“The Banks of the Shannon” is a composition Paddy Taylor, flute player from Limerick. It is also know simply as “Paddy Taylor’s Jig” by many. I associate this tune with Noel O’Donoghue who recorded it with his band Moher.
X:1
T:Banks of the Shannon (The)
T:Paddy Taylor’s Jig
R:Jig
C:Paddy Taylor
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D
|:~A3 gfg|a2a efg|f2f ged|cAG EFG|
~A3 ~g3|a3 efg|fed cAG|1 Adc d2c:|2 Adc d2e||
|:fed edc|d2d cAG|~A3 DFA|fed ecA|
fed edc|ded cde|fed cAG|1 Adc d2e:|2 Adc d2d||
This is Micho Russell’s version of the famous march “The Battle of Aughrim”. It is not very different from the common version but I love Micho’s phrasing of the tune and thought I’d post his way of playing it.
I first learned “Josephine Begley’s” many years ago from Terry Bingham’s album, on which he calls this tune “Mairtin O’Connor’s”. I only found out in February 2021 that this hornpipe was in fact a composition of Frankie Gavin. It is the great flute and concertina player from Laois Tommy Fitzharris who provided me with this information.
I learned this slide from Eugene Lambe, a great piper and whistle player who did a huge amount of work recording the older musicians of North Clare back in the early 90s. Eugene himself learned “The Back of the Haggard” from the playing of Micho Russell.
