Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on August 7th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts.
This tune has been added to 117 tunebooks.
Also known as The Boys Of Sligo, Convenience, Knock On The Door.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Convenience, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:dABA dABA|GAFA EADA|dABA dABA|FAEA D3 A:|
|d~f3 dfed|cdef gece|d~f3 dfed|cABc d2 (3ABc|
|d~f3 dfed|cdef gece|a~f3 gfed|cABc defg|
|a2 af gfed|cded cdef|(3aaa af gfed|cABc defg|
|aA (3AAA aAaA|gA (3AAA gAgA|fgaf gbag|fdec d3 A|
Eww!!
I'm only speaking for myself but I've never liked this tune. It always seems to seep out of the bongo/dulcimer section of a session.
# Posted on August 7th 2001 by Brad Maloney
The Convenience Reel
I prefer the other name this tune commonly goes by, The Boys of Sligo, but everyone in my neck of the woods calls it the Convenience Reel. It's been recorded by Dervish (on their cd The Boys of Sligo) and Laura Risk (Greenfire).
This is a fairly straight forward tune once you can keep the three parts distinct in your head. Lots of room for variations...try playing the first and second measures of the A Part as |dA (3AAA dA (3AAA|, and the first measure of Part B can be played |d~f3 d~f3|. I like to hang on that long "a" at the start of Part C, sliding into it from a quarter tone below and holding it for a dotted quaver. An alternate ending for Part C is |~f3 a gfed|cABc d3 A| to get back into Part A.
We play this in a set that starts with the Convenience, then into Dinky's, the Glory Reel, and John Mhosey McGinley's. It also goes nicely after the Morning Dew.
# Posted on August 7th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Ewe?
Okay, so it's not one of my all-time favorites either, but it IS a common session tune and therefore handy to know (unless you use it as an excuse to go refill your pint). Brad's right though--there's something flakey and new age about this one. Frankly, I posted it as an antidote to all the more difficult tunes that have come forward on this site lately, trying to offer something for everyone. And to wash the Convenience aftertaste out of our mouths, I posted The Crooked Road to Dublin. Have I redeemed myself?
# Posted on August 7th 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Convenience reel
I know this tune as the Convenience Reel. The story goes that it got that name because it was taught to the members of the House Band in a hallway outside a bathroom! Appropriately enough, it is also known as "Knock on the Door".
# Posted on August 13th 2001 by shaskeen
Convenience/unusual session venue
I was at the All-Ireland Fleadh in Ennis in 1977 and one of the musicians I met up with that week-end was John Skelton of the "House Band" , although he was playing with the London-Irish band "Shegui" at the time. On the Saturday I heard heard this tune played by Ulcan Masterson of Dundalk in the Senior Whistle competition (he was third, but I thought he should have won).
On the Sunday evening it started to rain, and all the pubs were full by this time, so apparently a session started up in the public toilet. John was there and got this tune from Ulcan, took it back to London, and recorded it with "Shegui" as "The Convenience Reel", and that name has stuck to it ever since. I think Ulcan Masterson wrote it himself.
# Posted on February 12th 2003 by Kenny
Following on from Kenny's 2003 thread
Yes it was written by Olcan (not Ulcan) Masterson, formerly of Belfast, now resident in Westport, Co. Mayo.
# Posted on June 1st 2005 by *Davy Rogers
Ah, I have picked this up from Karen Tweed's version, where she says the start is often confused, some with the A, some with B, and some with C. I've found a few online versions, similar to the one here, and they have the A part the same as Karen Tweed's "C" part, then as the "B" part they have what Karen puts as "A", and then Karen's "B" part is the same as the "C" in the online version. Strange. She plays this following Dinkey's Reel, and in that setting I like her part ordering, but as someone above mentioned playing this BEFORE Dinkey's, I think the C-A-B arrangement may be better, who knows.
# Posted on September 2nd 2005 by N9YTY
Order of parts
Olcan Masterson played the 3 parts in the same order as posted here.
# Posted on September 2nd 2005 by Kenny
Other titles
Davey McNevin recorded this as "McDonagh's" on Rattlin' Banjos but there are a couple of strange titles given to fairly popular tunes on that album.
On the Abbey ceili band album, it's called The D Reel. Although I believed they called it that simply because they didn't have a name and it was in D. I'll just edit the details on the album.
# Posted on April 17th 2007 by 52Paddy