Annotation:Whippoorwill
X:1 T:Whippoorwill M:2/4 L:1/8 B:O'Flannagan - The Hibernia Collection (Boston, 1860, p. 9) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F C|FF/G/ AG/F/|dd/e/ f/g/a/f/|cc/A/ c/a/g/e/|f/d/e/^c/ dd| FF/G/ AG/F/|dd c/A/c/e/|f/g/a/g/ f/e/d/c/|A/d/c/e/ dd:| |:f/g/a/f/ g/[e/g/][e/g/][e/g/]|f/d/d/f/ e/c/c|cc/A/ a/b/a/e/|f/d/e/c/ AA| A/d/d d/f/e/d/|e/c/e/c/ e/g/f/e/|f/b/a/g/ f/e/d/c/|A/d/c/e/ dd:|]
WHIPPOORWILL. American, Reel (2/4 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Whippoorwill", the name of a bird common to New England, was printed in Boston music publisher Elias Howe's collections, including the Hibernia Collection (1860), issued under the Howe pseudonym Patrick O'Flannagan. The latter is a smaller Howe volume in which tunes were selected due to their Irish origin, or because Howe apparently thought there was an Irish association. However, there is no established connection between this tune and Irish music. Perhaps Howe thought the somewhat ambiguous teetering between the major and relative minor modes in each strain was indicative of "Irishness."
