Fiddler Packie Dolan recorded a reel called Mullin’s Fancy in the 1920s. It’s on one of the Wheels of the World CDs. Nellie Mulligan recorded it on his Leitrim Thrush record. It’s in O’Neill’s under the title the Strawberry Blossom. Seamus Ennis plays it on the Folktrax CD Irish Uilleann Pipes with the title the Leitrim Lilt; on Ceol, Scealta, agus Amhrain he calls it Pat Ward’s Hornpipe, although playing it as a reel on the whistle. It’s a version of the Scottish/English tune the Keel Row:
"As I cam thro’ Sandgate, thro’ Sandgate,thro’ Sandgate;
As I cam thro’ Sandgate I heard a lassie sing:
Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row:
Weel may the keel row that my laddie’s in.
And weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row:
Weel may the keel row that my laddie’s in.
He wears a blue bonnet, blue bonnet, blue bonnet;
He wears a blue bonnet, a dimple on his chin.
Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row:
Weel may the keel row that my laddie’s in.
And weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row:
Weel may the keel row that my laddie’s in. "
It’s also played as a fling, and recorded as such many times in the 20s. One of the three extant recordings of the great Northumbrian piper Tom Clough is a dazzling version of this tune, with very ornate variations.
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