Flatback Caper - Fairport Convention

[Andrew Ferguson]

Hi there,

Would anyone be able to tell me what these tunes are? And, where I could find the notation or tabs for them.

Really like the first one. But love the whole set.



Just added the live version. More to look at.
Thanks very much.

Andrew.

[Bren]

Miss Susan Cooper
Frieze Breeches
are the first two
you should find the music at thesession.org or Tunefinder abc

To hear a blistering version of Susan Cooper, along with three other great tunes by the late Shetlander Ronnie Cooper, go to the Hom Bru website.
The tracks are mis-labelled so it's actually the "Sang of the Delting Lass" link which plays the Cooper reels.

After listening to Gary Peterson, you might want to go back to the gentler pace of Swarbrick and co!

[John Uhrig]

Great video. Thanks for posting it.

[PseudoCelt]

The full set is:

Miss Susan Cooper
The Friar's Britches/Frieze Breeches
The Sport Of The Chase - this one's a bit different from the Fairport version
Carolan's Concerto

The live version misses out Frieze Breeches.

Patrick

[Martin Jonas]

If you want to have the full notation for the Fairport arrangement, this can be found (along with loads of other wonderful music) in the songbook that comes as a freebie with the 4-CD Dave Swarbrick box set on Free Reed. I hardly listen to the CDs, but I play stuff from the songbook all the time. Swarb has written or arranged some great tunes that work really well on the mandolin -- try Boedicea, My Heart's In New South Wales, Carthy's March and The Hen's March Through The Midden.

Martin

[Andrew Ferguson]

Thanks very much for the replys.

Bren, thanks for the link. Its a bit too fast for my sausage fingers. The Tunefinder heads up was good to thanks.

Patrick, thanks for those links, and the name info.

Now I've got 4 new tunes to work on. Nice.

Cheers all.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I recently got the CD of a Dave Swarbrick recording that i have on LP "Rags,Reels & Airs". It also features Swarby's long time musical partner,Martin Carthy.
I got to know these guys quite well back in the Folk Boom era in the UK,but i'd forgotten just what a great Mandolin player Swarby was - "Lietrum Fancy Medly" is a cracker !!,
Ivan
Available from here :- http://www.alexlyons.co.uk/atrax/swa...ck.../rags.htm
OR ,can be downloaded from :- http://www.emusic.com/album/Dave...R.../10979088.html

[fenrisulf]

Just thought I'd chime in on this in case anyone else is interested and can provide additional info. It looks to me like Swarb's mandolin is a teen's Gibson A1 with the bridge changed to an adjustable (maybe an A2? I can't tell if the bottom of the body is bound or not). Or maybe it's a later version with the adjustable bridge? Dunno what that white looking mark on the headstock is underneath The Gibson logo, but I don't think it's that fancy "fleur de lis" graphic found on, say, A4s. The pickup he's using appears to be a DeArmond Model 40, which I believe was a guitar pickup. Unless they made a mandolin version? Also, it looks like his tuners were changed out to Klusons or something as they appear to be metal buttons and not the ivroid ones.

[Nigel Gatherer]

Somebody recently asked me for a copy of Fairport's "Miss Susan Cooper", so I notated it from that very clip. You can download it from:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1189785/Tunes/M/SCoopt.pdf

[whistler]

Here is the 'original' Miss Susan Cooper (starting at 1.05), played by Willie Hunter Jr. and accompanied on piano by its compser, Ronnie Cooper.

[mandocrucian]

Miss Susan Cooper
The Friar's Britches/Frieze Breeches
The Sport Of The Chase - (aka John Doonan's)
Carolan's Concerto

Swarb did a number of tunes that were played by Irish piccolo player John Doonan in his repertoire. Doonan's playing always sounded (to me) like "Swarb on a flute", though it was more accurately that Swarb had "Doonan's phrasing on the fiddle". Back in 2008 I had put this observation on The Session for comments, The Session: John Doonan and Dave Swarbrick and among those was one from Doonan's son:

Re: John Doonan and Dave Swarbrick
Hi I am John Doonan's son John.

I can only vaguely remember this and have spoken to my older brother Kevin (Fiddle Player Doonan Family Band) who remembers a little bit more.

Swarbrick and Carthy visited and stayed at our family home on a couple of occasions when they were a duo in the 60s. Just about every gigging Irish musician stayed at our house in those days.

Sessions went on, long into the night and I was often woken up in the early hours. I was born in 1960 so was just a young child. I do remember Swarbrick though.

On speaking to my brother Kevin, who is a bit older than me, he remembers my dad teaching Swarb three tunes. Sport of the Chase, Rakish Paddy and Toss the Feathers. Don't know if these three tunes feature on both of their albums but may explain the similar styles.

John Doonan

Track listing for John Doonan's "Flute For The Feis" (Leader) album (titles in blue also in the Swarb repertoire)

1.Dicky Sherlock's/McMahon's
2.The Hunt
3.Smash The Windows/Off She Goes
4.Bonaparte's Retreat
5.The Sport Of The Chase
6.The Flowers Of Antrim/The Quarrelsome Piper
7.An Coolin
8.Fermoy Lasses/Sporting Paddy/The Dawn
9.The Ace And Deuce Of Piping
10.Saddle The Pony/The Shandon Bells
11.The Little Heathy Hill
12.The King Of The Fairies
13.Eileen Aroon
14.Bonny Kate/Jenny's Chickens

NH

[fenrisulf]

....and The Hen's March Through The Midden.
...

...but we'd have a hard time playing the "buck buck b-CACK!" part as convincingly on the mandolin!