ANGELINE THE BAKER. AKA and see "Angeline," "Angelina Baker," "Rocky Road" (N.C.), "Coon Dog" (Va.), "Georgia Row," "Walk up Georgia Row" (?). Old-Time; Song, Breakdown. USA, Virginia. D Major. Standard or ADAE. AABB. This old time song and tune was derived from a sentimental song by Stephen Foster, called "Angelina Baker," whose lyrics tell about a slave who is parted from her lover when sold. Foster's original song can be heard played by the Critton Hollow Stringband on their album "Sweet Home" (Yodel-Ay-Hee 002). A similar tune, or an alternate title, is the Patrick County, Va., "Coon Dog." The 'revival' version commonly played today by old-time style musicians comes from fiddler J.W. 'Babe' Spangler (1882-1970), of Patrick County, Virginia. See also the related "Little Betty Brown" and "Cousin Sally Brown." The following lyrics can be heard in various recorded versions of the piece:
***
Angeline the Baker, her age is twenty-three (or 'forty-three'),
Feed her candy by the peck but she won't marry me.
***
Tell how I took Angeline down to the county fair,
Her father chased me halfway home and told me to stay there.
***
Angeline the Baker, Angeline I say,
You caused me to weep, caused me to mourn, caused me to wear that (beat on the) old jawbone.
***
Angeline the Baker, She lived on the village green;
And the way that I love her, beats all to be seen.
***
Angeline in handsome, and Angeline is tall,
She broke her little ankle bone from dancing in the hall.
***
She won't do the baking because she is too stout,
She makes cookies by the peck, throws the coffee out.
***
Angeline the Baker, her age is forty-three,
Little children round her feet and a banjo on her knee
***
John J. Sharp knows these lyrics to a melody more like the Foster original:
***
Angeline the baker lived near the village green,
Way I always loved her, beats all you ever seen.
Father was a baker, they called him Uncle Sam,
I never can forget her, no matter where I am.
*** Chorus:
Angeline the baker, age of 43,
Gave her candy by the peck, but she won't marry me.
Angeline the baker, left me here alone,
Left me here to weep a tear, and play on the old jawbone.
***
Said she couldn't do hard work, because she was not stout,
Baked her biscuits every day, before they called me out.
***
Sixteen horses on my team, the old grey went before,
Almost broke Angelines heart to hear the wagons roar.
Angeline the baker, Angeline I know,
Wished I married Angeline twenty years ago.
***
Bought Angeline a brand new dress, neither black nor brown,
It was the color of a stormy cloud, before the rain pours down.
Sixteen horses in my team, the leader he was blind,
Came close to dying, they sold my Angeline.
***
Sources for notated versions: J.W. Spangler (Virginia) [Reiner & Anick]; Wretched Refuse String Band (N.Y.C.) [Brody]; Stuart Duncan [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 22 (2 versions). Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's Occasional: Waltz, Air and Misc.), Vol. 1, 1991; pg. 2. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 26-27. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 341-342. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 15. Reiner & Anick (Old-Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; pg. 88. Bay 727, "Kenny Hall and the Sweet Mills String Band." Beet 7003, "Wretched Refuse." County 201, J.W. Spangler (Va.) - "The Old Virginia Fiddlers." Rounder 0400, "Pickin' Around the Cookstove." Spudchucker Productions, Bert Edwards (N.C.) - "Bert's Bombaree" (appears as "Rocky Road"). Rounder C-11565, Stuart Duncan - "Rounder Fiddle" (1990). Tennvale 002, Roaring Fork Ramblers- "Galax 73."
T:Angeline the Baker
L:1/8
M:2/4
B:Kuntz - Ragged but Right
K:D
(3B/d/B/|AB d>A|B(d d)(3B/d/B/|AB d/B/A|(B2 B)(B/d/B/|
AB d>(e|f)e d/c/d/(e/|f)e (3d/e/d/B|A>B A:|
|:(a|a)g f/g/e|f/g/f/e/ df|{^g}af (3e/f/e/d|B>d B(a|a)g f/g/e|
f/g/f/e/ d/c/d/e/|{=f}^f e (3d/e/d/B|A3:|
BRIAN BORU'S MARCH. AKA and see "Brian Borouhme." Irish, March (6/8 time). B Aeolian (Roche): A Minor (Mallinson, O'Neill, Sullivan): A Dorian (Tubridy). Standard. AA'B (Feldman & O'Doherty): AABB (Roche): AABBCC (Mallinson, Sullivan, Tubridy): ABCD (O'Neill). This piece was thought by Dr. Sigerson (writing in The Bards of the Gael and Gall) to evidence Scandinavian musical influence stemming from the Norse invasions of Ireland c. 800-1050, though Grattan Flood (1905) believes him erroneous and asserts the tune hardly dates from the Norse period or even, for that matter, from mediaeval days. It was in the repertoire of the man whom O'Neill calls the "last of the great Irish harpers," Patrick Byrne (c. 1784-1863). O'Neill never heard Byrne play, but an account of a Byrne concert which appeared in The Emerald of New York in 1870 caught his eye. Byrne played for an assemblage in the household of a Dublin gentleman in 1860, and O'Neill quotes from the article:
***
Byrne's command of the harp was complete, the writer tells us. His
touch was singularly delicate yet equally firm. He could make the
strings whisper like the sigh of the rising wind on a summer eve,
or clang with a martial fierceness that made your pulses beat quicker.
After quaffing a generous tumbler of punch, he would say, "Now,
ladies and gentlemen, I am going to play you the celebrated march
of the great King Brian to the field of Clontarf, when he gave the
Danes such a drubbing. The Irish army is far off, but if you listen
Attentively you will hear the faint sound of their music." Then his
fingers would wander over the upper range of strings with so delicate
a touch that you might fancy it was fairy music heard from a distance.
Anything more fine, more soft and delicate than this performance, it is
impossible to conceive. "They are coming nearer!" And the sound
increased in volume. "Now here they are!" And the music rolled
loud and full. Thus the march went on; the fingers of the minstrel's
right hand wandering farther down the bass range. You find it hard
to keep your feet quiet, and feel inclined to take part in the march
music assumes a merry, lightsome character, as if it were played for
dancers. "Rejoicing for the victory!" But this abruptly ceases; there
is another shriek and dischord, jangling and confusion in the upper
bass stings. The harper explains as usual, "They have found the old
King murdered in his tent." Then the air becomes much slower and
singularly plaintive. "Mourning for Brian's death." There is a firmer
and louder touch now, with occasional plaintive effects with the left
hand. "They are marching now with the brave old King's body to
Drogheda." The music now assumes a slow and steady tone, the tone
is lowered, and grows momentarily louder and louder, till finally it
dies away...And all these marvellous effects are produced upon what
is used as a simple dance tune in the south of Ireland (pgs. 81-82).
***
O'Neill (1913) also prints an appreciation of the tune from a German gentleman named Kohl, who heard it played on harp at Drogheda in 1843:
***
The music of this march is wildly powerful and at the same time
melancholy. It is at one the music of victory and of mourning.
The rapid modulations and wild beauty of the air was such that
I think this march deserves full to obtain a celebrity equal to that
of the 'Marseillaise' and the 'Ragotsky.'
***
In Drogheda there at one time was performed a dance to this and similar stately music, called the "Droghedy March" or "Dancing Drogheda," reports O'Neill, though the practice had died out by the time of his writing. It was danced by six men or boys, each wielding a stick or shillelagh. They kept time to the music, he states, "with feet, arms and weapons with their bodies swaying right and left." As the dance progressed the movements became more complicated, mimicking the appearance of a rhythmic fencing or battle. "Brian Boru's March" was identified as a pipe tune in the repertoire of Teelin, Donegal, fiddlers Francie and Mickey Byrne, who, according to Feldman & O'Doherty (1979), probably had the tune from travelling piper Mickey Gallagher (a cousin of Donegal fiddler John Doherty's). See also "Dan Sullivan's Reel," "General McBean," "Colonel McBain," "Sean Frank," "The Devonshire Reel," "The Duke of Clarence Reel," "Sporting Molly." Source for notated version: Francie and Mickey Byrne (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty]. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; pg. 175. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 96, pg. 40. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1801, pg. 338. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. II, pg. 58, No. 334. Sullivan (Session Tunes), Vol. 2; No. 50, pg. 21. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 5. Flying Fish FF 355, Critton Hollow Stringband - "By and By" (1985). Front Hall FHR-024, Fennig's All-Star String Band - "Fennigmania" (1981. Learned from the Gallowglass Ceili Band). Green Linnet SIF-104, Joe Burke, Michael Cooney & Terry Corcoran - "The Celts Rise Again" (1990). Green Linnet SIF-1069, Joe Burke , Michael Cooney & Terry Corcoran - "Happy to Meet & Sorry to Part" (1986).
T:Brian Boru's March
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:A Dorian
ed||:cAA Aed|cAA Adc|BGG Gdc|BGG Ged|cAA Aed|cAA A3E|Acd e2d|cAA A:|
|:Acd e2d|e2d edB|GBc d2B|d2B dBG|Acd e2d|e2d e2d|cBA e2d|cAA A3:|
|:cBA a2A|cBA a2A|BAG g2G|BAG g2G|cBA a2A|cBA a2a|efe e2d|cAA A3:|
COVER THE BUCKLE. AKA and see "The Blooming Meadows," "The Hag in Her Praskeen." Irish. O'Neill (1913) finds references to this title confusing as to whether it was a tune or a dance. It is mentioned by Charles Lover in his song "Darby the Blast," a part of which goes:
***
As he plays 'Will I Send for the Priest?'
Or a jig they call 'Cover the Buckle.'
***
Hall's Ireland, of about the same date, relates an infatuated swain telling of his observing the object of his affections, Kate Leary, "covering the buckle, and heel on toe on the flure" opposite his rival in a dance. O'Neill cites a source, a respected County Leitrim piper born in the beginning of the 19th century named James Quinn, who lived near Chicago for many years, played a double jig he called "Cover the Buckle" or "The Hag and Her Praskeen" (which O'Neill states is generally known as "The Blooming Meadows"). O'Keefee and O'Brien's A Handbook of Irish Dance lists "Cover the Buckle" with figure or set dances which are irregular in structure. O'Neill finally quotes Shelton Mackenzie, born at Mallow, County Cork, in 1809. In an article on dancing masters Mackenzie describes:
***
...that wonderful display of agility known in my time as 'Cover the Buckle'-a
name probably derived from the circumstance that the dancing master, while
teaching, always wore large buckles in his shoes, and, by the rapidity of motion
with which he would make his 'many twinkling feet' perpetually cross, would
seem to 'cover' the appendages in question.
***
Furthermore, while instructing his students the dancing master would encourage them by saying, "That's the way," "Now a double cut," "Cover the buckle, ye divel," "Oh then, 'tis he that handles his feet nately" etc.
CROSSROADS DANCE, THE [1] (Rince Botair-Na-Criosa). Irish, Hornpipe. G Major ('A' part) & E Minor ('B' part). Standard. AABB. Crossroads were a favorite assembling place for dancing in late 18th and early 19th century Ireland, though David Taylor (1992), for one, believes that such social events took place before the 1700's. He also notes that the dance in those days was more important than the music, "and so the popularity of the dance ensured a healthy music tradition...The crossroads was the ideal meeting-place. The more roads arriving at one point the better, as more villages could then take part. At such a point, it is likely there would be enough space for sthe sets, on hard, level surfaces. Furthermore, there would probably be milestones, fences and grass to sit upon. It is known that a minor 'revival', for want of a better word, of crossroads dancing which took place in remote areas during the 1920's and '30's, platforms upon which to dnce were sometimes constructed. Some were wooden, which were the best for the dance but could be broken up and taken away. Others were concrete, which solved the problem of their removal...but created a survace much the harder on feet and footwear." Interestingly, Taylor points out that, with the advent of the waltz and quickstep, the authorities repressed such community gatherings, leading to the regulation of dance-halls. This was the demise of the crossroads dances, and to some extent the older set dances, but was to give rise to the modern ceili band who found a venue in the new halls. O'Neill (1913) states:
***
Every Irishman knows, the meeting place almost invariably was some
crossroads, where a piper or fiddler played enlivening music for the
youthful dancers, while their elders gossiped in the old familiar way.
Those more interested in athletics than in music and dancing, found
no lack of that kind of entertainment also. Those national customs
were observed until well beyond the middle of the 19th century...
***
O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1568, pg. 291.
DANCING FEET. Scottish, Reel. The tune was composed by G. S. Maclennan. Flying Fish FF-250, Battlefield Band - "Home is Where the Van Is" (1981. Heard by Battlefield Band bagpiper Duncan MacGillvray as a boy from the playing of his father). Green Linnet GLCD 1081, The Tannahill Weavers - "Dancing Feet."
FEET WASHING, THE [2] (An oidhche ro' na phosadh). English, Scottish; Reel. England, North-West. B Minor (Knowles): C Minor (Athole, Fraser). Standard. AAB (Athole, Fraser): AABB' (Knowles). "The feet washing is certainly a momentous concern, associating ominous trepidation with merriment, exquisitely described, as sung in Gaelic, by Culduthel, and the editor's grandfather, the gentlemen alluded to in the Prospectus. The air is a local pipe reel, of which a number are introduced in this work, not exceeded by any now in circulation, and hitherto neglected, as chiefly performed by pipers, who frequently miss whole bars, or whole measures, rendering the airs scarcely attainable but form the words,--and ordinary performers on the violin are not ready to take them up, as they require a distinct bow to each note. The editor's father sallied forth with this one, and many others of them, to be noticed in their places, for the first time, when singing to his little grandchildren,--and they, dancing and enjoying his song beyond all the music in the world,--whilst his kindness, and their obedience, gave a mutual encouragement to persevere, till the editor wrote down the music, careless of the words, which he now regrets" (Fraser). Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 13, pg. 5. Knowles & McGrady (Northern Frisk), 1988; No. 97. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 266.
T:Feet Washing, The
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:C Minor
g|:ec c/c/c c2 Gc|Bcde fbfd|ec c/c/c ~c2 Gc|egfd c/c/c g:|
efge defb|dBfB gBfd|efge defb|dBfd c/c/c c2|efge defb|
dBfB gBfd|efg=a bgfe|dBfd c/c/c ~g2||
FAIRY DANCE (Rinnce Na Sideoga/Sideog). AKA and see "Fisher Laddie," "The Haymaker," "La Ronde des Vieux," "Largos Fairy Dance," "The Merry Dance" (New England), "Old Molly Hare" (Old-Time). Irish, English, Scottish, Shetlands, American, Canadian; Reel. D Major (most versions): G Major (Merryweather): A Major (O'Neill/1001). Standard. AB (Honeyman, Raven): AAB (O'Neill/1001): AABB (Ashman, Brody, Ford, Sweet, Taylor, Trim): AABB' (Kerr): AA'BB' (Athole, Merryweather): AABCCD (Roche): AABBCCDDEEF (Cranford/Fitzgerald). Often this tune is a "beginning tune" for fiddlers, and though simple, it seems to have retained its popularity through the years. It was one of 197 compositions claimed and published (in Fifth Collection,"1809) by Nathaniel Gow under the title "Largo's Fairy Dance," which dates it to the latter eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Breandan Breathnach states that it was composed by Niel Gow for the Fife Hunt Ball held in 1802, but this is only partly true, according to Nigel Gatherer, for it was actually a pair of tunes Gow wrote, the second being "The Fairies Advance." Both tunes together make up "Largo's Fairy Dance." Emmerson identifies this tune in a class of tunes defined by the rhythm 'quarter note-two eighths-quarter note-two eigths,' which includes "De'il Among the Tailors," "Rachel Rae," and "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (which Emmerson {1971} says is substantially a set of "Fairy Dance").
***
In Ireland, it was learned by Joyce in his boyhood in County Limerick, c. 1840. He (1909) says a Donegal setting of this will be found in the 'Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society.' O'Neill (1913) records that a special dance was performed to the tune in that country. Under the title "The Fairy Reel" the tune features in stories of enchantment by the wee folk. A tale is told by Padraig Mac Aodh-O'Neillin in his 1904 book Songs of Uladh (Songs of Ulster) of the origins of the tune which stem from a fiddler of the Mac Fhionnlachs from Flacarragh:
***
There was a gathering of Bel-Taine on St. John's Day (23rd of June), around
the bonfire in Caislean-na-dThuath in northern Dun-na-nGall about 150-160
years ago (~1850).
***
"...the fire was wearing low, the dancing nearly over, and the sturdiest
steppers getting tired, a stranger came among the people, announcing himself
in the words: "Sonas, sonas--luck on all here! The music called me, and I
going to bed." He said no more.
***
He was attired only in his night-garments. Much consternation was
caused by his curious appearance and behaviour, the more so as he was quite
unknown to the festive-maker. He went around asking the young girls to
dance with him; but out of fifty or more assembled there, he found but one
(and she, happily, was not a native of the district) who expressed herself
willing to accept his invitation. There were three or four fidilers there
and one piper, and he called on them to turn on the "Fairy Reel." But not
one of them knew it; every man of them declared that the air and the name
was new to him. Whereupon the mysterious stranger snatched the fidil out of
the hands of mac Fhionnlaoich, the Falcarrach man, who was nearest him, and
flourishing his bow with the grace of a master, turned on the tune himself,
the people standing around with their mouths wide open in wonderment.
***
"Now," he said to mac Fhionnlaoich, when he had finished the wonderful
tune, "there's your fidil for you. Turn on the 'Reel.' Play it after me;
for you're the only man in the Five Kingdoms can do that same!"
***
So mac Fhionnlaoich complied--somewhat reluctantly, it must be said-and played the 'Fairy Reel: through from beginning to end without a break, while the weird stranger and his fair partner danced, all the people looking on. When he had finished dancing with the girl he slipped a gold peiece into her hand, and turning solemnly towards the people, said: "Remove the fire seven paces to the North, and enjoy yourselves till daybreak. A Sonas, sonas--luck with all here!"
***
And so saying, he strode off into the darkness, disappearing as
mysteriously as he had come.
***
I give this story pretty much as I got it from my friend Padraig mac
Aodh o Neill, who got it from Proinseas mac Suibhne, the schoolmaster of
Losaid, in Gartan
***
Another fairy tale collected (by Seamus Ennis) on Tory Island mentions the tune, is again related by Mac Aoidh, and has parallels in other cultures. It seems that an islander, while going to collect his sheep at Port Glas, overheard wonderful music emanating nearby and investigated. The fairy folk were playing the "Fairy Reel" and the man, being an avid and accomplished dancer, felt compelled to join in. The music and dancing lasted and lasted, and he danced and danced, unable to stop until by chance another islander came upon him. This second man heard no music, and saw nothing of the fairy celebration, and asked the first what he was doing. He got the reply that the dancer was enchanted and would not be able to stop until a mortal laid hand on him. This was done, and the dancer saved from his fate. Mac Aoidh translates: "The soles of his shoes and his socks were worn through and his feet were sore to the bone from the roughness of the place he was dancing on." A similar tale is told by Canadian storyteller Alan Mills (to the accompanying fiddling of Montreal musician Jean Carignan) collected from French-Canadian tradition, which he calls "Ti-Jean and the Devil" (with the Devil substituting for Fairies).
***
A Pennsylvania collected version appears in Bayard (1981) as "Rustic Dance" (No. 52, pg. 38), and, as "La Ronde des Vieux" it was recorded in the latter 1920's by French-Canadian fiddler Willie Ringuette.
***
The tune is associated with a traditional dance in the village of Askham Richard, which lies a few miles from York, England. The famous Dorset novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordion player and fiddler, mentioned the tune in The Fiddler of the Reels:
***
Then another dancer fell out - one of the men - and went into
the passage in a frantic search for liquor. To turn the figure into
a three-handed reel was the work of a second, Mop modulating
at the same time into 'The Fairy Dance,' as best suited to the
contracted movement, and no less one of those foods of
love which, as manufactured by his bow, had always intoxicated her.
***
Sources for notated versions: Dave Swarbrick (England) [Brody]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987, Cape Breton), who adapted J. Scott Skinner's variations [Cranford]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; NO. 30b, pg. 9. Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; pg. 7. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 100. Cranford (Fitzgerald), 1997; No. 129, pg. 53. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 71. Honeyman (Secrets of the Gaelic Harp), 1898; pg. 8. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin Tunes); No. or pg. 24. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 129, pgs. 65-66. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 14, No. 2, pg. 10. Merryweather (Merryweather's Tunes for the English Bagpipe), 1989; pg. 53. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 986, pg. 170. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 162. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 3; No. 138, pg. 43 (listed as a Long Dance). Skinner, Harp and Claymore, 1903. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 113. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 61. Taylor (Where's the Crack), 1989; pg. 13 (appears as "Fairy Reel"). Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 24. Edison 50653 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels (appears as 4th tune of "Devil's Dream Medley"). Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Transatlantic 341, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick 2." Fife Strathspey and Reel Society - "The Fiddle Sounds of Fife" (1980). "Bob Smith's Ideal Band, Ideal Music" (1977). "Fiddlers Three Plus Two." Ron Gonella- "A Tribute to Niel Gow."
X:1
T:Fairy Dance
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
f2fd f2fd|f2fd cAeA|f2fd gfed|1 cABc d2de:|2 cABc defg||
|:a2af b2ba|gfge a2ag|1 fefd B2 e>d|cABc defg:|2 fefd Bged|
cABc d2D2||
X:2
T:Fairy Dance, The
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:D
f2fd f2fd|gfed cdeg|f2fd gfed|cABc d2d2|f2fd f2fd|gfed cdeg|fafd gfed|cABc defg||
a2af b2bf|g2ge a2 ag|f2fd gfed|cABc defg|a2af b2bf|g2ge a2 ag|fagf gfed|cABc d2d2||
X:3
T:Fairy Reel, The (Irish)
R:reel
Z:Transcribed by Philippe Varlet
M:C
L:1/8
K:G
~B3 A GBdB|{d}cBAG FGAc| BG~G2 cBAg|fdaf {a}gedc|
~B3 A GBdB|{d}cBAG FGAc| BG~G2 cBAG|1 FDEF G3 A :|2 FDEF GABc||
~d3 g e3 d|cA A/A/A d3 c|BG~G2 cBAg|fdaf {a}gfge|
~d3 g e3 d|cA A/A/A d3 c|BG~G2 cBAG|1 FDEF GABc :|2 FDEF G4||
GEESE IN THE BOG [1] ("Na Géabha sa bPortach" or "Na Geadna Annsa Mointe"). Irish, American; Double Jig. D Major. Standard. AABB (Cole, Kerr, O'Neill/Krassen): AABB' (O'Neill/1001): AA'BBCCDDEE (Breathnach). Several tunes have been named "Geese in the Bog." One tune by this name was popular as long ago as 1779; its playing is mentioned by Berringer in an account of a "cake" dance (a dance where a cake was given as a prize) he attended in Connacht. The great County Sligo/New York fiddler Michael Coleman recorded the tune on a 78 RPM disc in the key of G Major, although his version differs slightly. Breathnach states the tune is related to "Saddle the Pony" printed by Levey (No. 43) and to Joyce's "The Housemaid" (No. 841). He says that Petrie (edited by Stanford, 1905, No. 940) printed the first two parts.
***
The title "Geese in the Bog" reminds one of a story related to Charlie Piggott by flute player Roger Sherlock, who was born in County Mayo on the border with Sligo. The story appears in Vallely's and Piggott's Blooming Meadows (1998) and concerns Michael Coleman's brother Jim, also a fiddler and accounted by many to have been even more proficient at the instrument than his famously-recorded brother. Sherlock remembered house-dances that Coleman played for, performing all night, sometimes playing his instrument while simultaneously dancing on a half-door that had been taken from its hinges. At that point coins would be thrown onto the door at his feet, his only pay. Sherlock reminisced:
***
Well, then he'd put the fiddle in the case and outside he had a flock
of geese that would accompany him to and from the dances. The geese
used to follow him everywhere. He had fifteen or eighteen geese. And
he used to walk from our house to a place called Drumacoo, which
would be-he used to walk as the crow flies of course, across the
fields and the bogs-'twould be roughly about seven miles. And
the geese would be with him all the time.
***
Source for notated version: accordion player Sonny Brogan (d. 1966. Dublin, Ireland; originally from Prosperous, County Kildare. Brogan made records in the 1930's with The Lough Gill Quartet and was a member of Ceoltóirí Chualann under the direction of Seán Ó Riada) [Breathnach]. Breathnach (CRE I), 1963; No. 28, pg. 12. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 77. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 106. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 46, pg. 40. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 67. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1085, pg. 204. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 279, pg. 61. Green Linnet GLCD 1092, "Liz Carroll" (1988).
T:Geese in the Bog [1]
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (279)
K:D
Add fdB|AFA AFA|Add fdB|AFA B2A|Add fdB|AFA DFA|gfe fdB|AFA BdB:|
|:AFE DFE|DFA BdB|AFD DFA|BGA BdB|AFE DFE|
DFA Bgf|gfe fdB|1 AFA BdB:|2 AFA B2d||
JOYS OF YOUTH, THE [2]. Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard. AABB. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 21, pg. 123.
JIG. Many writers, notably Grove, regard the jig as only a form borrowed from the Italians in the latter half of the 17th century. In fact, Flood (1906) states there is "ample evidence of its existance in Ireland in the middle of the 16th century, at least in 1550." He quotes a letter from Sir Henry Sydney to Queen Elizabeth in 1569, where the author enthusiastically reports the the dancing of Irish Jigs by Anglo-Irish ladies of Galway whom he said were "very beautiful, magnificently dressed, and first-class dancers" (pg. 160). Pulver (1923) concurs that the form is native to Britain, but rather than Irish, he believes the dance to be English in origin, basing his reasoning in part on the probable Norse origin for the word 'jig' (and its transmittal through Anglo-Saxon lines), and the fact that English printings of collections containing the form predate Scottish and Irish ones. In point of fact the form is the same as the Galliard, whose place it took, and Pulver notes the tripping rhythm-dotted-crotchet, quaver, crotchet-"probably came spontaneously to the first dancer who felt genuinely happy." Emmerson (1972) regards the assertion that the Italian Giga (which is in the rhythm of consecutive triplets like the Irish double jig) derived from the Irish jig as plausible, and notes that Irish harpers were known in Italy and other parts of Europe in the 13th century. He does not support Pulver's conclusion that England was the well-spring of the form, however, and states: "In the light of what we know of the spirit of Irish music, even as early as Giraldus's reference in the 12th century, I can see no reason to entertain the idea that the jig came to Ireland from England."
***
Flood believes the Irish Jig a native form named for the "geige," or fiddle. Pulver points out that many dance forms were named for accompanying instruments, such as the Hornpipe, Musette, Loure, Tambourin and others and so this is a seductive theory; however, he concludes: "very little etymological research will be necessary to prove that the one had very little to do with the other (in the case of the jig); that where the noun 'Gigue' or 'Giga' was used to mean the instrument, the dance-sense was not applied' while those dialects that used the verb 'Giguer', meaning 'to dance', did not have the noun at all." Today in Québec the term 'gigue' is still applied to any tune which is played for step dancing regardless of metre.
***
Medieval references to the Jig in both England and the continent invariably meant the instrument, but before the close of the 16th century the word was being used in England to refer to a type of ridiculous ballad (Pulver is certain the word then wandered to the Continent where it also entered lexicon as a dance term). This piece, sometimes rhymed, was sung by the clown who followed it with a dance, which was always performed to music by the Pipe and Tabor, and thus the connection between the ballad and the dance was strong. References in the literature of the period bear this out. Beaumont, writing about 1600, says: "A Jig shall be clapped at, and every rhyme praised and applauded," and Joshua Sylvester, in his translation of "G. de Saluste du Bartas, his devine weeks and workes" (1605), writes:
***
If neere unto some Eleusinian Spring,
Som sportfull Jig som wanton shepherd sing,
The ravisht Fountaine falls to daunce and bound.
***
In the ballad context Shakespeare mentions the jig three times; in "Love's Labour's Lost" he says "but to jig off a tune at the tongue's end, Canary to it with your feet..."; and in "Hamlet" it is written twice, "O God! your only jig-maker" and "He's for a Jigg or a tale of bawdry." By these references Pulver makes his case for the modern jig being originally derived from the dance of the mountebank after his ballad.
***
Lady Nevell's Virginal Book (1591) was the first work to contain the word as the name of a dance piece, with a tune named "Galliard Gygge," composed by the famous English musician William Byrd. Soon after, the word appears in other tune collections and in literature, as when Beaumont and Fletcher in Knight of the Burning Pestle (IV,1) make the citizen's wife say: "George, I will have him dance fading; fading is a fine Jig, I'll assure you."
***
The Jig ever was a triple time dance, whether in 3/8, 3/4, 6/8, 12/8 or 6/4, and, since it had the same spirit and rhythm as the older Galliard, replaced it seamlessly though for a while the two were employed together. Barnaby Rich (1581), for example, wrote: "the dances in vogue were measures, galliards jigs, etc." Several collections of music in the first decade of the 17th century contain Jigs, printed sometimes alongside Galliards--Thomas Robinson's School of Musicke (1603) and Thomas Ford's Musicke of Sundrie Kindes (1607), are two such. There are tunes labled Jigs in duple time in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and other publications, however, these titles recorded rather the spirit or character of the Jig rather that the actuality of the dance, for they were instrumental compositions meant for listening.
***
The 17th century, and especially during the reign of the two Stuarts, saw the peak popularity of the form. Playford prints numerous examples of the Jig, which increasingly was played as an instrumental as well as for country dancing. Pulver states: "Before the Stuart regime ended the Jig was so popular as a dance that no entertainment or other occasion when many assembled, closed without a Jig. The form began a decline with the Hanoverian kings, and, by the early decades of the next century it had devolved to the final movement of the classical Suite form.
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Scotland was the first country, according to Pulver, to embrace the English Jig, though the earliest refernce he finds is by Thomas Morley (1597) who says: "And I boldy affirme, that look which he bee who enioyne him to make but a Scottish Iygge, he will grossly erre in the true nature and qualitie of it." Shakespeare mentions the Scotch Jig in Much Ado About Nothing (1599).
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Pulver finds no musical examples of an Irish Jig until the second half of the 17th century (notwithstanding their mention in Henry Sydney's letter to Queen Elizabeth). The Irish, though, if they had no hand in fashioning the form, adopted it with a fervor, so much so that the Jig today is known popularly as the 'Irish Jig'. Indeed, the Irish have composed a large and extremely fine body of Jig literature (which was first composed and performed on the pipes, the fiddle being a late usurper of that popular pastoral instrument). An account of a Jig performed in Ireland was given by Lady Morgan in her Patriotic Sketches of Ireland (1807):
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In the centre of the field...a distaff is fixed in the earth,
on which is placed a large flat cake; this cake is the
signal of pleasure and becomes the reward of talent
...At a little distance from this standard of revelry is
placed its chief agent, the piper, who is always seated
on the ground, with a hole dug near him, into which
the contributions of the assembly are dropt...At the
end of each Jig the piper is paid by the young man
who dances it, and who endeavours to enhance the
value of the gift by first bestowing it on his fair
partner; and although a penny a Jig is esteemed very
good pay, yet the gallantry or ostentation of the
contributor...sometimes trebles the sum which the
piper usually receives.
MAGGIE'S PANCAKES. Scottish, Reel. B Minor. Standard. AABB. Green Linnet GLCD 1081, The Tannahill Weavers - "Dancing Feet."
T: Maggie's Pancakes
M: 2/2
L: 1/8
R: Reel
C: Stuart Morison
D: Tannahill Weavers, "Dancing Feet"
K: Bm
fB~B2 fgfe|dB~B2 GBdB|cAAd AAec|AfdB ecAe|
fB~B2 fgfe|dB~B2 GBdB|cABc ABce|afec B2de:|
|:~f2dB GBdB|caec dB~B2|~f2dB GBdB|caec Bcde|
fd~d2 fgfe|dB~B2 GBdB|cAdA eAce|afec B2de:|
MASON'S APRON (Práiscín an Mhásúin/Saorcloice). AKA and see "Braes of Glenorchy," "Carton's Reel," "Gallagher's," "I Don't Like the Guidewife," "The Isla Reel," "Lady/Miss Carbury/Carberry," "Lowrie Tarrel," "The Mason's Cap," "The Mason Laddie," "Miss Hope's Favorite--Scotch," "Praiscin An Saorcloc," "'S' Coma Leam Do Shean Taighe" "Le Tablier Du Macon." See also related American tunes "Jack of Diamonds" and "Wake Up Susan." Irish, Scottish, English, Shetlands, Canadian, American; Reel. A Major (most versions): A Mixolydian (Roche):G Major (some Irish versions). Standard or AEAE. AB (Athole, Breathnach, Gow, Hardie, O'Neill, Roche, Sweet): AAB (Kerr): AABB (Brody, Cole, Jarman, Kennedy, Mallinson, Miller & Perron, Raven, Skye, Songer): AA'BB' (Phillips): AABBCCDDE (Gatherer). The melody is Scottish in origin, according to most sources, despite having been strongly associated with Irish fiddling tradition in the present day. Early Scots versions appear in Alex McGlashan's (173?-1797) collections under the titles "The Isla Reel" and "Braes of Glenorchy," while one called "The Mason Laddie" is in Robert Ross' 1780 volume A Choice Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances (Edinburgh). It quickly became a popular piece, with continued longevity; for example, a note in MacDonald's Skye Collection, printed a century after Ross's volume, states: "One of the best tunes that can be played for a Country Dance." It was a particular favorite of William Hardie Jr. of Methlick (1856-1944), and was the usual encore of the Scottish fiddler Duncan McKerracher (1796-1873), the so-called "Dunkeld Paganini" (whom family history had it once danced on a table to the playing of Niel Gow), who it was said played the tune wearing his masonic apron. Mason's Apron is also the name of a Scottish country dance, though uncommon in the repertoire.
**
The melody lends itself to innumerable variations, and many fiddlers, even those not particularly known for spontaneous expostulation, compose their own. Of the two variations printed by Gatherer (1987), the first was composed by him, while the second, "quite common amongst Scottish and Irish fiddlers, was claimed by both Bobby McLeod and Sean Maguire." The latter, a famous Irish fiddler, has been credited with taking (this) "rather common two-part reel," adding variations and creating a virtuostic piece which impressed other Irish musicians who either copied it or added their own variations, say the Boys of the Lough. Some fiddlers play pizzicato notes during the tune as a variation and some Irish versions have been rendered in the key of G major, including that by Paddy O'Brien (of Tipperary) and flute player Matt Molloy; the latter's is a much admired version on that instrument. Joyce printed the tune as "Lady Carbury" and O'Farrell included it in his 4th volume of hi s Pocket Companion (1804-16) under the title "Miss Hope's Favourite - Scotch." Breathnach (1976) says the tune was sometimes played in AEAE tuning by Irish fiddlers.
**
Many fiddlers in a variety of traditions have used the tune as a vehicle to display their skill at theme and variations. The melody is, for example, widely played in the French-Canadian fiddling tradition of Québec (see "Le Tablier Du Macon"), and variants can frequently be found in several American regional styles. Alan Jabbour (1971), for example, sees associations with this tune and the "Hell On the Wabash"/"Wake Up Susan"/"Hell on the Potomac" complex of American tunes. Sources for notated versions: Boys of the Lough (Ireland/Scotland) [Brody]; fiddler Sean McGuire (Ireland) [Phillips]; fiddler Patrick Kelly, 1966 (Cree, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; Eddy Arsenault (b. 1921, St. Chrysostom, East Prince County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Kevin Burke (Portland, Oregon) [Songer]. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 211, pg. 110. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 185. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 485. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 50. Gatherer (Gatherer's Musical Museum), 1987; pg. 10 (with variations). Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pgs. 24-25. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1986; pg. 27. Jarman (The Cornhuskers Book of Square Dance Tunes), 1944; pg. 21. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 50, pg. 25. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 3, pg. 23. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 2. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 22, pg. 9. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 84. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 122. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1343, pg. 251. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 598, pg. 109. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 96. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 36. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 174. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol.1; No. 1523, pg. 61. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 132. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 5. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 64. Avoca 139, Sean Maguire--"Music of Ireland" (c. 1961. A definitive version of the tune). Beltona BL2096 (78 RPM), Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936). Columbia IDB 499 (78 RPM), Paddy O'Brien (1953). Copley Records EP9-20 (45 RPM), Paddy O'Brien (195?). Fretless 103, "Clem Myers: Northeast Regional Old Time Fiddle Champion 1967 & 1970." Green Linnet GLCD 1081, The Tannahill Weavers - "Dancing Feet." Green Linnet 3082, Paddy O'Brien (Tipp.) - "The Banks of the Shannon" (set in the key of G). Legacy 120, Jean Carignan- "French Canadian Fiddle Songs." Green Linnet GLCD 3009/Mulligan LUN 021, Kevin Burke- "If the Cap Fits" (1978. A two-part settiing learned from a 78 RPM recording of Paddy Killoran, 1930's). Outlet 1031 and Outlet 1006, Sean McGuire- "Ireland's Champion Traditional Fiddler." RCA 09026-60916-2, The Chieftains - "An Irish Evening" (1991). Rounder 3006, Boys of the Lough- "Second Album" (1974). Rounder 7002, Graham Townsend- "Le Violin/ The Fiddle." "The Caledonian Companion" (1975). "Fiddlers Three Plus Two." BBC LP, Sean McGuire & Barney McKenna - "Ulster's Flowery Vale."
T:Mason's Apron
L:1/8
M:C|
K:A
|:ed|c2A2 AB AF|EF AB c2 BA|dB B2 Bc BA|Bc de f2 ed|
c2A2 AB AF|EF AB c2 BA|Bc de fe fa|AA cB A2:|
|:ed|cA eA fA eA|cA eA fe dc|dB fB gB fB|dB fB gf ed|
cA eA fA eA|cA eA fe dc|Bc de fe fa|AA cB A2:|
SMOKEY LUM, THE. Scottish. Green Linnet GLCD 1081, The Tannahill Weavers - "Dancing Feet."