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Guiness on a Saucer- Tune: Rakes of Mallow (Na Racairide Ua Mag-Ealla)
Traditional English, American; Polka, Reel or March. England; North-West, Northumbrian. USA; Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York State, Massachusetts, Maine.
ARTIST: Kenny Hall.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1980’s.
RECORDING INFO: Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String band, Voyager VRLP 328-S, LP - cut# 3. Folkways 8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels." North Star NS0038, "The Village Green: Dance Music of Old Sturbridge Village." Bob Smith's Ideal Band - "Better than an Orchestra" (1977). Faier, Billy. Art of the Five String Banjo, Riverside RLP 12-813, LP (1957), cut#A.01; Galvin, Patrick. Irish Drinking Songs, Riverside RLP 12-604, LP (196?), cut# 5; Mole Hill Highlanders. Union Grove, The Hub of the Universe, Union Grove SS-4, LP (1970), cut# 20; Nicholson, Roger. Nonesuch for Dulcimer, Trailer Ler 3034, LP (197?), cut# 4; Smith, Paul. Devil Eat the Groundhog, Rounder 0409, CD (1999), cut#10 (Pretty Little Girl)
OTHER NAMES: “Goodie on a Saucer” "Rigs O' Marlow," "Romping Molly." Irish (originally),
SOURCES: Kenny Hall’s Music Book- Mel Bay. Lewis Jilson (Bernardstown, Mass.) [Linscott]; Les Weir, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]; seven southwestern Pa. fifers and fiddlers [Bayard]; Bob Fleck (Michigan) [Johnson]. Arkie, pg. 46. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 190A-G, pgs. 145-148. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 29, pg. 118. Cazden, 1955; pg. 39. Cushing, No. 61. DeVille, 1905; No. 67. Jarman, 1951; pg. 73. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 7: Michigan Tunes), Vol. 7, 1986-87; pg. 10. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; pg. 33 (appears as "Rigs O' Marlow" in an strathspey setting). Keller (Giles Gibbs Jr. His Book For the Fife...1777), 1974; pg. 11. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 54, pg. 27. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 371, pg. 41. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 99. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. pg. Moffat (Minstrelsy of Ireland), 1897; pg. 21. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 33, pg. 125. O'Malley, 1919; pg. 39. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1814, pg. 341. Ostling, 1939; No. 22. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 169. Robbins, 1933; No. 133. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989; pg. 17. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 6, pg. 4. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 204. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 56. Sym, pg 25. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 14. Wier, pg. 455; Thompson, Linda Lowe. Dulcimer Player News, Dulcimer Player News DPN, Ser (1973-), 13/2, p25; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: Parody of “Goodie on a Saucer”, which is the melody to Rakes of Mallow: "G Major; Standard. AB (Bronner, O'Neill): AABB (Kerr, Linscott, Russell, Ruth, Sweet, Seattle/Vickers, Wade): AABBCC (Johnson, Karpeles, Kennedy, Raven). Bayard (1981) identifies the name as apparently stemming from the 18th century when the town of Mallow, County Cork (on the river Blackwater between Limerick and Cork City), was a well-known spa. Russell (1989) calls it a "prosperous little town" today, and one which has attracted industry and population because of the good land nearby. Mallow is located at the western end of the 'Golden Vale' which stretches across Ireland into Meath and Dublin. 'Rakes' appears to be short for 'rakehell', which itself stems from the Old Icelandic word "reikall," meaning "wandering" or "unsettled." One of the early printings of the tune is in the collection of Burke Thumoth, 1745, and Paul Gifford has found it in a manuscript of Danish hakkebraet (dulcimer) tablature under the title "Rakes of London," dated 1753. The tune has apparently sometimes been linked in New England with the dance "Morning Star," and can be used for either a polka or a single step dance in the North-West (England) morris dance tradition. The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham. The elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's. See also the tune under the name "Romping Molly" in Shaw's Cowboy Dances (1943)." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
A Part: We know what (sing anyone’s name) wants,
We know what (sing anyone’s name) wants,
We know what (sing anyone’s name) wants,
Guiness on a saucer.
B Part: We know what is good fer us!
We know what is good fer us!
We know what is good fer us!
Guiness on a saucer.
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