MISS McLEOD'S/MacLEOD's REEL [1] ("Cor Ingean Ni Mic Leod" or "Cor Mhic Leoid"). AKA and "Billy Boy," "The Cake's All Dough," "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?" "Enterprise and Boxer," "The Enterprising Boxer," "The Girl with the Handsome Face," "Green Mountain," "Hop Up Ladies," "Hop High Ladies," "Hop Light Ladies," "John Brown," "May Day," "Miss MacLeod of Ayr," "MacLeod's Reel," "McLeod's Reel," "Miss McCloud," "Misses McCloud's Reel," "Mistress McCloud's Jig," "Mr. McLaw'd." "Mrs. McLeod of Raasay's Reel," "Mrs. MacLeod Raasay," "Nigger in the Woodpile" (Pa.), "Old Mammy Knickerbocker" (Pa.), "The Virginia Reel," "Walk Jaw Bone." Irish, Scottish (originally), American, Old-Time; Reel and Breakdown. Ireland, County Donegal. G Major (most versions): A Major (Ashman, Roche, Songer): F Major (Hardings). Standard. AABB. A universal favorite in the British Isles and North America. Apparently the tune was first printed in Gow's Strathspey Reels of 1809 (pg. 36), with the note "An original Isle of Skye Reel. Communicated by Mr. McLeod."
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It was popular as long ago as 1779 in Ireland as its playing is mentioned in an account by a foreign visitor named Berringer or Beranger of a "cake" dance (i.e. where the prize was a cake) he participated in while visiting in Connacht. O'Neill (1913) relates Beranger's observations somewhat differently and gives that it was one of six tunes played by Galway pipers in 1779 for the entertainment of the traveller. In modern times in Ireland the tune was included in a famous set of the late Donegal fiddlers, brothers Mickey and Johnny Doherty, who played it as the last tune after "Enniskillen Dragoons" and "Nora Criona" (Wise Nora), though sometimes they substituted "The Piper of Keadue" for "Miss McLeod's." The whole set was played in the rare AAAE tuning, which required playing in position (Caoimhin MacAoidh).
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The title "Peter Street" appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). The reel was mentioned in an account of one of the old pipers of County Louth, a man named Cassidy, as recorded by William Carleton in his Tales and Sketches of the Irish Peasantry, published in 1845. Breathnach (1997) believes the first name of this piper was Dan, and that he was blind. Carleton, born in 1794, was a dancing master who taught in the 1820's, and was engaged to teach the children of the 'dreadful' Mrs. Murphy. It seems that Carleton:
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having spent several nights at piper Cassidy's house weighing up the local
dancers ...was impelled by vanity to show them how good a dancer he was
himself. He asked one of the handsomest girls out on the floor, and, in
accordance with the usual form, faced her towards the piper, asking her to
name the tune she wished to dance to. Receiving the customary reply, 'Sir,
your will is my pleasure,' Carleton called for the jig Polthogue. He next
danced Miss McLeod's Reel with his partner, and then called for a hornpipe,
a single dance, this is, one done without a partner. It was considered
unladylike for girls to do a hornpipe. The College Hornpipe was his choice
for this dance. (pg. 59)
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Charlie Piggott, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998) written with Fintan Vallely, relates that accordion player Johnny O'Leary was at the deathbed of his mentor, the famed Sliabh Luachra fidder Pádraig O'Keeffe, in St. Catherine's Hospital, Tralee. O'Keeffe was lucid until the end, and engaged in witty repartee with O'Leary:
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'You know two great reels,' he said. 'Don't ever forget them.'
'What are they?' said I.
'"Miss McCloud" and "Rolling in the Ryegrass",' he said.
'You see, "Miss McCloud" is a great reel,' he said, 'but we're playing
it wrong.'
'How do you mean it?' says I.
'I'm at it now,' he says, 'but I suppose I won't be left alive to do it-
play it backwards. And,' he says, 'you'll never in your life hear a nicer
reel.'
Whether 'tis right or not, I don't know. He was just going to do it when
he died. He said he had a sister that had the first part of it done backwards
with a concertina and, Pádriag said, 'twas double nicer than the way we're
playing it. He was a genius, you know. He was a genius.
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The melody has had a long history in America and has proved enduringly popular with fiddlers in many regions. Cauthen (1990) notes the tune's mention in the "Marion Standard" of April 30, 1909, which reported its having been played at a housewarming in Perry County, Alabama, in 1827. Bronner collected the tune from central New York fidders, who also knew it under the title "Virginia Reel" and, from one source, the "interchangable title" of "Campbells are Coming," a jig. Some confusion in his sources seems to stem from the interchangability of many triple and duple meter tunes under the "Virginia Reel" moniker, but Bronner states that versions of "Miss McLeod" in 12/8 time were "not uncommon" in his collecting experience. Samuel Bayard (1981) also wondered if "Miss McLeod" was a reworking of some set of the 6/8 time "The Campbells Are Coming," a family which includes (among others) "The Burnt Old Man" and "Hob or/and Nob." O'Neill (1913) has no doubts and states unequivocably that the 'McLeod' and 'Campbell' tunes either had a common origin or that the former was derived from the latter (or its Irish equivalent, "An Seanduine"). The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the mid-1920's) and it was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner remembered the tune being played in the Flagstaff-Williams (Ariz.) area in 1903 (Shumway). The title (as "MacLeod's Reel") appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. A rendering of the tune under the title "Mistress McCloud's Jig" was recorded by him for the Library of Congress from fiddlers in that region in the early 1940's. Bayard (1981) noted that the tune was usually played in the British Isles with with the parts ending on the second of the scale, resulting in an "endless" or "circular" tune, while fiddlers in the Americas usually ended on the tonic. Also in the repertoire of Uncle Jimmy Thompson (Texas, Tennessee) as "McLeod's Reel."
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Novelist and fiddler Thomas Hardy, of Devonshire, England, knew the tune and worked it into his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886):
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Farfrae was footing a quaint little dance with Elizabeth-Jane--an old
country thing, the only one she knew, and though he considerately toned
down his movements to suit her demurer gait, the pattern of the shining
little nails in the soles of his boots became familiar to the eyes of every
bystander. The tune had enticed her into it; being a tune of a busy,
vaulting, leaping sort--some low notes on the silver string of each fiddle,
then a skipping on the small, like running up and down ladders--'Miss
McLeod of Ayr' was its name, so Mr. Farfrae had said, and that it was
very popular in his own country [Scotland].
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Words are sometimes set to the tune, especially in American variants. These words were collected in Scotland:
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Macaphee turn yer cattle roon loch o' Forum (3 times)
Here and there and everywhere the kye are in the corn.
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Waitin' at the shielin' o Mhaire bhan mo chroi (pronounced: varie van ma cree)
Waitin' at the shielin' o faur awa' tae sea
Hame will come the bonny boats Mhaire bhan mo chroi
Hame will come the bonny boys, Mhaire bhan mo chroi.
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A curious alternate title for "McLeod's," "The Enterprising Boxer" is a miss-hearing of the name "Enterprise and Boxer," which refers to a naval engagement between two ships of those names.
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Sources for notated versions: Michael Coleman (Co. Sligo/New York) [DeMarco and Krassen], John McDermott, (New York State, 1926) [Bronner], 8 southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded at Na Piobairi Uilleann, October, 1984 [Moylan]. Adam, No. 20. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 69, pg. 17. American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 6. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 25a, pg. 6 (appears as "Mr. Mc Law'd a Popular Dance"). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 249A-H, pgs. 211-213. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 192. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 4, pg. 26 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pgs. 10-11 (appears as "Virginia Reel" [2]). Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 24. Cazden (Folk Songs of the Catskills), pg. 29. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 29 (appears as "Miss McCloud's"). DeMarco and Krassen (Trip to Sligo), 1978; pgs. 38, 52, 66. Gale, No. 30. Hardings All Round Collection, 1905; No. 183, pg. 58. Hardings Original Collection and Harding Collection, No. 36. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 44. Howe, 1951; pg. 34. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 10. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 48, pg. 24 (appears as "May Day"). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 5. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 109. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 143, pg. 84. O'Malley, pgs. 10 & 22. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 275, pg. 140. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 134. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1418, pg. 263. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 655, pg. 117. Robbins, No. 96. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 1; No. 148, pg. 59. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 112, pg. 39. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), Vol. 4, pg. 50. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 136. Surenne, pg. 11. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 32. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 4 (appears as "Miss MacLeod of Ayr"). Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 19. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 42. White's Unique Collection, No. 170. Biograph 6003, The Bogtrotters- "The Original Bogtrotters" (appears as "Hop Up Ladies"). Brunswick (78 RPM), John McDermott (N.Y. state), 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers - "Concert Collection II" (1999). County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Davis Unlimited 33015, Doc Roberts- "Classic Fiddle Tunes" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe"). Gael-Linn CEF 045, "Paddy Keenan" (1975. Appears as "McLeod's Reel/Cor Mhic Leoid"). Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, The Kerry Fiddle Trio - "The Rushy Mountain" (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Green Linnet 1023, Joe Shannon and Johnny McGreevy- "The Noonday Feast." Green Linnet SIF1122, Kevin Burke - "Open House" (1992). John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Uncle Joe Shippee - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). June Appal 007, Thomas Hunter- "Deep in Tradition." Nimbus NI 5320, Ciaran Tourish et al. - "Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal" (1991). Rounder 0057, Frank Dalton and George Wood- "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Rounder 0058, John Patterson- "Old Originals, Vol. II" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?"). Shanachie 33001, Patrick J. Touhey- "The Wheels of the World." Tennvale 001S, Bob Douglas- "Old Time Dance Tunes Fron the Sequatchie Valley" (Appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Tennvale 003, Pete Parish- "Clawhammer Banjo." Topic 12T309, Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - "Kerry Fiddles." Transatlantic 341, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick 2." Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham, 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Medley of Reels"). Mickey Doherty - "The Gravel Walks."
T:Miss McLeod's Reel
L:1/8
M:C|
K:G
|:G2 BG dG BG|GB BA Bc BA|G2 BG dG BG|A2AG (3ABc BA|
G2BG dG BG|GB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
|:G2 gf ed eg|B2BA BcBA|G2 gf ed Bd|ea ag fd ef|g2 gf ef ge|
dB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
SHE'S THE DEAR MAID TO ME. AKA and see "She's A Dear Maid to Me." Irish, Air (6/8 time, "mournfully"). D Dorian. Standard. One part. "The words of this rude, though very popular, ballad were printed from a broadsheet in Duffy's Ballad Poetry of Ireland. I have also a copy on a printed sheet not differing materially from this. I give the opening verse here. Hugh Reynolds was executed in Cavan in the year 1826, for housebreaking and attempted abduction. Pretty full details of the tragedy are given by Duffy along with the song. I knew 'Catherine MacCabe' about fifty years ago: but she was then a married woman, and of course bore a different name. The air has not been printed till now" (Joyce).
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My name it is Hugh Reynolds, I come of decent parents,
Near Cavan I was born as you may plainly see;
By loving of a maid, one Catherine MacCabe,
My life it is betrayed--she's the dear maid to me.
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The maid being referred to as "dear" is an idiom meaning "I have paid dearly for her"--"she has cost me dearly" (Joyce). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 285, pg. 135.
T:She's the dear maid to me
L:1/8
M:6/8
N:"Mournfully"
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:D Mixolydian
E|D2E G2A|A3 A2B|c2A G2E|(D3 D2) c/d/|e2d c2e|d3 c2B|A2B c2e|d3 c2d|
e2d c2e|d3 c2A|G2E DEG|A3 ABc|d2e c2A|A2B GED|E3 D2D|(D3 D2)||