The Banshee: A Song History

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"The Banshee" is an Irish reel in G, credited to James McMahon, a flute player from Roslea in County Fermanagh who later settled in County Antrim.[1][2] The Traditional Tune Archive says it was usually called "McMahon's" before the "Banshee" title spread, and that Liam Donnelly, who had the tune from McMahon himself, printed it as "James McMahon's No. 3" in his own collection, Co. Fermanagh Dance Tunes, which the archive dates to 1966–67.[1][3] The archive also points to a strong melodic likeness to "Sweet Flowers of Milltown," a schottische recorded in the 78 rpm era by Tom Morrison, a flute player from north Galway, and suggests that recording may have influenced McMahon.[1][3]

Color photochrom of the town of Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, with water, houses and church towers

Enniskillen. County Fermanagh, Ireland, photochrom, between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900. Shown for its place, County Fermanagh, home of the composer named in the sources; it has no connection to the tune.

How the reel came by its eerie title is disputed: Philippe Varlet traced the name to the Bothy Band, Paul de Grae tells of a céilí band announcer who gave it as a jibe, and Randy Miller wrote in 2006 that McMahon had called it "The Banshee" from the start.[1][3] The Boys of the Lough recorded it as "McMahon's Reel" on their 1973 album The Boys of the Lough, and the Bothy Band's first album, from 1975, spread the "Banshee" title widely.[2][3][4] Breandán Breathnach printed it in the second volume of Ceol Rince na hÉireann, drawing on the playing of John Loughram, a fiddler from Pomeroy, County Tyrone, noted in 1968.[2][3]

According to the Traditional Tune Archive, "McMahon's" has lately become the more common name again, as the "Banshee" title has faded.[3] The reel should not be confused with "The Lilting Banshee," a double jig in A Dorian that irishtune.info indexes as a separate tune, although that jig is also sometimes called simply "The Banshee."[5] Aaron O'Rourke includes the reel, in DAD tuning, in Irish Session Tunes, Volume 2, a book of jigs, reels and polkas commonly played at Irish sessions, arranged for mountain dulcimer with an introduction to session playing and Irish ornamentation, published by Fingers Of Steel.[6]

Our book that contains the song "The Banshee"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Banshee (1) (The)".
  2. irishtune.info: "Banshee" (Tune ID 125).
  3. The Traditional Tune Archive: "McMahon's Reel".
  4. Mainly Norfolk: "The Boys of the Lough".
  5. irishtune.info: "Lilting Banshee" (Tune ID 1124).
  6. Fingers Of Steel: "Aaron O'Rourke, Irish Session Tunes, Volume 2".
  7. Image: Enniskillen. County Fermanagh, Ireland, photochrom, between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900. Library of Congress.

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