# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  Garry Owen

## Danny Thomasson

I live in Leavenworth, Kansas and there is an Irish Pub close by in Weston, MO.  Many military types go to the pub and several Cavalry officers have requested the song Garry Owen be played.  

I know of one gentleman that plays it on the banjo but he said that it would sound better accompanied by a mandolin.

Does anyone have the tabs for Garry Owen?

Thanks

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## mandocrucian



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John McCoy

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## Jim Baker

Here are a couple versions in abc.

X:1
T:Garry Owen
C:
N:TablEdited by Michael P Herlihy
L:1/8
Q:364
M:6/8
K:C
z4CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | E,2E, E,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | D,2D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | \
C2D E2D | CA,G, G,A,C | E,D,D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | E,2E, E,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | \
D,2D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | C2D E2D | CA,G, G,A,C | E,D,D, D,E,F, | G,2E, G,2E, | \
G,2E, G,CB, | A,2F, A,2F, | A,2F, A,2B, | C2D E2D | CA,G, G,2G, | G,A,B, CG,E, | \
E,D,D, D,E,F, | G,2E, G,2E, | G,2E, G,CB, | A,2F, A,2F, | A,2F, A,2B, | C2D E2D | \
CA,G, G,2G, | G,A,B, C2E, | D,C,C, C,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | E,2E, E,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | \
D,2D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | C2D E2D | CA,G, G,A,C | E,D,D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | \
E,2E, E,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | D,2D, D,CB, | A,G,F, E,D,C, | C2D E2D | CA,G, G,A,C | \
E,D,D, D,E,F, | G,2E, G,2E, | G,2E, G,CB, | A,2F, A,2F, | A,2F, A,2B, | C2D E2D | \
CA,G, G,2G, | G,A,B, CG,E, | E,D,D, D,E,F, | G,2E, G,2E, | G,2E, G,CB, | A,2F, A,2F, | \
A,2F, A,2B, | C2D E2D | CA,G, G,2G, | G,A,B, C2E, | D,C,C, C,3 | \
W:Created with TablEdit http://www.tabledit.com/

X:1
T:garryo.mid
C:
N:TablEdited by 
L:1/8
Q:204
M:6/8
K:D
g/^f/ed cz/8BA7/8 | GBc BBg | ^fed cBA | GAB AAg | ^fed cBA | GBc BB2 | deg edB | \
GAB AA2 | g/^f/ed cz/8BA7/8 | GBc BBg | ^fed cBA | GAB AAg | ^fed cBA | GBc BB2 | \
deg edB | GAB AA2 | B/c/d7/4Bz/8d2z/8 | Bd7/4z/8Bz/4d7/8g | ^fe7/4z/8cz/8e2 | \
ce2 ce2 | z/8^fg2ab7/4z/8 | ag^f e3 | z6 | z6 | z6 | z6 | z6 | z6 | z6 | z6 | \
z6 | z6 | z6 | \
W:Created with TablEdit http://www.tabledit.com/

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## zoukboy

I used to live in Weston for about 10 years and spent a lot of time in O'Malley's and was friends with several of the officers and civilian faculty at the Command and General Staff College.  Are you aware of the tune's history?  IMHO "Garry Owen" is better left un-played.

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## mandolinlee

zoukboy - Please enlighten us all with the history of "Gary Owen". I remember 50 years ago in Germany, there was an Army unit that used "Gary Owen" as a greeting in place of "Good Morning, Sir" as the rest of did. Never heard what it meant or why.
Thanks for more info.
Lee

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## mandocrucian

June 26th should be made the next national holiday......."Chief's Day".   

That's when the Sioux and Cheyenne wiped out the egomaniac George Armstrong Custer (making sure he would never run for US president.)  "Gary Owen" was used as Custer's personal 7th cavalry 'theme tune/march'.

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pickloser

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## kmmando

I like it! Great old tune .....

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mandolinlee

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## John Kelly

I remember when we were playing over in Northern Ireland a couple of years ago at a folk festival we were gigging with some of the local musicians and got round to our usual banter over whether a tune was Irish or Scottish in origin and who had stolen from from whom.  we had been playing Gary Owen along with  many other tunes and one of the Irish musicians said it was definitely Irish in its roots but had been transported over to the USA where, in Willie's own words, "Yer man, General Custer, hijacked it for his 7th Cavalry".  I think only an Ulsterman would have referred to George Armstrong Custer as "Yer man!"

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mandolinlee

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## Danny Thomasson

In 1867 it was adopted as the official marching song of the Seventh Cavalry. It was the last song played for Custer's men as they left General Alfred Terry's column at the Powder River and rode into history by being defeated by the warriors of the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho nations on the morning of 25th June 1876 at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Here are the words to the origninal song:

Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed
But join with me each jovial blade
Come booze and sing and lend your aid
To help me with the chorus

Chorus:
Instead of spa we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail
For debt no man shall go to gaol (jail)
From Garryowen in glory

We are the boys that take delight in
Smashing the Limerick lamps when lighting
Through the street like sportsters fighting
And tearing all before us

We'll break the windows, we'll break the doors
The watch knock down by threes and fours
Then let the doctors work their cures
And tinker up our bruised

We'll beat the bailiffs out of fun
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run
We are the boys no man dares dun
If he regards a whole skin

Our hearts so stout have got us fame
For soon 'tis known from whence we came
Where'er we go they dread the name
Of Garryowen in glory

Johnny Connell's tall and straight
And in his limbs he is complete
He'll pitch a bar of any weight
From Garryowen to Thomondgate

Garryowen is gone to rack
Since Johnny Connell went to Cork
Though Darby O'Brien leapt over the dock
In spite of judge and jury

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## zoukboy

Mandocrucian has it right.  "Garryowen" is an old drinking song from Limerick that Irish officer Myles Keough brought to the 7th Cavalry and it became their theme song. (BTW, Keough's horse Comanche survived the battle and is one of the few horses buried with full military honors.) As the signature theme of the 7th Cavalry it has negative associations for many Native-Americans, sort of like the "Horst Wessel Lied" does for the German army, as being emblematic of a period of imperial expansion and genocide.

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## journeybear

Disclaimer: My familiarity with this tune stems from its abundant use in the Hollywood movie "They Died With Their Boots On", in which plenty of liberties were taken with the truth - that little of which we know - concerning the life and exploits of Custer. 

That having been said, the sheet music provided above does not jibe with the music as played therein, nor in other examples I have found. To wit: _there are no minor chords, whatsoever_, not that my untrained ears can detect, at any rate. I would suggest substituting G for the Em and Am and you'll be alright. The notation for the melody seems fine.

The third video gives you the fingering on the mandola. It's in G, which means his fingering looks as though it is in D. You will have to adjust accordingly. It is good and slow, though, so it should be a big help.

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## Eddie Sheehy

I'm from Garryowen, in Limerick.  The name refers to the Garrai Eoin - The Garden's of John - it's the area behind St. John's Cathedral.  I've never seen or heard the words before.  I thought it was penned by John Philip Sousa...  The only versions of it I have heard played all stem from the movies about Custer...  Though I have heard it is also a Regimental tune of one of the "Irish" units in the British Army (The Irish Fusiliers perhaps).

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## zoukboy

Eddie: I had no idea you were from Garryowen. 

I am not sure just how old the tune is, but the tune and lyrics are at least as old as Myles Keogh as it's well documented that he was the 7th Cavalry's source. He probably learned it while serving in the Battalion of Saint Patrick on the side of Pope Pius IX in the Papal Wars. While in Rome after that conflict ended he was recruited directly into the Union Army in the American Civil War.

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## Bren

You can hear the late and sadly under-recorded Louis MacManus playing Garryowen on mandolin as part of the instrumental break in this 1970s Bushwackers' recording of "Wolloomoolloo Lair" :



Mandolin becomes audible around 1:40

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## Eddie Sheehy

As an aside, I recently watched the movie "Son of The Morningstar: - The Cheyenne's nickname for Custer.  It's a more balanced view of his Military career and teh teh Battle of the Little Bighorn is told from the Indian side...  well worth a watch...

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## Eddie Sheehy

Yep, Roger.  I found it interesting that you'd been in a place called Weston - that's another area in Limerick (but you'd be lucky to last 10 mins not to mind 10 years...)

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## citeog

Eddie, 
When I was a boy I remember my Uncle Paddy, who was an RSM in the british army, whistling this tune when he was home on leave. I think he was in the Irish Guards regiment but I couldn't swear to it. My father (his brother-in-law) would go mental listening to him :-)
Paul

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## zoukboy

Yes, it's based on a fantastic book of the same name by Evan Connell (who just passed a couple of weeks ago). It is one of the best nonfiction books I've ever read. He borrows Native-American narrative devices and tries, as Eddie said, to tell both sides of the story.

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## mandocrucian

> Yep, Roger. I found it interesting that you'd been in a place called *Weston*


 

(a.k.a.)  Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

http://trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/

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## journeybear

I am struck by the dates on that sign - begun just before the war, completed during the war. I've always though of all the manpower and resources directed toward the war efforts, quite forgetting that for many people, life went on regardless of the war. Just never occurred to me, though of course it must have been so. And clearly, here is some evidence, an enormous example at that. I can't help wondering how many people were involved in the building of this enormous edifice, and how they were spared from military service, and whether a goodly percentage of the workers were women. Fascinating.

Hmmm ... Guess I could have read the wiki entry. Construction was unterrupted by the war, though later resumed. And this is may have started in Virginia, but ended up in West Virginia. Didn't see the state seal at the top of the sign. Seems there have been claims of paranormal activity there, and also it occupies a plot of land 666 acres in size. Hmmm ...

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## zoukboy

Ha ha ha ha.. was never in *that* Weston!  :-)

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## Marty Jacobson

Have you all heard Tim O'Brien's song _Mick Ryan's Lament_ from his _Two Journeys_ album? It is to the tune of Gary Owen and has thoughtful lyrics. The album is amazing, including participation from Paul Brady, Dirk Powell, Karan Casey, etc.

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## mandocrucian

> And this is may have started in Virginia, but ended up in West Virginia. Didn't see the state seal at the top of the sign.


"West Vriginia" was part of the 'original' "Virginia" until it seceded from VA in 1863 (June 20th) during the civil war.

The Weston Lunatic Asylum was pretty famous in WV, in fact, say "Weston" and that may be the first thing to come to mind.  ...The kind of place where you'd expect the contemporaries of Hannibal Lechter to be residing.

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## Danny Thomasson

It is interesting that Weston Missouri has an Irish Pub called O'Malley's 1842.  It started out as a brewery and pub and has been featuring live Irish music, some trad and some irish rock since the early 1900's.  It is the tallest building in Weston at four stories but it is all underground.  Here is the link:  www.westonirish.com.

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## Johnozouk

But what makes Weston, Missouri important in history as far as this forum goes is that it was the site of the first and second ZoukFest which were held at said O'Malley's pub. Thanks to none other than "yer man" zoukboy.

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## mquimpy

You can download the pdf from Mandolintab.net.  

http://www.mandolintab.net/tabs.php?...n%27s&id=01572

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## Pete Summers

> Mandocrucian has it right.  "Garryowen" is an old drinking song from Limerick that Irish officer Myles Keough brought to the 7th Cavalry and it became their theme song. (BTW, Keough's horse Comanche survived the battle and is one of the few horses buried with full military honors.) As the signature theme of the 7th Cavalry it has negative associations for many Native-Americans, sort of like the "Horst Wessel Lied" does for the German army, as being emblematic of a period of imperial expansion and genocide.


Actually, I believe that Comanche's remains were stuffed and are currently housed at the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

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## mickmando

I had heard the tune was played by The Limerick Lancers a cavalry unit based in Limerick in the 1800's . More than likely many of them would have emigrated to America especially around the time of the famine , joined the American cavalry units and taken the tune with them.

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## zoukboy

Yes, I had heard that, too. That horse lived a long time.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche_(horse)

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## zoukboy

> I had heard the tune was played by The Limerick Lancers a cavalry unit based in Limerick in the 1800's . More than likely many of them would have emigrated to America especially around the time of the famine , joined the American cavalry units and taken the tune with them.


Mick: It's even more interesting than that.  From an earlier post:




> I am not sure just how old the tune is, but the tune and lyrics are at least as old as Myles Keogh as it's well documented that he was the 7th Cavalry's source. He probably learned it while serving in the Battalion of Saint Patrick on the side of Pope Pius IX in the Papal Wars. While in Rome after that conflict ended he was recruited directly into the Union Army in the American Civil War.

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## ollaimh

i used to play garryowen, but i prefered to call it the seventh cavaly two step. having a little native blood i cheer for the soiux!

however it is a pretty tune. when i was busking it made me a lot of money, every one has heard it.

the americans should give the soiux the black hills!

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