddy O’Carrol” appear in London dancing master Thomas Wilson's Treasures of the Terpsichore: or a Companion for the Ball Room, published in London by W. Calvert in 1808. The jig was included by Waverton area, Cumbria, musician John Rook in his large manuscript collection of 1840, and it was entered into the 1859 music copybook of American musician M.E. Eames (p. 72). "Paddy O'Carrol" was also entered in the mid-19th century music manuscript of William Winter, a shoemaker and violin player who lived in West Bagborough in Somerset, southwest England.

In Ireland, "Paddy O'Carrol" can be found in the Patrick McGahon[1] music manuscript collection (1817, No. 12) from Ulster, and in the mid-19th century music manuscript collection of County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman (p. 109).

New York City researcher, writer and musician Don Meade identifies the melody as a “piping version of the fiddle tune now best known as ‘Richard Brennan's Favorite’ (after a Sligo fiddler) from a 78 recording by Michael Coleman.” "Exile's Lament (The)" is a cognate melody.


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - the music manuscript of Joseph Kershaw, a musician from Slackcote, Saddleworth, North West England who began his entries around the year 1820 [Knowles].

Printed sources : - William Cahusac (The German Flute Preceptor), c. 1814; p. 23. Clinton (Gems of Ireland), 1841; No. 22, p. 11. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 68. William Forde (300 National Melodies of the British Isles), c. 1841; p. 22, No. 73. Giblin (Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music), 1928; no. 72. P.M. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs, vol. 2), 1858; No. 163, p. 74. Hughes (Gems from the Emerald Isle), London, 1867, No. 22, p. 6. Knowles (Joseph Kershaw Manuscript), 1993; No. 72. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 145, p. 35. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; No. 4, p. 36. Murphy (Irish Airs and Jigs), Edinburgh, 1809; No. 7. O’Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 3), c. 1808; p. 59. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 191, p. 104. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 56. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 986, p. 183. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 202, p. 47. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 175. Robbins Music Corp. (The Robbins collection of 200 jigs, reels and country dances), New York, 1933; No. 129, p. 41. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 99. Surenne (Songs of Ireland), 1854; p. 77. Geoff Woolfe (William Winter’s Quantocks Tune Book), 2007; No. 72, p. 35 (ms. originally dated 1850).



See also listing at :
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]



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  1. McGahon was a scribe of Irish language literature who lived in Dungooley, County Louth, on the Armagh border. He was a teacher with The Irish Society in the early 19th century, but little else is known about him.