Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on December 2nd 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts.
This tune has been added to 297 tunebooks.
Also known as The Castle, Dick Gossip, Dick Gossips, Dick Gossops, Dickie Gossip, Dickie Gossip's, Girl Talk, Gossip.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Dick Gossip's
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:F2 AF GFED|DFAF GFED|EDEF GFED|~E3 F GFED|
|F2 AF GFED|DFAF GFED|cdef gece|1 eddc d2 AG:|2 eddc d2 ef||
|:gB (3BBB gBaB|gB (3BBB gfed|(3cBA eA fAeA|(3Bcd ef gfef|
|gB (3BBB gBaB|gB (3BBB gfed|cdef gece|1 eddc d2 ef:|2 eddc d2 AG|
Dick Gossip's
The other name for this one is skipping my mind right now, but it's widely known as Dick Gossip's, soooo....
For the A Part, you can play measures 1 and 5 as |(3FFF AF GFED| or |DFAF GFED| or |FFAF GFED|. Likewise, you can roll the E in measures 3 and 4 |~E3 F GFED| or triplet it |(3EEE EF GFED| or just leave it alone |E2 EF GFED|.
For the B Part, I do all the triplets bowed (or "staccato") except the uphil (3Bcd run in measure 4, which is slurred.
We play this in a set of old war horses: Dick Gossip's, Mason's Apron, Pigeon on the Gate. Don't ask me why.
Will
# Posted on December 2nd 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Aka as The Castle
Thus named on Music at Matt Molloy's if I am not mistaken; also on an old Jimmy Power recording.
# Posted on December 2nd 2001 by Henk Bos
Gossip's
Yes, The Castle was the other title I was searching for. Thanks Henk
# Posted on December 3rd 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts
A fun turn on this tune is to play the first part in the upper octave. Also in the second part at the... | gB(3BBB gBaB | GB(3BBB ...part
try... fB(3BBB fBgB | fB(3BBB ... Giving it a F#m feel instead of G.
But parts are incidental anyway in this tune as it's started on the B Part as often as the A part.
# Posted on December 3rd 2001 by Brad Maloney
Brad's variations
Thanks for the fun variations, Brad. Are these common back East, or your own personal gems? I'll spring them on the crowd at our Montana session tomorrow night (though they may need forewarning on the F#m bit).
Thanks!
# Posted on December 3rd 2001 by Miss Lonelyhearts
No these variations have been picked up through posts to the IrTrad-L list. This tune is played the same as appears on the site as it comes up in sessions around my neck of the woods.
# Posted on December 3rd 2001 by Brad Maloney
Dick Gossip's
How old is this tune? Here are some lines from an early 19th century street song, " But for shaving and tooth-drawing, bleeding, cabbaging and sawing, Dicky Gossip, Dicky Gossip is the man!".Who was Dick Gossip?
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Dick Gossip's
It's also very commonly played with the high part first - the Kilfenora Céilí Band usually did it that way.
# Posted on July 12th 2006 by Bannerman
Came across this in "The Fiddler's Companion":-
DICK GOSSIP'S REEL. AKA and see “The Castle Reel [2],” "The First Cup.” Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AABB. A favorite at contra dances, and still sometimes heard at Irish sessions. Irish fiddler Sean Maguire is said to have played the tune at London sessions in the 1960's. There is some confusion about which section of the tune is to be played first. The origins of the tune are obscure although the Paddy O’Brien tune collection gives that it was named for a famous highwayman. Dick Gossip was an 18th century rapparee whose ballywick was the area around South Tyrone and Fermanagh. He was reputed to have been a dispossessed Irish landowner who sought to recoup his fortune through acts of lawlessness, only to meet the fate of most such brigands—he was apprehended and hanged. L.E. McCullough recorded the tune on his album “Late Bloomer” (1984) with Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll under the title “The Castle Reel,” perhaps having picked up that title from a 1970’s recording by fiddler Jimmy Power
# Posted on July 20th 2007 by P-K
This is very similar to the Oak Tree http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/212, and I'm wondering if they might have a common ancestor.
# Posted on March 10th 2008 by Dow
High Part First
I've been caught on this a couple of times - I learnt it with the high part first. If you are playing it with someone who plays it the other way it can be difficult to know when to stop!
# Posted on April 5th 2009 by cferrie