BRITCHES MAKER, THE. Scottish, Jig. G Aeolian. Standard. AABB. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 323.
OLD GREY GOOSE, THE [1] (An Sean Gead Liat). AKA and see "We'll All Take a Coach and Trip it Away." Irish, Double Jig. E Minor. Standard. AABBCCDEEFF (Taylor): AABBCCDDEEFF (Miller & Perron, O'Neill/1915, 1001 & 1850): AABB'CC'DDEE (O'Neill/Krassen): AABB'CC'DD'EEFF' (Alewine): AABBCCDDEEFFGG (Moylan). The great compiler, Captain Francis O'Neill, identified "an old time jig named "We'll all take a coach and trip it away", a five-part tune printed in O'Farrell's National Irish Music, 1797-1800" as the precursor to "The Old Grey Goose." Precursors also appear under the titles "Breeches Loose" (a two-part tune in an 18th-century English violin tutor) and later, in Scotland, as "The Britches Maker." O'Neill states that the version he printed came about in a rather circuitous fashion, beginning in the 1880's when a renowned Irish piper by the name of John Hicks (a protege of the 'Sporting' Captain Kelly from the Curragh of Kildare) played a venue in Chicago. On that occasion several of his tunes were memorised by local musicians and subsequently entered Irish-American tradition in that city. Hicks' tune is the 1st and 3rd parts of "Old Grey Goose." O'Neill himself heard the 1st and 2nd parts as a jig played by County Leitrim fiddler James Kennedy who called it "The Geese in the Bogs" and when he dictated the melody to his collaborator, fiddler James O'Neill, he discovered James had an MS version with six parts. Somewhat arbitrarily, they decided to use the last three parts of O'Neill's MS version, with the three obtained from Hicks and Kennedy, and, since they already had a tune by the name of "Geese in the Bogs" they decided to call the piece "Old Grey Goose." A variant of the tune called "The Rakes of Kinsale" is to be found in Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909).
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The great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman recorded O'Neill's setting of the jig, and this, like other Coleman records was imported back to Ireland where it made a great impression. Subsequent recordings were made by the Moate Ceili Band in Ireland in 1938, followed by the Aughrim Slopes Ceili Band in 1956. Peter Woods, in his book The Living Note: the Heartbeat of Irish Music (1996), tells of his character's playing the tune on the fiddle for his old teacher in County Clare because he had no gramaphone and did not read music:
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He was awful quick to pick up a tune. He was like a bone-setter
reaching in to find what was important to him and knitting it all
together. It was never just the notes with him--it was the notes
between the notes. I remember once playing 'The Old Grey Goose'
for him, there's six or seven parts to it. 'O Lord,' he says, 'there's
fistfuls of music in that jig. Fistfuls.'
***
Sources for notated versions: Michael Coleman (Co. Sligo, Ireland and New York) [Miller & Perron]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded in recital at Na Píobairí Uilleann, November, 1990 [Moylan]. Alewine (Maid that Kissed the Chicken's Lips), 1987; pg. 27. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; Vol. 1, No. 5. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 172, pgs. 98-99. O'Farrell (c. 1800). O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 128, pg. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 51. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1000, pg. 186. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 214, pg. 49. Taylor (Where's the Crack), 1989; pg. 20.
T:Old Grey Goose [1]
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (214)
K:G
E/F/|GBG FAF|GEE E2F|DFA dAG|FDD DEF|GFG AGA|BAB gfg|edB BAF|GEE E2:|
F|G2G dBG|GAB/c/ eBG|A2A ecA|Abc/d/ ecA|GAG dBG|egf gfg|edB BAF|GEE E2:|
|:d|efe edB|def g2e|fdd add|fag fed|gfg fef|def gfg|ecB BAF|GEE E2:|
|:c|BGG AFF|GEE E2c|BGG dAG|FDD D2c|BGG AGF|GEE gfg|edB BAF|GEE E2:|
|:f|gbg faf|gee e2f|gbg fag|fdd def|gbg faf|egf gfg|edB BAF|GEE E2:|
|:f|gdc BcA|GEE E2f|gdB dAG|FDD DEF|G3 AGA|BcB gfg|edB BAF|GEE E2:|