This is a great reel and a common session tune! I learned “Devaney’s Goat” (or “Devanny’s Goat”) through various sessions, but I associate it with the playing of Christy Barry in particular. In the sleeve notes of John Carty’s album’s “Last Night’s Fun”, it says that, according to flute player Jack Coen, this reel was composed by Tommy Whelan, a flute player with the Ballinakill Ceili Band in East Galway, who named the tune for a neighbor’s animal.
X:1
T:Devaney’s Goat
C:Tommy Whelan
R:reel
M:4/4
K:D
|:DFAB AFAB|d2ef dBAF|DFAF BFAF|E2ED EGFE|
D~F3 AFAB|d2ef dBAf|efdB A~F3|1 AFEA FDDE:|2 AFEA FDDe||
|:faab afdf|a2fd edBd|ABde f~d3|edfd edBd|
ABde f~d3|edfd edBd|A2dB A~F3|1 AFEA FDDe:|2 AFEA FDDE||
T:Devaney’s Goat
C:Tommy Whelan
R:reel
M:4/4
K:D
|:DFAB AFAB|d2ef dBAF|DFAF BFAF|E2ED EGFE|
D~F3 AFAB|d2ef dBAf|efdB A~F3|1 AFEA FDDE:|2 AFEA FDDe||
|:faab afdf|a2fd edBd|ABde f~d3|edfd edBd|
ABde f~d3|edfd edBd|A2dB A~F3|1 AFEA FDDe:|2 AFEA FDDE||
3 thoughts on “Devaney’s Goat”
Tommy Whelan is my great grandfather, my son plays piano and my daughter sings in Irish, all our family loves trad music; my uncle des calls it the Diddley Diddley, thank you for the sheet music, Dads 88 and recalls playing drum one night only with his Aunt Eva Whelan and Killimore Ceili Band, my cousins in New Jersey play at the Galway big Feish every year on flute same as their gggrandfather Tommy Whelan and his son Jetty who was like a big brother to my dad, when I knocked on his door in 81 on my rover Irish backpack trip he said “ isn’t it grand that you sniffed me out”
Sean Costello Jnr
Hi Sean!
Thank you so much for your comment and how amazing that you are Tommy Whelan’s great grandson and stumbled upon my website! The community of Irish traditional musicians is really special
Best regards from sunny Doolin,
Charles
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