The Swallow's Tail

In Donegal the reel is called "The Swallow's Tail Coat," after the long split tailed coats that dancing masters wore. It has gathered many other names, including "The Queen's Wedding," "Molly's Nightcap" and "Pride of the Ball," and players set it in dorian, in mixolydian or somewhere between. Francis O'Neill printed it both ways, in 1903 and 1907.

The oldest copies with this title are in the manuscripts of Longford fiddler Patrick O'Farrell, around 1870, and Leitrim piper Stephen Grier, around 1883. A New York album printed it as an untitled "Irish Reel" in 1876. Patrick J. Scanlon recorded it in 1917, and Monaghan piper Willie Clarke in 1928.