"Rakish Paddy", in Gaelic "Paidin An Racaire" or "Pádraig Réice" or "Caber Féigh/Cabar Féidh", "The Cameronian Rant", "Caper Fey", "Castle Street Reel", "The Deer's Horns" or "Glastertown's Downfall" is an Irish reel in D Major (Williamson), C Major (Kennedy, Phillips) or D Mixolydian/D Major (Breathnach, Feldman & O'Doherty, Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson, Mitchell, O'Neill, Roche). The parts are played AB (Feldman & O'Doherty, Mitchell, O'Neill/1850 & 1001, Roche), AABB (Kennedy, Phillips, Williamson), AA'BB' (Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson) or ABC (Breathnach, O'Neill/Krassen).
Brendan Breathnach (1963, 1971), Robin Williamson (1976) and other knowledgeable musicians generally think the tune, a perennial favorite of performers, originated in Scotland. O'Neill finds that Bremner published it under the title "Caper Fey" (an English corruption of the Gaelic "Caber Féigh/Cabar Féidh", i.e.: 'the deer's horns') in 1768 in his Second Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances.
Irish-American uilleann piper Patsy Touhey was recorded on a cylinder machine by Capt. Francis O'Neill in Chicago playing the tune in 1904. It may be that O'Neill obtained the setting of the tune that appears in his Dance Music of Ireland (1907) from the piper. County Sligo fiddlers Michael Coleman and James Morrison recorded the tune in New York the 1930's in two and four parts, respectively (Morrison's parts 3 & 4 may have been variations on the 'B' part). The third and fourth parts of Rakish Paddy are also sometimes credited to Coleman, although he recorded the first two parts only in the early 1920's; they were perhaps a later development in his playing. County Kerry fiddler Paddy Cronin also recorded the four-part version.
It was printed in Breathnach's CRÉ 1 (1963), Feldman & O'Doherty's The Northern Fiddler (1979), Giblin's Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music (1928), Harker's 300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty ( 2005), Kennedy's Fiddler's Tune-Book: Reels & Rants, Flings & Fancies (1977), Mallinson's 100 Essential (1995), Mitchell's Dance Music of Willie Clancy (1993), O'Brien's Irish Folk Dance Music (1952), O'Neill (Krassen) (1976), O'Neill's Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies (1903), O'Neill's Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), Phillips's Fiddle Case Tunebook: British Isles (1989), Roche's Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1 (1912) and Williamson's English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes (1976).
It was recorded by Fairport Convention on Liege and Lief (c. 1968), Danny Meehan on The Navvy on the Shore (2000), The Pipering of Willie Clancy Vol. 2 (1983), James Morrison (1930), Paddy Cronin (1950), Altan on Harvest Storm (1992), Martin Hayes on Under the Moon (1995), James Morrison on The Wheels of the World, Pierre Bensusan on Musique (1979) and Bobby Casey on Taking Flight.