Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

The Swallow's Tail

reel

Key signature: Adorian

Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.

This tune has been added to 304 tunebooks.

Also known as Molly's Nightcap, The Swallow’s Tail, Swallows Tail, The Swallowtail.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

1891-1945 Disc 1 by Michael Coleman
40 Years Reunion by The Dubliners
A Controversy Of Pipers by Various Artists
A Flick Of The Wrist by Brendan Larrissey
A' Sireadh Spòrs by Dr. Angus MacDonald
Archives #2 by Jean Carignan
Archives #3 by Jean Carignan
Barde by Barde
Basil And Thyme by Breda Smyth
Beauty An Oileáin: Music And Song Of The Blasket Islands by Various Artists
Behind The Mist by Various Artists
Both Ears And The Tail by Martin Carthy And Dave Swarbrick
But Why, Johnny? by John Halloran
Caise Ceoil by Various Artists
Captain Hopper's Mutiny by Bowi
Ceol Tigh Neachtain - Music From Galway by Various Artists
Culann's Hounds by Culann's Hounds
Dance Music Of Ireland: Volume 2 by Matt Cunningham
Dance Music Of Ireland: Volume 3 by Matt Cunningham
Dance Music Of Ireland: Volume 3 CD Version by Matt Cunningham
Dance Music Of Ireland: Volume 7 by Matt Cunningham
Drioball Na Fáinleoige by Johnny Connolly
Empty Pockets by Skip Healy
Foinn Seisiun 2 by Ceoltóirí Cultúrlainne
Ireland's Best Session Tunes CD 2 by Waltons Recording
Ireland's Best Session Tunes CD 1 by Waltons Recording
Irish Cream by Irish Cream
Irish Dance Music by Various Artists
Jack In The Box Irish Session by Tionol
Josephine Marsh by Josephine Marsh
Just Me And A Fiddle by The Flyin' Fiddler Wayne Cantwell
Kerry Fiddles - Fiddle Music From Sliabh Luachra by Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford
Kids In A Candy Store by Rick May And Gil Yslas
Milestone At The Garden by Irish Fiddle Masters From The 78 RPM Era
On Fire! by The Cottars
On TSean - Am Anall by Danny O'Donnell
Paddy Keenan by Paddy Keenan
Rags, Reels And Airs by Dave Swarbrick
Raise The Rafters by Molly's Revenge
Ranting And Reeling: Dance Music Of The North Of England by Various Artists
Set The Sails by Bantry Bay
Sligo Fiddle (Disk 2) by John Vesey
Sons Of Liberty by Amadan
Southwind by Glenn Morgan
Spirit by Dervish
Spirit Of The Isles: A Concert For Beltane by Various Artists
Stay Another While by Paul O'Shaughnessy And Frankie Lane
Swarbrick 2 by Dave Swarbrick
The Border Minstrel by Billy Pigg
The Ceilidh Album by Dave Swarbrick
The Clan MacColl by Angus MacColl
The Clare Shout by Bobby Gardiner
The Enduring Magic by Michael Coleman
The Fiddle Music Of Donegal - Volume Three by Various Artists
The Gravel Walks: The Fiddle Music Of Mickey Doherty by Mickey Doherty
The Irish Music Anthology (40 Classic Songs, Jigs And Reels) by Various Artists
The Judique Flyer by Buddy MacMaster
The Northumbrian Small Pipes by Various Artists
The Piping Of Patsy Touhey by Patsy Touhey
The Raineys by The Raineys
The Road Out Of Town by The Itinerant Band
The Rushy Mountain: Classic Music From Sliabh Luachra 1952-77 by Various Artists
The Square Triangle by The Four Star Trio
The Wind Among The Reeds by Tommy Keane And Jaqueline McCarthy
The Wynd You Know by Ronan Browne
Three Around The Table by Poljez Trio
Toss The Feathers by Ted Furey And Brendan Byrne
Touch Me If You Dare by Ronan Browne And Peter O'Loughlin
Traditional Irish Music by William Sullivan
Traditional Irish Sessions by Various Artists
Uilleann Pipes And Whistles - Traditional Music From Co. Monaghan by Martin McCormack

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

I've shown the first part of this without triplets, and then with triplets, on that first phrase that gets played twice.

The G phrase in the second part should be familiar from many other reels. It's worth taking the time to perfect this phrase. It'll come in handy. It's probably better to do the D to G jump on the banjo (and perhaps fiddle also) by blocking two strings with one finger rather than trying to quickly jump between strings and notes. It takes a bit of practice but it's worth it.

# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy

The Swallows Tail

This is a different tune, or at least a significantly different setting, than the other Swallows Tail reel already in the archives. Zina called it to my attention--it's from Dervish's latest cd, Spirit, and you can hear a short clip of it at www.dervish.ie (go to discography, then to Spirit, and click on the Swallows Tail track). Their liner notes say that it's a Traveller version, known from the playing of the Keenans.

Dervish does this out of Eb (on an Eb flute, and with the fiddle tuned up a half step), so I've transcribed it here in E minor to keep the fingering standard (just tune up your fiddle, or get yourself an Eb flute or whistle).

On the cd, I like how the fiddle starts low and growly and then kicks it over the top by going up an octave.

# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Will CPT

Thanks for the transcription, Will! David Migoya is the one who first played the setting for me, and I just love the way it turns the phrases inside out from the more usual setting! If anybody talks to Paddy Keenan, ask if this is his dad's setting or what, will ya?

# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Zina Lee

Okay, okay, I defer to our fearless, quietly editorializing leader :o) I was hoping this was a different enough setting to warrant its own post, but I can understand including it here in the comments. If you want the dots for this, copy the abcs and plug them into the Tune-O-Tron over at http://www.concertina.net.

# Posted on January 2nd 2004 by Will CPT

Will
I think your setting deserves another page of it's own. But we must defer to Jeremy as I realise there are reasons why two tunes of the same name can't really have separate pages.
With Gan Ainm for example I would like to see each one given a unique identity with a number (e.g. Gan Ainm 223). Similarily this could be ST 2.
I don't know how many times they play this on track 11 on the Dervish album but this setting really rocks and is very different from the other more well known Swallow. Not being a dancer I can only guess that this would be a really great dance tune - and hey isn't that what this is all supposed to be about.

# Posted on October 13th 2004 by Donough

Here's another setting of the Dervish version that I transcribed from a live performance. I never did catch the name at the time, so I'm glad to be able to hang a title on it now. The Dervish rendition rather reminded me of old time fiddling in some respects.

T:Dervish Tune
R:reel
Z:Bill Reeder
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=200
K:G
e2eg eA~A2|eAfA g2ga|gedB dG~G2|BGBd g2fg|!
egfg eA~A2|eAfA g3a|bagb aged|egdB A2Bd:||!
e2a2 aged|B/c/d ef g2ga|gedB dG~G2|BGBd g2fg|!
ea~a2 aged|B/c/d ef g3a|bagb aged|e/f/g dB A2Bd:||

# Posted on February 12th 2005 by Bill Reeder

Swallow's Nest?

Does anyone know the source of the A modal reel recorded by whistle player Siobhan Hamilton on the Innisfree Ceili Band cassette as Swallow's Next (sic) and that also appears in Flaherty's Trip to Sligo on p. 14 as Swallow's Tail (from Colm O'Donnell's playing)? This is clearly not the well-known Swallowtail Reel, to which it bears some similarity.

I can send a copy of the sheet music to anyone who wants to see it.

Dick Abrams

# Posted on January 1st 2006 by rabrams

Re: Swallow's Nest?

Dick, is it the one in the comments of the Swallowtail Reel in the archives? http://thesession.org/tunes/display.php/105 -- not the one shown in the sheet music, but the one that Dervish plays, giving their source as the Keenan family.

# Posted on January 1st 2006 by Zina Lee

Swallow's Nest?

I have the tune and play it and will email a copy of the sheet music to anyone who wants it; what I'm trying to learn is its source (e.g., composer, if it is a composed tune) and its earliest name, if anyone knows it. I don't have the Dervish CD but if it's later than 1990 it won't help because both the recording I have and the Flaherty book are dated 1990.

Dick Abrams

# Posted on January 2nd 2006 by rabrams

Swallow's Nest?

Ah, I found the link to the 2003 Dervish SPIRIT CD and played the Swallow's Tail cut, which is indeed the tune I'm referring to; now if anyone knows more about its history that would be very helpful.

Dick Abrams

# Posted on January 2nd 2006 by rabrams

You might try contacting Dervish, or in fact Paddy Keenan and asking him about it since Dervish says it's a Traveller setting of the tune connected with the Keenan family, Dick.

# Posted on January 2nd 2006 by Zina Lee

Swallow's Nest?

Zina,

Sure, but what's a Traveller setting?

Dick

# Posted on January 3rd 2006 by rabrams

Travellers are the tinkers, the gypsies of Ireland. Some of their tunes and settings are different from what others might think of as "standard."

Dick, my best guess is that someone, probably ages ago, turned the Swallow's Tail inside out a bit and people liked it well enough to keep playing it this way. I doubt you'll ever track down who that was, although it would be worth an email to Paddy Keenan, or perhaps to Liam Kelly.

# Posted on January 3rd 2006 by Will CPT

There's quite a lot of ethnomusicologists who feel that the Travellers were the main reason the music wasn't lost during the, um, occupied times. They weren't just tinkers, they also worked a lot of jobs such as rag and bone men, carpenters, wagon builders, etc.

Paddy Keenan gave me a whole lot of info on the Travellers, or Pavee, as they call themselves, for an interview I did on him a few years back. http://www.celticcafe.com/Music/keenan/index.htm

Anyway, might be worth getting hold of Paddy, or Liam Kelly as Will suggests.

# Posted on January 3rd 2006 by Zina Lee

Pavee was the word I was looking for when I wrote tinker. My mind has been the traveller of late....

# Posted on January 3rd 2006 by Will CPT

Well, at least it keeps you out of the cold and wind that way, Will... ;)

# Posted on January 3rd 2006 by Zina Lee

Actually it's been cold and windy between my ears of late.

# Posted on January 4th 2006 by Will CPT

Can't be as cold and windy as it has been here...brrrrr

# Posted on January 4th 2006 by Zina Lee

Swallow's Tail

I think I've heard a tune by the same name by Billy Pigg, a long-dead northumbrian song writer. Don't know if its the same tune or not though.

# Posted on March 22nd 2006 by Rheged

Northumbrian piper Billy Pigg and the Swallow's Tail reel

Billy Pigg was a player of the Northumbrian pipes who died, I think, in or around 1968. I believe he could also play the Highland pipes. But if he sang or indeed wrote any songs, he's certainly not known for that. What puts him on the traditional music map is the fact that he learned and kept up the tradition of playing on the Northumbrian pipes when very few others were doing so, between the wars and just after; and that he developed an entirely personal, I imagine quite inimitable, style of playing: utterly lyrical, with incredible cascades of notes. It's beautiful. Sometimes his recorded playing keeps time, but much of it is fairly arhythmic - a sort of musical stream of consciousness. There are recordings of his playing on various compilations but the classic album of his music is called "The Border Minstrel".

He plays "The Swallow's Tail Reel" somewhere on this album. It's the standard Irish version, the tune given in the sheet music at the top of this thread. He would have known it was Irish and I don't believe it would have entered his mind to pass it off as one of his own. (Mind, he did write some pretty good tunes himself.)

# Posted on August 3rd 2006 by nicholas

Billy Pigg on the Northumbrian Pipes

Re. the above - "Runs" of notes is a better description of Billy Pigg's style than "cascades", although it sounds more prosaic.

# Posted on August 4th 2006 by nicholas

Here's my transcription from a fiddler whose name I don't remember. From The Late Session (RTÉ Radio).

X: 1
T: The Swallow's Tail
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Edor
BEFE BEFE|FABc dedB|A2 (3FED ADFD|FABc dfed|
BEFE BEFE|FABc d2Bd|eBdB AFDE|(3FED (3AFD E2FA:||
Beef edBA|FABc dedB|A2 (3FED ADFD|FABc dfed|
Beef edBA|FAfA d2Bd|eBdB AFDE|(3FED (3AFD E2FA:||

# Posted on October 12th 2006 by Pere

"The Swallow's Tail" / "The Swallowtail" ~ March it is! ~ march relatives:

"Shanghai Lil" ~ march
Key signature: Adorian
Submitted on August 3rd 2005 by LongNote.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4816

"The Lougheil March"
Key signature: d minor & e minor in the 'Comments'
Submitted on March 3rd 2007 by ceolachan.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/6884

Now, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

# Posted on March 3rd 2007 by ceolachan

Correction ~ "The Lougheil March" is also Dorian...
Key signature: G Dorian & A Dorian in the 'Comments'... :-/

# Posted on March 3rd 2007 by ceolachan

Thomas Keenan's version on the album "Paddy Keenan"

Here is my take on Thomas' version
T: The Swallow's Tail
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R:Reel
K:Em
ed |BcBA BEE2 | BABc d3B| dBAF ADD2 | FDFA d2ed |
BcBA BEE2 | BABc d3B | edBA edBA | B2 AF E2 :||
GA |Beed e2dB| BABc d3B| dBAF ADD2 | FDFA d2ed |
Beed Beed | BABc d3B | edBA edBA | B2 AF E2 :||

# Posted on May 21st 2007 by harry