The Maid Behind the Bar

Also known as The Green Mountain, Judy’s Reel and various other iterations of a woman behind a bar, you may also hear it referred to as Freastalaí Laistiar den Cúntar (waitress behind the counter). The Maid Behind the Bar is another iconic reel, usually played in the key of D major, that you will no doubt be familiar with if you’ve been following Irish trad music over the years.

It first appeared in print as Judy’s Reel in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection published in Boston in 1883 and then in O’Neill’s, Music of Ireland (1903) as The Green Mountain. Its origins, however, are seemingly a good century before that and by the 1850s The Maid Behind the Bar was a dance tune favourite in the USA no doubt brought over by refugees from An Gorta Mór (the Great Irish Famine). As you can imagine, there are plenty of variations on the tune, particularly in the opening bars.

Those who remember the wonderful Scrap Saturday broadcast on RTÉ between 1989 and 1991 starring the late great Dermot Morgan (who also played Father Ted) may well remember this tune accompanying Morgan’s brilliant Charles Haughey monologues. Its opening notes serving as the musical cue for Haughey’s ensuing grandiose delusions, representing as it did at the time, the quintessential traditional Irish tune.

Once again we were very lucky to have Liam O’Connor play with us at our studio here at McNeela Instruments in Baldoyle.

Sheet Music for The Maid Behind the Bar

Sheet Music for the Maid Behind the Bar

ABC Notation

T: The Maid Behind The Bar

R: reel

M: 4/4

K: Dmaj

Sheet Music with thanks to TheSession.Org

Share your thoughts

9 comments

Michael Levine 6 years ago

What make whistle is being played?

McNeela 6 years ago

Hi Michael, it is a Roy MacMaghnuis Mopani Wood (Roy McManus Belfast) D Whistle. Struggling to solve the wood shortages however we hop to have one back in stock in the coming months.

Gerry 6 years ago

Happy Christmas to all

CNY 4 years ago

Awesome tune and musicians! Hope you can do another set of Sessions Tunes!! Sláinte!!

Mike 2 years ago

Here is perhaps a loaded question... I can barely follow the tune while reading the provided sheet music. Obviously there's a ton of variation and ornamentation... is there a reason why you never seem to see in sheet music the way one of these tunes is actually played?

Paraic McNeela 2 years ago

Hi Mike - you've hit the nail on the head there. As Irish music is still largely an aural tradition, there are countless variations of tunes. Melodic variation is an important feature of Irish dance tunes and as such an individual musician may never perform a tune the same way twice. As such it's almost impossible to notate a "definitive" version of a tune. Sheet music in traditional Irish music is only ever an approximation of the composition.

Geert Brokken 1 year ago

Thanks for the tune. One with indication of ornaments would be nice. My wild whistle in A just arrived. I buy instruments my whole life. But this flute is superior. The best, most beautifull whistle I possess. After struggling with low d's and sending them back for the weak sound and humidity problems, this sends me back in the game! Tx 1000 times.