The Lass Of Ballintra

reel

Key signature: Fmajor

Submitted on February 10th 2005 by Miss Lonelyhearts.

This tune has been added to 17 tunebooks.

Also known as The Bony Boys Of Ballintra, The Flags Of Dublin, Kiss Your Partner, Lass Of Ballintra.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• Across The Waves by Cherish The Ladies
• An Phíb by Dicky Deegan
• Journeyman by Gerry O'Connor
• McGlynn's Fancy by Arty McGlynn
• Moving Cloud by Moving Cloud
• Piper's Choice Volume 1 by Lynn Saoirse
• Re-joyce by Maire O'Keeffe, John Faulkner, Jackie Daly, Donal O'Connor
• Seoda Ceoil 2 by Lynn Saoirse
• Shady Woods by Tommy Martin
• Summer At My Feet by North Cregg
• The Dusty Miller by Conor, Gay And Seán McKeon
• The Flags Of Dublin by Paddy Glackin, Mick O'Brien And Mick Gavin
• The Gentlemen Pipers by Lynn Saoirse
• The Leitrim Thrush by Neil Mulligan
• The Nightingale (And Other Lesser Spotted Tunes ...) by Josephine Keegan
• The Tap Room Trio by Tap Room Trio
• The Wandering Minstrel by Seamus Ennis
• Trip To Fanore by Eugene Lambe

X: 1
T: Lass Of Ballintra, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Fmaj
f3d|cFAc defd|cFAF CFAd|cFAc defa|gece f2 ed|
cF F/F/F dF F/F/F|cFAF CFAd|cFAc defa|gece f3 a||
fcfa gdga|b/b/b ag fdde|fcaf gdbg|afde fcde|
fcfa gdga|b/b/b ag fdde|defd cFAc|dfeg f3 d||

The Lass of Ballintra

This is the name fiddler Gerry O'Connor gives to this single reel on his "Journeyman" cd. A slightly different tune (usually in G) goes by the name The Ballintra (aka Ballintrae, Ballintray) Lass(es). In his liner notes, Gerry also gives the names The Bonny Boys of Ballintra and Kiss Your Partner for this tune. O'Neill collected the same tune under the Kiss Your Partner name, in G, as follows:

X: 1
T: Kiss Your Partner
T: Lass of Ballintra, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K:G
g/f/e|d2 Bd efge|dBGB AGEG|d2 Bd efgb|afdf g2 g/f/e|
|d2 Bd efge|dBGB AGEG|d2 Bd efgb|afdf g2 d/e/f||
|g2 gf gbag|fdad bdad|g2 gf gbag|fdef g2 d/e/f|
g2 gf gbag|fdad bdad|edeg fdfb|afdf g2 g/f/e||

On fiddle, I like it in F for the added brightness it gives (and just for the simple change of key, so our guitarist can't complain about yet another reel in D or G .

Gerry cracks through this at a good clip, and it works great at that tempo, but the melody is strong enough to work as more lyrical or even slow reel as well.

Some modest variations I've been tinkering with:

For the turn from the B part back into the A part, I like to play:

....|defd cFAc|dfeg fdcA||
|F/F/F Ac defd|....

Wherever it occurs, the same cFAc phrase can also be played with a bowed triplet on the c: c/c/c Ac to save yourself the string crossing.

And I like to occasionally roll the first f of the B part. So instead of |fcfa gdga| you get |~f3a gdga| (and you could roll the g there too).

# Posted on February 10th 2005 by Miss Lonelyhearts

There is another version of this tune called the Flags of Dublin.

# Posted on June 13th 2005 by tompipes

This tune is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as the Bony (sic) Boys of Ballintra

# Posted on November 12th 2009 by Sharon the Flute

nb the spelling 'bony' and 'boney' appears in the Gunn Book several times. I take it to be an old spelling of 'bonny' and nothing to do with osteopathy!

# Posted on November 12th 2009 by Sharon the Flute