Key signature: Adorian
Submitted on May 25th 2001 by Jeremy.
This tune has been added to 388 tunebooks.
Also known as Cabaír Féigh, Cabar Feidh, Caber Feidh, Caber Feigh, Caberfeidh, The Deer's Antlers.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Rakish Paddy
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ador
|:c4 c2 AB|cBAG Ec c2|Add^c defe| dcAG FGAB|
c4 c2 AB|cBAG EDCE|DEFG ABcA|dcAG F2 D2:|
|:eg g2 ag g2|eg g2 ed^cd|ea a2 ba a2|ea a2 egdg|
eg g2 ag g2|fed^c defg|afge fde^c|dcAG F2 D2:|
This is one of my favourite slow reels. It has a very haunting sound.
I learned this tune as a slow reel, but I've also heard it played at "session speed". Personally, I prefer it slow.
The first note of the tune is held so long that it's just crying out for some kind of ornamentation, yet I find it's quite effective to simply hold the note without embellishment. If you decide to ornament it, try turning it into a roll.
Watch out for the C notes towards the end of each part. They change from being natural to sharp and back again.
I've heard versions of this tune with an extra part (sometimes even two extra parts) but it's basically just variation on the second part.
The original source of this wonderful reel may be the brilliant Irish-American piper, Barney Delaney. Delaney was a slightly less than sane individual who served as a sergeant in the Chicago police force in those days when playing the pipes with reasonable skill made you fully qualified to be an officer on the force.
# Posted on June 2nd 2001 by Jeremy
According to Con Cassidy, this was probably derived from the Scottish reel "Cabaír Féigh". John Doherty played a version similar to Cassidy's, which he thought his eldest brother Charlie brought to Donegal from the US, so the Delaney story may very well be right!
# Posted on August 24th 2002 by Zina Lee
Yes, it is Scottish. Capercaillie recorded this one as "Caber Feidh (The Deer's Antlers)" on the bonus track of "Get Out." Here is their setting (the first one):
K: Ador
c3 B c2 AB|cBAG EG G2|Add^c defe|dcAG FGAB|
c3 B c2 AB|cBAG EFGE|DEFG ABcA|dcAG FD D2:|
|:eg g2 ag g2|eg g2 ed^cd|eaag a2 ag|eaag ed^cd|
eg g2 ag g2|f2 fe defg|afge defe|dcAG FD D2:|
"Variation"
c3 B c2 AB|cBAG EG G2|Add^c defe|dcAG FGAB|
c3 B c2 AB|cBAG EFGE|DEFG ABcA|1 dcAG FGAB:|2 dcAG FD D2||
|:eg g2 ag g2|eg g2 edBd|eaa2 bgag|eaag edBd|
eg g2 ag g2|egge defg|afge fde^c|1 dcAG FD D2:|2 dcAG FGAB||
The second one is what I learned first, but the mixture of these versions is widely played here in Japan.
I think "Farewell to Connaught," "Toss the Feathers" in Dmix, and "The Old Bush" are the cousins of this reel.
# Posted on March 4th 2003 by slainte
3-part version
Some musicians in Leeds add one extra part to the beginning of the tune like this:
K: Ador
c2 gc acgc|c2 gc BAGB|d2 ad bdad|d2 ad cBAB|
c2 gc acgc|f2 fe defg|afge fde^c|dcAG FGAB:|
I'm not sure how they got it, but it seems they learned it from the tape recording of a Ceili Band competition. It is somewhat similar to the first part of the New Copperplate. Anyway, it's fairly whistle- or flute-unfriendly and I'm not good enough to play it. I prefer the compact two part settings.
For the Capre Breton 3-part version of the tune, buy and listen to Fred Morrison's "Sound of the Sun" album. He also plays the strathspey version of it.
# Posted on February 29th 2004 by slainte
Rakish Paddy - Four part version
The third part that is mentioned above is thought to be the first of two extra parts composed by Michael Coleman, which Seamus Ennis describes as "in keeping with its theme" and "an achievement endorsed by and endeared to us all". This is quoted from Tommy Potts' Liffey Banks. Tommy plays the four part version on the album and the third part is very similar to what Slainte posted above. I will post the two exta parts later. Does anyone play these extra parts?
# Posted on June 26th 2004 by Jamie
Rakish Paddy/Caberfeidh
Since "Rakish Paddy" is derived from the 4-part Scottish pipe-reel "Caberfeidh", the surprising thing is that the 4 parts aren't played more often. The only man I know in Scotland who plays the 4-part version of "Rakish Paddy", Jamie, is our very own Mike Ward. Ask him next time you see him.
# Posted on June 26th 2004 by Kenny
Rakish Paddy/Caberfeidh
When I was over in Skye I had the fortune of playing some music with Dr Angus MacDonald and we delved into some very old tune books, one of which contained Caberfeidh, but I thought, unless my memory is up the spout (it certainly happens), that it too was only a two part?! Mike had also told me about the source being Caberfeidh, but he didn't know that the two additional parts were Caberfeidh itself, if you see what I mean. Mind you, he didn't have a clue where he'd learnt them.
Whatever the case, Mike plays the four parts very well, and it was having heard him play them recently that led me to try and find out more about them, and thus my first comment above (after hearing the parts on the Tommy Potts album)....
# Posted on July 6th 2004 by Jamie
I've been thinking the original Scottish tune had three parts. "Rakish Paddy" and "The New Copperplate" ("The Old Copperplate" as well?) are apparently related to each other, but they dropped out a different part out of three and keep the other two. Don't know actually. Maybe I'm wrong.
# Posted on July 7th 2004 by slainte
This is a good example of a tune that came over from Scotland and was reworked to fit within the compass of the Irish pipes chanter. The original version of the pipes had a chanter with a low C, obtained with an extra pipe which socketed onto the chanter's bottom. You could still play two octaves but only legato, as is the case with almost all other bagpipes. Someone in the late 18th century removed this foot joint and discovered they could play the pipes staccato now, at the expense of no longer having the low C; this has been the form of the Irish pipes since, and much music was retooled to suit this change; at the time this was happening it was all fiddles and pipes, with the fiddle the much lower in status of the two. Some kinds of whistle were probably around but no record of what was being played remains. Flutes didn't come in until a half century later or more. Harpers were practically extinct.
# Posted on September 23rd 2004 by Kevin Rietmann
Rakish Paddy: Altan version
X: 1
T: Rakish Paddy (Donegal Setting)
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmix
|:cded ~c2Bc|AcGc AD~D2|Add^c d3e|fd (3efg fded|
cded ~c2Bc|AcG=F ED^CE|D^CDE =FAdB|1 cAGE EDDB:|2 cAGc ADgf||
efgb (3agf gB|gagf ed^ce|d2ad bdad|abag fedf|
efgb (3agf gB|gagf ed^ce|defg abaf|~g2ag fddf|
efgb (3agf gB|gagf ed^ce|d2ad bdad|abag fdAB|
c2gc acgc|gagf ed^ce|defg abaf|~g2ag fged||
2nd time thru B-part:
efgb (3agf gB|gagf ed^ce|d2ad bdad|abag fedf|
efgb (3agf gB|gagf ed^ce|defg abaf|~g2ag fddB||
c2gc acgc|gagf ed^ce|d2ad bdad|abag fdAB|
c2gc acgc|gagf ed^ce|defg abaf|~g2ag fddz||
# Posted on April 27th 2005 by Dow
Rakish Paddy - 4 part version
As played by Kevin Crehan when he lived in Cincy. HE taught it to a couple of fiddlers who taught it to me. A few of us here play this version.
X:1
T:Rakish Paddy
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:reel
K:Ador
AB |:c2AB c2AB|cBAG EG G2|Add^c defe| dcAG FGAB|
c2AB c2AB|cBAG EFGE|DEFG ABcA|1 dcAG FDAB:|2 dcAG FDD2|
|:egfg ec~c2|ecgc ec~c2|eaga ed~d2|edad ed~d2|
egfg ec~c2|effe defg|afge fde^c|1 dcAG FDD2:|2 dcAG FDAB|
|:c2gc acgc|c2gc edcd|d2ad bdad|d2ad ed^cd|
c2gc acgc|fgfe defg|afge fde^c|1 dcAG FDAB:|2 dcAG FDD2|
|:eg~g2 ag~g2|eg~g2 ed^cd|ea~a2 ba~a2|ea~a2 ed^cd|
eg~g2 ag~g2|fgfe defg|afge fde^c|1 dcAG FDD2:|2 dcAG FD||
# Posted on July 19th 2005 by FiddleMeThis
it's in D mix, not A dorian surely?
# Posted on July 27th 2007 by hakanozel
You're right Hakan - definitely D mix
# Posted on January 26th 2008 by colm