In 1986 Chris Wood got a call from Martin Carthy, inviting him to join Sue Harris, Chris Taylor and Martin himself as one of the musicians for the RSC’s production of Nigel Williams’ play Country Dancing. I saw the play towards the end of its run at the Barbican but, even before that, the two Chris’s had introduced me to some of the tunes being used. The one that stuck in my head was ‘Candle Dance’, written by Sue Harris.
Now, I say it stuck in my head. I’ve just compared the way I play it, with how the tune is written out in the John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris tune book ‘Opus Pocus’, and it’s really quite different. I don’t know if I’ve misremembered it or – and I think this is more likely – I didn’t learn it quite right in the first place. Oh well. Isn’t the oral tradition wonderful?
An image of O’Farrell reproduced from the title page of his ‘National Music for the Union Pipes’. From ‘Irish Minstrels and Musicians’ (1913), by Capt. Francis O’Neill, via Bill Haneman’s website.
As far as I know I have no Irish or Scottish ancestry, so to celebrate St Patrick’s Day or Burns Night might seem rather presumptuous – an act of cultural appropriation some would say. So here’s the faintest nod to the fact that it’s St Patrick’s Day today. It’s an untitled Quick Step from an important early 19th century collection compiled by the uilleann piper O’Farrell:
O’Farrell’s pocket companion for the Irish or union pipes Being a grand selection of favourite tunes both Scotch and Irish, adapted for the pipes, flute, flageolet and violin : Some of which was never before published : With some favourite duets for the above instruments.
Almost nothing is known about O’Farrell (not even his first name), but he published the first tutor for the Irish pipes, and is known to have performed professionally on the London stage.
One of the productions in which he played was ‘Oscar and Malvina’. In pursuing the connections between this “ballet-pantomime” and the tune ‘Kempshott Hunt’ I looked through a photocopy of the ‘Pocket Companion’ at the Vaughan William Memorial Library – and copied out a number of other tunes. Several of which, like this one, don’t sound remotely Irish (OK, maybe it’s the way I play it).
These days you can find copies of the collection in various places, including the Internet Archive.
Quickstep from O’Farrell’s Pocket Companion. Digitised by the National Library of Scotland, via the Internet Archive.
Believe it or not, Magpie Lane was not always the slick, well-oiled machine you see these days. When my children were young I was almost invariably late for rehearsals, and at various times over the years other band members have been guilty of a degree of tardiness. The title for this tune arose from a comment made by Mat Green at a particularly inauspicious Sunday afternoon practice. Unusually, I’d arrived at his house on time. The rest of the band turned up about half an hour later, with the exception of one person – who shall remain nameless – who, it transpired, was at a birthday party in Birmingham and never showed up at all. Mat – who is simply never late – was particularly miffed, as he’d given up a day’s overtime, tending to the health of the county’s water courses. Still, as he looked out of the window on a particularly cold, wet and windy Sunday afternoon (not dissimilar to the weather we’ve seen the last couple of days), being inside in the warm was “better than winching sluice gates in the rain”.
I can’t recall if I already had this tune knocking around, looking for a suitable title, or if the title came first and the tune later, but it was a phrase that stuck with me.
The abc notation below is a transcription of what I actually wrote down in 2001. What I actually play seems to have departed from the original in a few places. You can take your pick.
X:58
T:Winching Sluice Gates in the Rain
C: Andy Turner 22/05/2001
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
g2g2 agfg|e2B2BA Bd|g2g2 ag fg|e4g4|B3A G2g2|f2 fe dd ef|g2 ga fd B2|1 c3 d ed ef:|2 c4cA Bc|
|:B2G2 GB dB|c2 B2 AF GA |B2G2 EFGA|B4B2A2|G2c2 cB Ac|d2d2BAG2|FG AB cA FA|(G4G4):|]
Squeezed Out 