Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

The Piper On Horseback

reel

Key signature: Dmajor

Submitted on December 23rd 2002 by Dow.

This tune has been added to 38 tunebooks.

Also known as Jig Away The Donkey, O'Connell's, Piper On Horseback.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

An Ceoltoir Fanach by Cathy Custy
Around The World For Sport by The Doon Céilí Band
Driven by Donall Donnelly And Brian Hanlon
Echoes Of Erin by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Concert Tour 2006
First O' The Darkenin' by Chris Stout
Gaelic Roots by Various Artists
Irish Women Musicians Of America by Cherish The Ladies
Last Night's Fun by Knock-na-shee
Leitrim's Hidden Treasure by McNamara Family
My Love Is In America by Various Artists
Na Draiodoiri by Na Draiodoiri
Shantalla by Shantalla
The Hidden Fermanagh by Various Artists
The Leitrim Equation by Various Artists
The Next Turn by Trouble In The Kitchen
The Road From Erin—Ireland's Musical Legacy by Dorian Recordings
Track Across The Deep by London Lasses And Pete Quinn
Tri by Far From Home
Whirlwind by Brian Hughes
Wild Blue by Eileen Ivers

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

X: 1
T: Piper On Horseback, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:E|~F3d cAAB|cAdB cAGE|~F3d cAAB|cAGE FDD:|
|A|defg aged|efed cA~A2|defg aged|ABAG FDDA|
|defg ~a3g|efed cAAd|ef{g}fd efed|cAGE FDD||
%Variation 2nd last bar
f|ga{b}ag efed|

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Transcribed from the playing of a fiddler in Sydney. She played the second to last bar lower pitches than I've seen transcribed from other sources, which most often go:

e|~a3g efed|cAGE FDD||

...or similar. I can only find 2 names for this on JC's. One is "The Piper On Horseback" - a name also (mistakenly?) given to "The Fair-haired Lass", and the other is "Jig Away The Donkey". Both are slightly different settings from the one posted here.
Has anyone come across this tune, and what do people tend to call it?

# Posted on December 23rd 2002 by Dow

Piper on horseback

This tune I have always associated with players from the North of Ireland. I have never heard it called by any other name than "The Piper On Horseback". It used to be played after "Jig Away The Donkey" (which is an entirely different tune) and followed by "The Three Scones Of Boxty/Baxty".

# Posted on December 23rd 2002 by Kenny

Cheers for the info Kenny. By the way: I transcribed this from a minidisc of this fiddler's playing. She followed this reel with "The Little Bag of Spuds" in G. I thought it was a really nice change of key.

# Posted on December 23rd 2002 by Dow

Same Tune, Same Title

I first learned this tune with this title from flute-player (Reverend) Gary Hastings around 1979 and it was a long time before I heard anybody except us wee northerners playing it. I have forgotten where Gary got it but it was most likely Cathal McConnell or the late Eddie Duffy (flute) or the late Mick Hoy (fiddle), all Fermanagh men. The reels "Jig Away the Donkey" and "The Three Scones of Boxty" are also tunes I associate with Mick and Eddie.

# Posted on December 24th 2002 by LongNote

I had a feeling that "Jig Away The Donkey" was another title for "Jigging The Donkey"; it looks like someone transcribing this for the net got confused somewhere along the line. At least that title directs you to another setting of this tune on JC's index tho'.

# Posted on December 25th 2002 by Dow

Other settings

If anyone can be bothered to post different settings of this tune (e.g. the version you play Long Note), it would be very much appreciated. It's not often I hear it played at sessions...

# Posted on December 25th 2002 by Dow

More or Less the Same

Both "Piper on H" and "Jig Away the D" (also learned from Gary) posted here are the same as I play them, give or take a few notes here and there. I rarely hear these tunes except at sessions in the north.

# Posted on December 27th 2002 by LongNote

Aka. O'Connell's Reel

You can find this tune as "O'Connell's Reel" on page 97 of Hidden Fermanagh Book. And of course, it's recorded by Laurence Nugent on "Hidden Fermanagh Vol.1." According to the notes, Eddie Duffy learned it from another Fermanagh flute player William Carroll.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by slainte

This is not Jig Away the Donkey.

If you read all the comments above carefully, you'll find nobody calls this reel "Jig Away the Donkey." I wonder who was the idiot who added the wrong alternative title.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by slainte

Eileen Ivers, I believe - not an idiot, just a genuine mistake. Happens all the time.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Kenny

Actually, the idiot was me - I added it as an alternative title. As for reason, see Kenny's post.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Dow

I wasn't referring to here on this site. Eileen Ivers recorded "Jig Away The Donkey" and called it "The Piper On Horseback", and I doubt very much whether it was generally called that before she made that recording, but everyone seems to have learned it from her CD, or second-hand from someone who did, and the wrong name has stuck. Thanks for removing it, Dow - maybe we can reverse history !

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Kenny

What did I remove? Oh god I'm confused :-)

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Dow

Sorry Dow - it's still there. I was sure it had gone. Ignore me. If you want to, as the person who posted the tune, you can remove "JATD" from the alternative titles list on the details page.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Kenny

You're talking about tune #1231, right? And saying that I should remove its alternative title of Piper On Horseback?

And Slainte is talking about this tune, #1247, saying I should remove its alternative title of Jig Away The Donkey.

The issue being that:

#1231 was recorded by Eileen Ivers under the incorrect title, and:
#1247 was recorded by some other musicians* under the incorrect title, probably also because of confusion arising from Eileen Ivers' recording ("well if that other one was the POHB, then this one must be JATD").

Or am I just totally confused?

* Not sure about this, but off the top of my head, Cherish The Ladies and Far From Home???

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Dow

So, we all agree that "The Piper on the Horseback" is the title for this tune, #1247, and probably not the original title for the tune #1231.

I just wanted to make it clear that neither Kenny nor LongNote suggest that "Jig Away the Donkey" is the title for this tune, #1247. And Hidden Fermanagh Book doesn't list this tune #1247 as "Jig Away the Donkey," either.

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by slainte

Jig Away the Donkey, or not?

A bit of research shows "Far from Home" recorded this as "Jig Away the Donkey." See: http://www.irishtune.info/tune/934

Sorry Dow for calling you an idiot!

# Posted on September 10th 2007 by slainte

I'll never let you forget it, Slainte. Next time I'm in Tokyo, I'll get my revenge ;-)

Check out Cherish The Ladies' recording of the tune. You can hear a clip at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Musicians-America-Cherish-Ladies/dp/B000000E7I

# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Dow

I'm really sorry. Hope it's not as insulting as calling the Australian troops Austrian.

# Posted on September 11th 2007 by slainte