Morrison’s Jig (Edor)

This jig, usually just called “Morrison’s,” gets its name from the renowned Sligo-born Irish-American fiddler James Morrison (1891 – 1947) who, in fact, did not write it.  He was, of course, older than that California musician who named his band after Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception (1954).  Our James Morrison learned the tune from a friend, an accordion player and band-mate in NYC, Tom Carmondy, who tells the story this way:

Jim was up at my house the night before we were to go to the studio, and I played him this jig. Jim asked me where I had got it from and I told him it was my father’s jig called “The Stick Across the Hob.” Jim asked me to play it again and he wrote it down as I played, then he got the fiddle and played it off. “I will put that on record tomorrow,” he said, “and we’ll call it ‘Maurice Carmody’s Favourite’.” (“The James Morrison Story” by Harry Bradshaw)

He did so on his 1936 Columbia recording, but in the first labeling it showed up as “Maurice Comedy’s.”   It has been recorded many times since, by many different musicians and groups, including The Chieftains, on The Chieftains 4 (1973).  The tune has multiple names, including “Port Uí Mhuirgheasa,” “Lyons’ Favourite,” and “Paddy Stack’s Fancy Jig,” but as far as I know no one has restored the name given to it by Tom Carmondy’s father.

For the ABC click Morrison’s Jig

Morrison’s Jig, slow

Morrison’s Jig, med to fast (Emmanuel Delahaye, four string bouzouki)

Morrison’s Jig, the dots

Stick Across the Hob, Jig in Edor