Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on December 28th 2001 by kardshark87.
This tune has been added to 200 tunebooks.
Also known as Daleystown Hunt, Leitrim, Leitrim Fancy, Leitrum Fancies.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Leitrim Fancy, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
GBG FAF|E2B BAB|GBG FAF|D2A AFD|
GBG FAF|E2B BAB|G2B dBG|ABG FED:|
G2B dBd|edB dBA|G2B dBG|ABG FED|
G2B dBd|edB def|gfe dBG|ABG FED:|
Leitrim Fancy?
I know this tune by the name The Leitrim Fancy, as recorded by the Bothy Band on Out of the Wind, Into the Sun. An altogether different tune also goes under the name The Leitrim Jig. I usually play an E2 at the start of the second measure (rather than D2 as posted), and then play GAB as the first three notes of the 7th measure of Part A and the 1st, 3rd, and 5th measures of Part B.
# Posted on December 30th 2001 by Will CPT
Really DMajor?
I think it's actually in E minor.
# Posted on December 28th 2003 by jamminben
I think this is Daleystown Hunt from Happy to Meet and Sorry to Part as well.
# Posted on June 4th 2005 by Colin E.
In http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/8117 the wounded hussar asked about the mode:
"Thanks to all for advice and it is a lot clearer now. I was playing a few tunes there last night and thinking about keys and modes. A further query arises as follows: take the jig, Leitrim Fancy or Leitrim Jig, GBG FAF E-B BAB etc. I would be inclined to think the home note here may be E. The tune has an F# but there ain't no C's at all in basic tune. So is this E Dorian (2 sharps) or E Minor (1 sharp)? i.e. does the complete absence of a note that would normally be sharpened in a key affect how you would describe the mode. I guess if you listen to the tune and decide on it's sound, it doesn't have a very sad or minor feel to it so on basis of Garry's advice that would make it E Dorian but then maybe I'm completely out and it's not in E at all !!!"
My reply in that thread belongs here as well, so here goes:
I just had a look at Leitrim Fancy. I'd say the A part is in E Dorian and the B part is in G Major. I'm no accompanist, but it sure looks like the first couple of bars alternate between E minor and D major chords, which make it a minor or dorian tune. It is, as you say, hexatonic, so it's ambiguous. But dorian is much more common than minor in Irish music, so if you needed to decide (like for posting the tune here), dorian would be the best choice. Calling it D major is just plain wrong.
The B part seems to call for G, D, and C major chords, which would put it squarely in G Major until the last measure, where it heads toward a D Major chord instead of resolving to G, as it prepares to return to E dorian for the next time around.
It's very interesting in that the home note of E is not prominent at the end of the A part. Perhaps that's because it's preparing for the shift to G for the B part.
# Posted on October 25th 2005 by GaryAMartin
I was told this tune was called after a place called Leitrim in Co. Galway, and not after County Leitrim, but don't know if this is true or not.
# Posted on August 4th 2006 by nicholas
Mistake in the sheetmusic
The second bar of Part A should start with E not D. The ABCs are right - it should be E2B BAB, not D2B BAB.
# Posted on June 1st 2008 by Mairtin Lom