Sheet Music: Rakes of Mallow

TitleRakes of Mallow
Alternate titlesThe Galway Piper
Jolly Sailor
Rakes of London
Rigs o' Marlow
Romping Molly
ComposerTraditional Irish
InstrumentationFlute solo
KeyG major
RangeF#4–G5
Time signature2/4
Tempo116 BPM
Performance time0:35
Difficulty levelintermediate
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (46 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (282 kB)
Date added2010-11-08
Last updated2010-11-08
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 1.1 (average)
Categories
Celtic Music, Drinking songs, Fight songs, Polkas, Traditional/Folk

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Monday 8 November 2010

Tune of the Day: Rakes of Mallow

Traditional Irish polka

This well-known drinking song is generally accepted as an Irish tune, since Mallow is a town in County Cork, Ireland. However, there have been early versions of this tune with the title “The Rigs of Marlowe”, leading to speculation that this was an English tune to begin with. Whatever its origin, this polka has long been popular in Scotland, and it was there that it was first published in the 1780s.

For those of you who are not used to this kind of historic terms, a rake (short for rakehell) was a fashionable youth who led a somewhat dissolute life, frequently a heartless womanizer, so this tune celebrates such young men from the town of Mallow.

In recent times, a version of the tune was included by American composer Leroy Anderson in his Irish Suite for orchestra. The song is also a fight song for Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans.