Poll Ha'Penny

hornpipe

Key signature: Amixolydian

Submitted on July 16th 2002 by Mark Cordova.

This tune has been added to 218 tunebooks.

Also known as The Garden Of Butterflies, Garraí Na Bhfeileoig, Garrai Na Bhfeileoig, Garrai Na Bhfeiloig, Holey Ha'penny, Holey Hapenny, Molly Halpenny, Molly Halpin, Molly McAlpin, Paul Ha'penny, Paul Halfpenny, Pol Ha'Penny, Pol Hal'penny, Pol Halfpenny, Poll Ha'penny, Poll Hal'penny, Poll Halfpenny, Poll Ha’penny, Puff Adder's Stepdance, Radstock Jig.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Albert Fry by Albert Fry
An Traidisiun Beo by Angelina Carberry
Best Of Irish Fiddle by Florie Brown
Borderlands by Kathryn Tickell
Ceol Sidhe by Micheal O HEidhin
Citternalia by Joseph Sobol
Dance Of The Celts: A Narada Collection by Various Artists
Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty by Edel Fox And Ronan O'Flaherty
Feadoga Stain by Mary Bergin
Folktrax-173: Willie Clancy And Bobby Casey by Willie Clancy And Bobby Casey
Full House by Fairport Convention
Garden Of Butterflies by Jody's Heaven
I GCnoc Na Grai by Noel Hill And Tony MacMahon
Jiggin' The Blues by Frankie Gavin, Rick Epping And Tim Edey
Live And Kicking by Swarb's Lazarus
Live At The Ulster Folk And Transport Museum by Matt Molloy And John Carty With Arty McGlynn
Live In Belfast by Cathal Hayden
Lovers' Well by Matt And Shannon Heaton
Mixing The Punch by Paddy O'Brien
North-by-NorthWest by Eliot Grasso And Dave Cory
Northumberland Rant by Various Artists
Piano + by Geraldine Cotter
Roughshod by Horseplay
Sean Reid's Favourite by Jimmy O'Brien-Moran
Seanchairde by Dermy Diamond, Tara Diamond, Dáithí Sproule
Shadows On Stone by Matt Molloy
Shady Woods by Desi Wilkinson
Taking Flight by Bobby Casey
The Belfast Harp Festival by Grainne Yeats
The Border Minstrel by Billy Pigg
The Broken Pledge by Marc Pollier, Christian Maes, Christophe Raillard
The Drones And The Chanters Vol.2 by Various Artists
The Ewe With The Crooked Horn by Colm Gannon, Jesse Smith And John Blake
The Family Album by The McCarthys
The Gooseberry Bush by BlackSheep
The Green Mountain by Pay The Reckoning
The Hidden Note by Jacqueline McCarthy
The Hop Down by Breda Keville
The Humours Of Lisheen by John And Julia Clifford
The Kathryn Tickell Band by Kathryn Tickell Band
The Leitrim Equation by Various Artists
The Lonesome Touch by Martin Hayes
The Master's Choice by Bobby Gardiner
The Music Makers: Celebrating 35 Years Of Comhaltas In Leeds by Leeds CCE
The Piping Of Patsy Touhey by Patsy Touhey
The Porthole Of The Kelp by Sean Casey
The Spirit Of West Clare by Bobby Casey
The Starry Lane To Monaghan by Fintan Vallely
The Surprise by Pauline Cato And Tom McConville
The Thing Itself by Maeve Donnelly And Peadar O'Loughlin
Traditional Music From The Legendary East Clare Fiddler by Paddy Canny

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Good Arrangement

This transcription by Henrick Norbeck Is almost exactly like I play aside from a preferred note here or there. I said exactly which needs a little qualification. I play most of those double eighth notes as dotted eighth and sixteenth.

I wish I could remember the name of the artist who recorded it. It was a tape that some friends brought me from California. The best of Rose ------. If I can find that tape I will correct her name. To me, she didn’t play the piece with the usual bounce that I accord many hornpipes. She played it as smooth as silk. I rather liked her version so I play it smooth to audiences and more traditional at Sessions.

# Posted on July 16th 2002 by Mark Cordova

I remember the name.

Florie Brown out of California recorded it on her greatest hits release. I like receiving local recordings. Who knows - One of these recordings I have could be from one of you.

# Posted on August 9th 2002 by Mark Cordova

Derivative of Poll Ha'penny

This tune is one of several that have evolved from the air:
"Molly McAlpin", collected by Edward Bunting. Vol.1, No 44
"General Collection of Ancient Irish Music", adapted for the pianoforte. published in 1796. No composer credit given but in a bio-sketch I read once, O' Carolan was quoted as saying that he "wished" he had composed it. That suggests that the tune was written before his death in March 1738 more than 54 years before the date of the harpers gathering in 1792.

# Posted on February 17th 2004 by wvwhistler

Poll Ha'penny

Watch Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn play this tune: http://www.custysmusic.com/mall/CustysTraditionalMusicShop/angelina_and_martin.htm Superb!

# Posted on September 13th 2005 by slainte

Poll Ha'penny

This tune is listed as "Paul Halfpenny" (pronounced ha'penny of course!) on Bobby Casey's "Taking Flight" LP, but the record company had merely misheard the "usual" name "Poll Hal'penny": I once heard Bobby Casey (at the King & Queen pub in London) himself correct piper Tommy McCarthy who had suggested the tune using the title "Paul ..". The title is listed correctly as "Poll ..." on Casey's "Casey in the cowhouse" cassette (Bellbridge 001).

A fine hornpipe version of tune, known simply as the "Radstock Jig", was collected from fiddler James Higgins in Somerset (England) by Cecil Sharp.

# Posted on March 8th 2006 by pipheath

Isn't Poll Ha'penny a version of The New Century???

I'm confused, it seems so much like THE NEW CENTURY (http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2001) Molloy & Keane play on Contentment is Wealth (http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/264) and yet no-one has mentionned it...

Am I imagining things?
Should those titles be included in one another's list of aliases?

# Posted on April 21st 2007 by f.pellerin

Huh? Yes, they're both hornpipes.... No, they;'re different tunes.

# Posted on April 21st 2007 by Will Harmon

The tune as I remember it ... oh, and the mode ...

The mode may be me being esoteric or something. Personally, I think it's in Dmix, not Amix. This has to do with whether you think the Cs are generally sharp, and sometimes played natural, or whether, like me, you think the Cs are generally natural, and sometimes played sharp. I don't think (and this is only one of the possible views) that the note the tune ends on is relevant for this purpose, as modal tunes fairly often end on notes other than the 'tonic' or 'final' note of the mode.

Academic rant over.

Here's how I remember this tune - now that I've recovered what it is from Dow's prompt the other day, that is:

X: 1
T: Poll Ha'Penny
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: hornpipe
K: Dmix
AB | cAAG A2 (3AB^c | d=c AF G2 (3B^cd | ed^cA d^cAG |
ABAG ABde | ~f3d ~e3^c | d2 (3B^cd efge | aged ^cA G=c |
A2 AG A2 :||: ef | ~g3f gfef | g2ga gedg | eaag a2 ag |
eaa^g aba=g | ~f3d ~e3^c | d2 (3B^cd efge | aged ^cA G=c |
A2 AG A2 :|

# Posted on May 31st 2007 by ethical blend

"LH" has summarised Pat Mitchell's comments on this tune: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1263/comments#comment207803

I'm now learning the West Clare version of the tune and will try to post it in a couple of days.

# Posted on August 12th 2007 by slainte

West Clare Version

http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7612

# Posted on August 14th 2007 by slainte

recording of Jimmy O'Brien-Moran from Willie Clancy Summer School 2005

http://nicolaslbrown.googlepages.com/track08.mp3

# Posted on January 12th 2008 by Loughcurra

God I love this tune

# Posted on November 14th 2008 by justabloke

Author of Poll Ha'Penny

It is attributed by Francis O'Neal to a 17th century harper named Laurence O'Connellan in his book "Irish Minstrels and Musicians"

# Posted on December 14th 2010 by acm116

Hawk's Hornpipe as played by piper Barney Delaney is very much like the Clare version of this tune. His century old recording may be heard here: http://archives.irishfest.com/dunn-family-collection.htm

# Posted on December 15th 2010 by KLR

Martin Hayes' version

As recorded in The Lonesome Touch, something like:
X:1
T:Poll Halfpenny
T:Paul Ha'penny
D:Martin Hayes & Denis Cahill. The Lonesome Touch
N:First tune in set 'The Garden of Butterflies'
N:Although a 'hornpipe' played slow
N:Played through twice then leads into jig
N:The {ABd} ornament is used regularly roughly as shown
N:I have not attempted to annotate the slides and other ornaments
Z:Edgar Bolton
M:4/4
R:Hornpipe/Slow Air
K:D
|: d>B G>B A2 A2 {ABd} | e>c A>F G2 G2 {ABd} | e>d c>A d>c A>G | A2 A>B A4 {ABd} |
f3 g e3 c | d2 A2 {ABd} e>f g>e | a>g e>d c>A d>c | A2 A>B A4 :|
|: g2 g>f g>e d>B | (3Bcd e>f g>e d>f | e2 a2 a3 g | e2 a2 a3 g |
f3 g e3 c | d2 A2 {ABd} e>f g>e | a>g e>d c>A d>c | A2 A>B A4 :|

# Posted on January 23rd 2011 by Eachann mac Bodach

"Poll Ha'Penny" / "Garraí Na Bhfeileoig"

# Posted on April 29th 2012 by ceolachan