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X:1
T:Jenny's Chickens
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:Bdor
f2 fg fece|fefa eAce|f2 fg fece|fgag eAce :|
|: fBBA B2 ce|fB B2 eAce|fBBA B2 ce|1 fgaf eAce :|2fgaf eAcA|
|: B2 bB aBgB|B2 af eAcA|B2 bBaBgB|1 fgaf eAcA :|2 fgaf eAce ||
JENNY'S CHICKENS. AKA - "Jennie's Chickens." AKA and see "All the Go," "Jock and Jill," "Malcolm's Wedding," "Sleepy Maggy/Sleepy Maggie." Irish, Reel. B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Mallinson): AABB'CC' (Fiddler Mag., Martin & Hughes). Popularized by the great Irish-American (County Sligo/New York) fiddler Michael Coleman whose 1934 Decca recording has become a classic (paired with, and preceded by, "Bonnie Kate (1)"). It appears as an untitled reel in Feldman & O'Doherty's Northern Fiddler (1979), 172. Daniel Michael Collins (1977) opines the reel has potential for boredom due to the number of repeated phrases; only by use of ornaments does it stay interesting. A Scots provenance is often cited for the melody: see the related Scots tune "Sleepy Maggy/Sleepy Maggie," as well as the ancestral reel from Scots composer Robert Bremner, "Malcolm's Wedding", from his 1757 Collection of Reels. Montreal fiddler Joseph Allard used the second strain of "Jenny's Chickens" for the second strain of his "Reel St-Pierre," recorded in 1930.
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 2), 1974; No. 18. Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1994; p. 21. Lyth (Bowing Styles in Irish Fiddle Playing, vol. 1), 1981; 51. Mallinson (100 Essential), 1995; No. 13, p. 5. Martin & Hughes (Ho-ro-gheallaidh), 1990; p. 39.
Recorded sources : - BM-91, Buddy MacMaster - "Glencoe Hall." Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD 173, Brian Conway - "Consider the Source" (2008). Decca 12015-A (78 RPM), Michael Coleman (1934. Paired with "Bonnie Kate (1)"). Green Linnet SIF-1110, James Kelly - "My Love is in America: The Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival" (1991). Shanachie 29009, "Andy McGann and Paul Brady." Shanachie 79064, Matt Molloy - "Heathery Breeze" (1999). Viva W103, Sean McGuire - "Irish Jigs and Reels" (c. 1960's, a reissue of "Sean Maguire Plays," the first recording of McGuire that Josephine Keegan accompanied on piano). 'Ón tSean-Am Anall' (Danny O'Donnell).
See also listing at :
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]
thesession.org [4]
Hear Michael Coleman's 1934 recording at the Comhaltas Archive [5] and on Soundcloud [6]
Hear Andy McGann's, Vincent Griffith's and other versions at the Comhaltas Archive [7]
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