Hi,
Does anybody know the name of this tune? I don’t really “do” the abc’s so please excuse my feeble attempt below. Here is the beginning. It is not the Merry Blacksmith, but starts similarly.
d ABAFA ABdABAFA BEEDEFGA BCd(triplet) eCdCBCd
?? 
??
thanks
Let’s clean it up a bit, first (I’m no good at ABC either, but this much I can do, if I’ve understood your rendering):
ll: d3A BAFA l ABdA BAFA l BEED EFGA l (3Bcd ec dcBc l
As to the last notes, I settled for the guess that the phrase ends on c and the d was the downbeat for the the next measure; the other possibility to me is that instead it’s another Bcd triplet, to wit: (3Bcd ec dc (3Bcd.
Which is it? 
In any case it sounds like just another setting for Merry Blacksmith to me.
[ Nano: I cleaned your ABCs a tad … I don’t know what it is, either. - MTGuru ]
[ MT: I know I stink at this, but stop helping already!! 
I’m workin’ on it. Okay. I think it’s fine, now. 
- Nano ]
Nano, you are a true abc wizard!
You are quite correct
ll: d3A BAFA l ABdA BAFA l BEED EFGA l (3Bcd ec dcBc l
I have not heard it referred to as another setting of the Merry Blacksmith (despite the obvious similarities). I was hoping it had another name 
It’s great to play if you want to confuse people at sessions.
thanks!
Actually, no, I’m demonstrably not, but thanks. 
Good going! You got closer than me; I treated the d, and then the d & A, as a pickup – but it kind of went pear-shaped at the triplet. Came up with a couple of interesting things, though , which kind of got me wondering about slicing and dicing a few sets of ABCs by shifting a letter one way or the other, just to see what happens … 
The only reason I’m thinking of it as a setting (it may indeed be considered as a separate tune in its own right, but I’m unaware of it), is that there is ample leeway to back up the more usual ABde f2ed Beed egfe run in B minor and thence to G for backup variation’s sake. With that in mind, the implied E minor in your version would make for a nice, tasty spinoff-type variation surprise. Could be, anyway.
I love doing that, the slicing and dicing. I came up with a whole new jig by shifting Rakes of Kildare down a step to Gmaj. Every now and then I’ll play it at a session, and everyone’s playing blithely along with a fair degree of success and wondering why they know it. Then I tell 'em it’s “The Lawnmowers of Kildare”, and of course I have to dodge a rain of thrown objects (and YES, it’s a conscious bollixing of the real meaning of “rakes”. I know what I’m doing. So there.).
Maybe I’m not the first to have done it, but I’m the first that I know of. So, fly away, little Lawnmowers of Kildare jig!! Fly away. Spread the love to all sessions in the land. 
Here’s the bones to it (Cnat and F#, of course):
ll: DGG GFG ABc d2e l fff dfd cAG FED l DGG GFG ABc d2e l fed cAF G3 G3 :ll
ll: gdg gdg gdg a2g l fff dfd cAG FAd l gdg gdg gdg a2g l fed cAF G3 G3 :ll
Confound and piss off your friends at a session near you.
No, don’t thank me. Playing The Lawnmowers will probably wind you up in the hospital. And please don’t try to come up with a cleverer name for it. It’s already been tried, and there just IS none better.
There’s a tune - the second tune after The Boys of the Lough in a classic Sligo set that goes all the way back to Michael Coleman - that’s called The Devils of Dublin. It’s basically a nicer version of The Merry Blacksmith. Perhaps it’s the tune you have here. You can hear this set played on quite a few recordings, among them Peter Horan and Fred Finn’s classic album and Catherine McEvoy’s first CD.
The only thing I can think of is the C part of The Old Road to Garry by Paddy O’Brien, which resembles bars 1 + 3 above.
Here’s the Norbeck ABC of the D setting, with the relevant part bolded:
X:363
T:Old Road to Garry, The
R:reel
C:Paddy O’Brien (Nenagh)
H:Originally in C, #595
Z:id:hn-reel-363
M:C|
K:D
AF~F2 ABdf|edBA BedB|AF~F2 ABdf|g2ag fddB|
AF~F2 ABdf|edBA (3Bcd ef|gfge fbaf|efde fdd2:|
a2fd adfd|Beed efgb|a2fd Adfd|gbag fdd2|
a2fd adfd|Beed efga|bgaf efdB|ABde fdef:|
**d3A BAFA|Beed egfe|**dF~F2 ABdf|gbag fdef|
dcdA BAFA|Beed cABc|dfaf efdB|ABde fdd2:|
faag fefa|bgaf edBA|fa~a2 fedB|ABde fd~d2|
faag fefa|bgaf edef|~g3e f2af|efde fdd2:|
Now John’s got me curious, so I’m scratching out the Devils of Dublin as I remember us playing it. (I’ll probably regret this later when I go look it up, but for now …) And … it is fiendishly close the The Merry Blacksmith; I remember getting the B parts mixed up a lot.
Ahhh, I used to love that tune; we need to get it out again. Thanks, John!
NB: I’ve literally written this down from memory; no MIDI or anything here at work to check it. I eyeballed it in dot form in the Tune-O-Tron and it looked OK for a five-minute job but I wouldn’t take it as gospel. Finally, I threw the sort of ornamented versions in the the second halves of the A & B parts; we used to play it simple the first time thru & more busy the second time thru each part. So apologies for any lameness (and I’m sure there’s much!)
X:1
T:The Devils of Dublin
S:Flute Styles for Suki and Somewheres Else, I Can’t Recall (The Mountain Road/Music of South Sligo recording, maybe?)
M:C
K:DMaj
|dcBA BAFB | AFBF AFEF | A~d3 Adfd | (3efe df e~B3| d2dA BAFB | ABdA BAFB ABde|fdec dBAG|F~D3:|| a2ag ~f2fe | ~d2dA BAFA | ABde fded | Beed ~e2 fg| abag fafe | defA BAFA | ABde fded | dBAG FA ~F2:||
Duh, Cath, could have just looked it up on JC’s … 
Oh well, it was a good exercise and definitely more fun that writing ads for hysterectomies and prostate surgery (which I get to go do now as I’ve fannied about long enough)!
X: 1
T: Devils Of Dublin
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Dmaj
|:d2dA BAGB|AFBF A~F3|Ad(3ddd Adfd|(3efe df e~B3|
|d2dA BAGB|AFBF A~F3|ABde fdce|1 dBAG FDFA:|2 dBAG FDD2||
|:agfe~f3e|dcBA BAFB|Ad(3ddd Adfd|(3efe df e~B3|
|a2ag ~f3e|dcBA BAFB|ABde fdce|1 dBAG FDD2:|2 dBAG FDFA||
Ring any bells, anyone?
Here, from memory, is my setting of Devils of Dublin. It’s basically the Lúnasa setting.
X:1
T:Devils of Dublin
M:C|
K:D
dB~B2 BAFB|A2BF AF~F2|Ad~d2 Adfd|efdf eB~B2|
d2cA BF~F2|AFBF AF~F2|ABde fece|dBAG FD~D2:|
faag ~f3e|d2dA BAFB|Ad~d2 Adfd|efdf eB~B2|
faag ~f3e|dfed BAFB|ABde fece|dBAG FD~D2:|
Bravo, Kenny!
And there you have it. 
Hi
Did I hear that tune on one of the cds made by Gerry Harrington / Eoghan O’ Suilleabhain / Paul De Grae. - Sceal Eile or The Smokey Chimney? Thats what came to my mind when I lilted the abcs.
John