The Sweetness Of Mary

strathspey

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on June 24th 2002 by geoffwright.

This tune has been added to 73 tunebooks.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

• Another Gem by Aly Bain And Phil Cunningham
• Master Cape Breton Fiddler by Jerry Holland
• Return To Kintail by Alasdair Fraser With Tony McManus
• Rhythms Of The Wold by Rod Stradling
• Rice by Eliza Carthy
• Roaming Free by Colin MacLeod And Rory Sinclair
• The Best Of Aly And Phil by Aly Bain And Phil Cunningham
• The Black Rose by Jesse Autumn With Barry Phillips
• The Legendary Down Home Recordings by Various Artists
• Through The Round Window by Eamonn Coyne
• Tony McManus by Tony McManus

X: 1
T: Sweetness Of Mary, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: strathspey
K: Gmaj
D G>A|:B2 (3BAG E2 (3EGA|B/2d c/2e d2 (3def|
g>fe>d d>cB>c|d/2g B/2G A2 (3AGA|
B2 (3BAG E2 (3EGA|B/2d c/2e d2 (3def|
g>fe>d d>cB>c|d/2g BA/2 G2:|
ga/2|:bd/2g/2b ad/2f/2a|gf/2e/2g d2 c/2B|
ed/2c/2e dc/2Bc/2|d/2g B/2G A2 ga/2|
bd/2g/2b ad/2f/2a|gf/2e/2g d2 c/2B|
eG/2c/2e dc/2Bc/2|d/2g B/2A G2:|

Composer

Several pages on the web credit Joan MacDonald Boes as the composer. BTW, I was glad to find this tune, I was particularly looking for it. I believe it's also on Lisa Carthy's album Red Rice.

# Posted on August 1st 2003 by ThosG

Isn't it a Jerry Holland tune? Eliza Carthy recorded it as a traditional tune, though.

# Posted on August 2nd 2003 by slainte

yes, jerry holland plays it. but if you check the notes for his 'master cape breton fiddler' album, he attributes it to joan macdonald boes.

sarah in portland

# Posted on November 26th 2003 by eleyne

Alternate Version

This also gets played with the last four bars of the A part being substituted for the last four bars of the B part the second time through. Kind of a nice way to bring it to an ending. This is in one of my scottish tunebooks in A, but G is a bit easier for many instruments.

# Posted on October 7th 2004 by AlBrown

Corrections of ABC and an A transcription

I was just copying over the abc from the site into Navigator, and discovered a load of miscodings in the dots. From extrapolation from the original notes posted by Geoff back in '02, here's some ABC that should work:

X: 802
T: Sweetness Of Mary, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: strathspey
K: Gmaj
(3DGA|B2 (3BAG E2 (3EGA|B<d c<e d2 (3def|g>fe>d d>cB>c|d<g B<G A2 (3AGA|
B2 (3BAG E2 (3EGA|B<d c<e d2 (3def|g>fe>d d>cB>c|d<g B<A G2:|
g>a|b>dg<b a>df<a|g>fe<g d2 c<B|e>dc<e d>cB>c|d<g B<G A2 g>a|
b>dg<b a>df<a|g>fe<g d2 c<B|e>Gc<e d>cB>c|d<g B<A G2:|

It's also in the Ho-Ro Gheallaidh book in A:

X: 1
T: Sweetness Of Mary, The
C: Joan MacDonald Boes
S: Ho-Ro Gheallaidh Scottish Fiddlers' Session Tunebook, v. 1&2, p. 84.
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: strathspey
N: Moderately slow
K: Amaj
(3EAB|:c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 (3efg|a>gf>e e>dc>d
|1 e<a c>A B2 A>B:|2 e<a c>B A2||:a>b|c'>e a<c' b>e g<b|
a>g f<a e2 d>c|f>A d<f e>dc>d|1 e<a c>A B2 a>b|c'>e a<c' b>e e<b|
a>g f<a e2 d>c|f>Ad>f e>dc<d|e<a c>B A2:|2 e<a c>A B>EA>B|
c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 f>g|a>gf>e e>dc>d|e<a c>B A2||

This is pretty close to the way Alasdair Fraser plays it -- the Saltfishforty version is played with much more of a slow Shetland swing, with dotted crotchet pairs instead of some of the triplets.

All that said, what a lovely tune!

# Posted on September 22nd 2008 by benhockenberry

Actually, the transcription in that Session Tunebook has another oddity -- the first part is single, and the second part doubled. The way Alasdair Fraser plays the first part is evened out to an 8-bar doubling something like:
(3EAB|:c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 (3efg|a>gf>e e>dc>d|e<a c>A B2 A>B
(3EAB|:c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 (3efg|a>gf>e e>dc>d|e<a c>B A2:|

Sorry 'bout that.

# Posted on September 22nd 2008 by benhockenberry

And everyone can see where I messed up that correction. Oy.

One last time, with the repeat bars fixed:
(3EAB|c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 (3efg|a>gf>e e>dc>d|e<a c>A B2 A>B|
c2 (3cBA F2 (3FAB|c>e d<f e2 (3efg|a>gf>e e>dc>d|e<a c>B A2:|

# Posted on September 22nd 2008 by benhockenberry