John Brennan's

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on November 29th 2001 by Jdharv.

This tune has been added to 115 tunebooks.

Also known as Brennan's, Brennan's Fancy, Dicky Sherlock's, John Brennan From Sligo, John Brennan’s, Molloy's Favourite, Molloy's Favourite, Sherlock's.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• 19P by Dennis Botzer And Patrick Cavanagh
• Across The Pond by Kevin Griffin, Roger Burridge And Others
• Aisling Yoshua (Joshua's Dream) by Johnny Óg Connolly
• Are You The Concertina Player? by Kate McNamara
• Aris by Le Cheile
• Around The World For Sport by The Doon Céilí Band
• At The Feis by John Doonan
• Autographed by Ash Plant
• Back In Town by Paddy Killoran
• Bean Chairdin by Dympna O'Sullivan
• Between The Sets by Barefield Ceili Band
• Between The Strings by Adrian McAuliffe And Cathal Flood
• But Why, Johnny? by John Halloran
• Celtic Reign by Celtic Reign
• Ceol Sidhe by Micheal O HEidhin
• Dísirt Tola : Traditional Music From Clare And Dublin by Various Artists
• Doorways And Windowsills by Antoin Mac Gabhann And Mick O'Connor
• Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty by Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty
• Flute For The Feis by John Doonan
• Foinn Seisiun 3 by Ennis/Dublin Session Group
• From Ballymote To Brooklyn by Paddy Killoran and James Morrison
• Herding Cats by Gaelic Storm
• II by Guidewires
• In Good Company - The Very Best Of by Kevin Burke
• Irish Folk The Collection Vol.2 by Various Artists
• Le Chéile (Lord Mayo) by Various Artists
• Made In Cork by Patrick Street
• Marie And Martin Reilly by Marie And Martin Reilly
• Music From Co.Leitrim by Packie Duignan And Seamus Horan
• On TSean - Am Anall by Danny O'Donnell
• One by Murphy Roche Irish Music Club
• Portraid by Sean Maguire
• Rogha Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy 2007 by Various Artists
• Temple House 2 by Temple House Ceili Band
• The Barley Grain by Larry Kinsella
• The Bridge Céilí Band by The Bridge Céilí Band
• The Godfather by Brian Rooney
• The Joys Of Life by Shaskeen
• The King Of The Pipers by Leo Rowsome
• The Living Tradition Vol II by All Ireland Champions Tara And Garrai Eion Ceili Bands
• The Long Hard Road by Tom McElvogue And Paddy Kerr
• The Merry Love To Play by Peter Horan And Gerry Harrington
• To Hell With The Begrudgers by Seamus Tansey And Jim McKillop
• Torch And Fire by Dan Beimborn
• Track Across The Deep by London Lasses And Pete Quinn
• Traditional Irish Dance Music by Various Artists
• Traditional Irish Music From Boston by The Magic Square
• Traditional Irish Sessions by Various Artists
• Traditional Irish Tunes Played On The Tin Whistle (1/2) by Geraldine Cotter
• Unleashed by The Border Collies
• We Have Met Together by Mick Moloney
• Whistle Stop by Brian Hughes
• Yeh, That's All It Is by John Carty

X: 1
T: John Brennan's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
D2 FA D2 cd|BAGB ADFA|BAGB ADFA|BAGF EGFE|
D2 FA D2 cd|BAGB ADFA|BAGB ABdf|afeg fdde:||
f2 df efde|fedB ADFA|BAGB ADFA|BAGB EGFE|
f2 df efde|fedB ADFA|BAGB ABdf|afeg fd e2:||

John Brennan's

Despite it's repetitiveness, this tune is a lot of fun to play, kind of like Mulqueen's. Josh's version is essentially how I know it, with a few minor variations. To wit:

I do the first and 5th measures of the A Part with the second d quarter note an octave higher than Josh shows, so my version goes: |D2 FA d2 cd|...

Then, to repeat the A Part, the last measure goes: |afeg fddB| into a slightly different first measure for the A Part: |ADFA d2 cd| so the whole turn to repeat Part A looks like:

|afeg fddB|ADFA d2 cd|....

I use this also when going from Part B back to Part A.

To smooth out the big jump in Part B from the 4th to 5th measures, I go up an octave again in the 4th measure: |BAGB Egfe| This is still a two string hop with the bow on fiddle, but it works easier both in my ear and on my bow (for me at least) than the jump from E on the 3rd string to f on the 1st string as written in the sheet music. And the notes are the same, just an octave higher.

Will

# Posted on November 30th 2001 by Will Harmon

Sorry, not Josh, but John.

# Posted on November 30th 2001 by Will Harmon

John Brennan's reel

Hi gang! When I play this tune I follow it by playing The Sligo Reel in the key of G major. Here is how I do it.....the last time around, I play part B once then switch back into part A and play that part once. From there I go into The Sligo Reel. Whistledon

# Posted on December 4th 2001 by westcoastfluter

For some reason this tune isn't showing up as being on John Halloran's "But Why Johnny" CD (it is though), but if you ever get a chance to listen to it, on track 2 there is a really cool accordian/banjo duet that ends with this tune. Puts me in a good mood every time I hear it.

# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Jason G

There, Jase, it does now.

# Posted on January 11th 2006 by Zina Lee

yay synchronicity strikes again - I was just wondering not two hours ago what this tune was called.

# Posted on April 20th 2006 by _Steph_

John Brennan's

That isn't how I've heard the tune in sessions. I hear it going back down low in the B-part. It's less repetitive that way:

X: 1
T: John Brennan's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
D2FA d2ed|cdBd AF~F2|BAGB ADFA|BAGF EGFE|
D2FA d2ed|cdBd ADFA|BAGB ABde|(3fga eg fdd2:|
f2df e2de|fedB AF~F2|BAGB ADFA|BAGF Ecde|
fAdf e2de|fedB ADFA|BA^GB ABde|faea fdde|
f2df efde|fedB A2FA|BAGB ADFA|BAGF EGFE|
D2FA d2ed|cdBd ADFA|BAGB ABde|faeg fdd2||

# Posted on August 5th 2006 by Dr. Dow

John Brennan's

We got given a very nice version of this in Norwich, where they played it as the first of a set with The Providence and The Nine Points of Roguery.
I'll try and post the variations when I get my ABC up to speed.

# Posted on May 4th 2007 by Guernsey Pete

Brennan's played by a very young Frankie and Mairead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2fecYB9eiA

Go to about 1 minute in to hear them play this tune -- absolutely fantastic playing!

This is from a TG4 documentary about Frankie Kennedy's life.

# Posted on May 19th 2008 by dlowder

Very nice!

The aforementioned youtube clip is excellent!

# Posted on May 19th 2008 by timmy!

The "John Brennan's" of the Brian Rooney's 'Godfather set' is definitely another tune.

# Posted on February 26th 2009 by Emmanuel Delahaye

The tune named John Brennan's on the Brian Rooney's Godfather CD is actually :

X: 1
T:Jim Kelly's Reel
T:Maguire's Reel
T:Ash Plant, The
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Reel
K:D
dB[|:AF~F2 BFAF|DEFA BABd|eB~B2 egfe|dfed BcdB|!
AF~F2 BFAF|DEFA BABd|egfg efdB|1AFGE D2dB:|2AFGE D2FA|]!
~d3e fefg|afbf afdf|eB~B2 gB~B2|fedf edBd|!
AF~F2 ABdf|afbf afdf|g2fg efdB|1AFGE D2FA:|2AFGE D2dB|]!

# Posted on February 26th 2009 by Emmanuel Delahaye

That's already on this site: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1139

# Posted on February 26th 2009 by slainte

Molloy's favourite

I used to know this reel under "Molloy's favourite", heard on Mick Moloney's "We have met together" , and followed by "the earl's chair". The liner notes say that Mick heard it first played by Matt Molloy, which I would enjoy to have listened to. This is what I remember, since I didn' play it since 25 years when it suddenly came back to my mind yesterday !

X:1
T:reel John Brennan's (aka "Molloy's", as played by Mick Moloney in "We have met together")
M:4/4
R:reel
K:D
D2 FA d2 cd | BAGB A3 A | BAGB ADFA | BAGF EGFE |
D2 FA d4 | BAGB A4 | BAGB ABde | f2 eg fd d2 :|
f2 df eA de | fedB ADFA | BAGB ABdf | bagf egfe |
f2 df e2 de | fedB A3A | BAGB ABde | f2 eg fd d2 :|

Didier

# Posted on May 2nd 2012 by alcofribas