i’ve been hooked on the garry shannon version of ‘the fox on the town’ on the WFO1 CD & asked my teacher if we could do it this week, so we did - but it’s completely different to his version. is garry shannon’s a completely version to the norm or are there loadsa versions or ??
and would anybody have the notation for garry shannon’s version?
i cant sleep at night cos it’s going through my head, so maybe if i learn to play it the insomnia will stop!
thanks,
y
Garry’s version is similar enough to the version my teacher plays that we’ve been able to play it together. There are dots for it at JC’s ABC Tunefinder.
There’s a very different version in the Mike Rafferty book; maybe what your teacher plays is similar to that one.
I’ll take a stab in the dark here. There is also a reel called “The Fox On The Prowl”. Might the 2 tunes and names have gotten mixed up ? I think that track was taken from Gary’s 2nd recording, and if so, I’ll have a listen to it tonight and get back to you.
Does this explain it ?
“Town”
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/341
“Prowl”
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/501
If this is not the answer, well, you’ve got 2 good tunes instead of 1.
..and read the comments section especially for the first link … you’ll find the ABCs for half a dozen variants too!
Chris J
no it’s deffo ‘town’…but that version looks different again, i’ll try it tonight though anyway, so thanks!
i see there are more versions in the comments section but i dont understand the ABC’s thing - how do you know the length of the note?
This tune causes great arguments at my session. I’ve heard it called The Fox on the town, Finbar Dwyers, Richie Dwyers or just Dwyers. Mr Molloy plays a nice version on his latest album. The Gary Shannon version is basically the same except he adds some pretty crazy stuff. If you try playing your version along with Gary’s you’ll notice a big similarity i’ll bet, but i suppose it’s just a case of practising until you can comfortably add in the ornamentation. BTW, THE BEST VERSION IS CONAL O’GRADA’S ON TOP OF THE CROOM!!! Just listening to it makes me faint. 
David
Highlight the ABC notation , copy to clipboard and paste into Concertina net’s Tune-o-tron at http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html
It’ll give you a printable score (pdf) and/or a MIDI to play (playback is a bit mechanical, but serves to at least identify the tune.)
Note lengths are in units shown by the L: in the header. a digit after a note is a multiplier ie G2 with L: 1/8 is a G 2/8 long. (octave is decided by lower or upper case - Caps are low! (I can’t remember what you do for lower than middle C) .
is a dotted note
= is a dotted followed by a half note
etc…
Chris J
The Fox on the Town is sometime’s called Dwyers???
Ooooh, thank you!!! I thought I was going insane. (one place calls it one thing, the other the other 
)
BLESS YOU!
Listened to Gary’s recording - “Town” it is, although I’ve known it long before that as “Richard Dwyer’s”, who I believe composed it. Matt Molloy and Frankie Gavin do indeed do a superb duet rendition on Matt’s last recording “Shadows On Stone”. Frankie Gavin has also been playing it as part of a whistle solo for years when he was with “De Danann”. Gary has very much put his own spin on this, with a lot of his own variations, so don’t be surprised if you learn this version and no-one [ apart from Gary ] plays it like that. But if you want a seriously “cracked” version of it, listen to Niall Keegan’s version !!
Yes, although there are a lot of tunes called Dwyer’s. It was composed by one of the Dwyer brothers, either Richard or Finbar I can never keep them straight.
The Fox on the Prowl was composed by Vincent Broderick and is indeed a completely different tune. To make matters even more complicated, Mike Rafferty’s version of the Fox on the Prowl (which he recorded on one of his albums and is probably in Lesl’s book) diverges considerably from Vincent Broderick’s composition in the second part of the tune. I’ve started hearing Mike’s version being played in sessions.
The Fox on the Town was (as far as I know) the original name given to the reel by whichever Dwyer composed it.
I’m still unconverted, kenny – 
– so am still an unwashed heathen in the GS department. Hopefully I can get the situation resolved this weekend!
Thanks, Brad. I knew there were a lot of Dwyer’s out there, because when I’ve gone looking I’ve found all kinds (it’s as bad as hunting for the right Cronin’s). Anyway, I half-knew Fox on the Town a while ago and it recently came up a session. So after I hacked and slashed my way thru it, I asked “What the heck was that?” in the way that one does when one doesn’t know whether one knows the tune or merely something like it or …
Anyway, someone said “Dwyers” and I thought “huh, I didn’t know I knew that.”
THEN, I was at a different session a week later in another city where I had opportunity to mangle it yet again, and ah-hah! “Fox on the Town.”
So I’m thinking in this case it is the same tune. Which means you guys have helped me a lot! (Heck, even if it isn’t the same tune you’ve helped me a lot …Thank You!)
There’s a great version of it on Margaret and Michael Dwyers whistle record
‘na daoine ata imithe’ I’d guess they’re related? Also Paddy Carty’s version is good I think.
The only Dwyer’s I know of recorded by Carty (on his Shanachie album with Mick O’Connor on banjo) is a different Dwyer tune…the reel that is most commonly known as just “Richard Dwyer’s.”
Matt Molloy calls The Fox on the Town “Finbar Dwyer’s” but Donncha O’Brien had it on his album as “Richard Dwyer’s” so the confusion continues…
And also there’s a famous hornpipe recorded in the 1920s (it’s on Fluters of Old Erin) called “Dwyer’s,” which was long before Finbar, Richard, or Michael!
Confusion aided and abetted by the session, I get in a terrible mess tracking down Fahey tunes as well!
DON’T EVEN START with the Fahey tunes.
Yes, Michael (RIP) is one of the brothers. I seem to recall Margaret is a sister?
The tune on WFO1 is actually Richie Dwyer’s (the correct title according to him), composed by Richie and on his own latest CD. I must correct that on the webpage (even if it’s still wrong on the CD insert). Vincent Broderick does have a different tune called “Fox on the Prowl”, and was mistakenly credited on WFO1. He’ all straight with it as well. BTW, Vincent has a book of his new compositions coming in about March from Waltons.
Kevin Krell
Yippee! And I can’t believe I didn’t put that tune together with Garry Shannon’s version of it. I guess his was just so much cooler than the way I play it it sounded like another animal entirely.
Well???
coon, possum…what?
