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Notes
About the tune: This is a very widely travelled tune — it appears in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883), O’Neill’s collection (as “Sweet Biddy Daly”), the Portland Collection (1997), and has been recorded by Kevin Burke (as “Health to the Ladies”) and Jerry Holland, among many others. It has also been cited as commonly played for country dances in Orange County, New York in the 1930s.
About the chords: The progression — A, D, Bm, E7 — is verified across multiple sources and suits the tune very naturally. The Bm is the characteristic chord that gives the A part its slight melancholy pull before the E7 resolution back to A. The B part is brighter, staying mostly on A and D before returning to the Bm–E7 cadence at the close. As always with Irish jigs, you can simplify to just A, D, and E if you prefer a more open accompaniment.