Pure Drop

Father Emmet · Post by **Father Emmet** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:13 pm

As I've always understood it "Pure Drop" refered to distilled spirits that had not yet been "Proofed" (cut with water). Poitin and moonshine would certainly fit that definition.

PJ · Post by PJ » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:26 pm

elbogo wrote:Now, with regards to music, in Walsh's tune book,
the Pure Drop tune is attributed to Ennis... Did he write this tune?
Or did he just rename an existing tune, calling it Pure Drop
to give it an 'edge' so to speak?

It is also known as:

Bob Steele's
Hand Me Down My Tackle
Reidy Johnson's
Tom Steele's

I think one of the big problems with SE's repertoire is that he was such a big collector of music that it'll always be very difficult to distinguish the tunes he collected from those he wrote.

tompipes · Post by **tompipes** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:54 pm

I think one of the big problems with SE's repertoire is that he was such a big collector of music that it'll always be very difficult to distinguish the tunes he collected from those he wrote.

What one's did he write?
It's a gas thing, you'd be playing tunes for years and then you find out who wrote the things.
Tommy

eric · Post by **eric** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:57 pm

> the Pure Drop tune is attributed to Ennis... Did he write this tune?

No, he did not write this tune. From Ennis's liner notes:

"The Pure Drop:
This reel has all the hallmarks of an old pipers' reel in that it includes movements peculiar to chanter-playing and lends itself to drone-blending and comfortably attained harmony-playing. A simpler version appears in O'Neill's collection (Chicago 1903) with this title and it is played on a 78 of the 1930's by Sonny Brogan (accordion) under the title 'Hand me Down the Tackle.'"

HTH

Jim McGuire · Post by **Jim McGuire** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 2:10 pm

I never heard that Seamus Ennis ever wrote a tune. One of his main sources was O'Neill's for many, many tunes and settings, especially the hornpipes. In jigs, his distinctive version of the Gold Ring was right out of O'Neill's, for instance. Ace and Deuce of Piping was another one lifted right out of O'Neill's.

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:33 pm

D wrote:
A wrote:
D wrote:

djm · Post by **djm** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:39 pm

Ooo! A Moire!

Are we bored?

djm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 3:40 pm

For some reason, this thread just brings that out in a person.

fel bautista · Post by **fel bautista** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:42 pm

Joseph-no regs yet?eh!

elbogo · Post by **elbogo** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:23 am

As usual, Kevin, always comes in kind of late...

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:04 am

Jim McGuire wrote:I never heard that Seamus Ennis ever wrote a tune. One of his main sources was O'Neill's for many, many tunes and settings, especially the hornpipes. In jigs, his distinctive version of the Gold Ring was right out of O'Neill's, for instance. Ace and Deuce of Piping was another one lifted right out of O'Neill's.

I think the closest he came to composition is in his reworking of the Foxchase, I have him on one tape saying 'that's a job of my own' or something like that before going into his version ofthe lamentt for the Fox and the g version of the Foxhunter's jig.
There is definitely some instant composition in tunes where he gets lost.

I do have a tionol tape of him where he is adding third parts to wellknown tunes like Drowsy maggie, I am not sure he was demonstrating how to make them up or just playing extra parts he came across for the benefit of the pipers present.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 5:20 am

fel bautista wrote:Joseph-no regs yet?eh!

They're 'in the works'. I imagine I'll have them safe within my greedy mitts sometime this coming Fall.

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 1:11 pm

Jim McGuire wrote:I never heard that Seamus Ennis ever wrote a tune. One of his main sources was O'Neill's for many, many tunes and settings, especially the hornpipes. In jigs, his distinctive version of the Gold Ring was right out of O'Neill's, for instance. Ace and Deuce of Piping was another one lifted right out of O'Neill's.

No, Ennis didn't play the last two parts of the O'Neill's Gold Ring, but Willie Clancy did. I'd as well believe that it was a tune Ennis's father had from the old pipers, probably it's too late to know. Ennis's weird A version of the Ace and Deuce seems to be the alternate version from O'Neill's, which is actually the A Major fiddle version of the tune, Ennis played it with two sharps of course - A Mixolydian if you will. And his Grove's/O'Dwyer's medley is curious since those tunes come one after the other in the Bible.
Sean Reid wrote that Leo Rowsome picked up the Bantry hornpipe from him. Could it be - gasp? - that Leo influenced Seamus?

eric · Post by **eric** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:06 pm

Again, notes from the Pure Drop:

"The Groves Hornpipe: Dwyer's Hornpipe
As a hornpipe recital my father invariably coupled these two tunes, so that they are automatically in sequence in my mind...."

eric · Post by **eric** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 2:13 pm

P.S.

> O'Neill's, which is actually the A Major fiddle version of the tune

In his 1850? I only have the 1001 gems, where the ace and deuce has only the f sharp (and that rendered natural during the usual spots).

On what recording does Ennis play the ace and deuce? I don't have that one.

> my father invariably coupled these two tunes

I guess I shouldnt rule out that his father could have coupled them because of the book... not that it matters.

eric

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Pure Drop

Groves and Dwyer's