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Another tune with several disparate names.  This jig was recorded, to name a few, by Michael Coleman (1891-1945) in 1928 under this title, by John McKenna (1880-1947) in 1928 with the title “Clancy’s Dream,” by Bobby Casey in 1959 under this title, and by the Bothy Band in the 1970s under this title.  In fact, the Bothy Band’s recording of the set “Tar Road to Sligo / Paddy Clancy’s” has resulted in this becoming a common session set.

Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910)

It is unclear just who the “Paddy Clancy” in the title was.  Some think it was Francis O’Neill’s friend Patrick Clancy of New York.  He had a popular orchestra, according to O’Neill, and was perhaps the best Irish fiddler in New York at the time.  O’Neill goes on to say that he was highly professional, fulfilling engagements from start to finish to the minute.  Then he would head to a pub and play for free for until early morning.

Though the tune, or very near versions of it, still go by “Sweet Biddy Daly” — the title in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903) — or “An Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies” the differences are often so slight as to be unnoticeable in a session.   Given that it’s No. 57 in the 1883 publication of Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, No. 13 in Perlman’s 1996 publication of The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island, and is still going strong in sessions all over the world, the tune obviously has some incredible staying power.

For the ABC click Paddy Clancy’s Jig

Paddy Clancy’s, slow tempo

Paddy Clancy’s, med tempo

Paddy Clancy’s, the dots

Paddy Clancy’s, Jig in D

This tune is just one of a fairly large number of tunes that have “hag” in the title — some of which are actually the same tune. There are the other jigs: “Hag in the Churn” (Dmix), “Hag in the Kiln” (Dmix), “Hag at the Church Door” (Dmix), “Hag with the Money” (Dmix),  “The Miller and the Hag” (G), “The Foreign Hag” (Ador), “Hag in the Blanket” (G), “The Red-Haired Hag” (Amix), “Old Hag in the Corner” (Dmix), “Cheer Up Old Hag” (G), “Ruffle The Old Hag” (Dmix), “Hag at the Spinning Wheel” (G), and “Old Hag You Have Killed Me” (Dmix). There are the reels:  “The Hag’s Reel” (G), “The Old Hag” (G) — which is “An T-Seann Cailleach” in Irish — and “Hag by the Fire” (D). There’s the slip jig:  “The Hag’s Dream” (D). The slide: “Hag at the Spinning Wheel” (Dmix).  The mazurka: “The Hag with the Fiddle” (G). And the march: “The Old Hag Tossed Up In A Blanket” (G).

However, though today “hag” is a dysphemism for an assertive, confident woman, in more magical times it referred to a devious and otherwise very non-Glenda-like witch.  So, unless you could be confident of their particular magical direction, it would be perilous to have a hag in the environs.  As to the previous point, in Irish “cailleach” can be translated as “nun,” “old woman,” “matriarch,” or “hag,” and is also the Irish name of the hagfish.  The latter has recently been recognized as producing eco-beneficial slime that may be used in the future for making stronger cloth.  This just goes to show that we sometimes overlook actual and potential benefits, due to a superficial viewing.  Overcoming our prejudices concerning how things look on the surface is in intersubjective journey, and it requires focused attention.

De Dannan, Selected Jigs, Reels, and Songs (1977)

Our jig here “The Hag’s Purse” (or “Sparán Airgid na Caillí” in Irish) has several variations, and is also known as “Bobby Casey’s Jig,” and “The Roscommon Jig.”  Though presented here and typically as a double jig, it has the feel of a slide or a single jig.  This is because of the phrases consisting of quarter-and-eighth notes (sometimes called long-short pairs) followed by three eighth notes, which is very common in slides and characteristic of some single jigs.  As a result it would fit well in double jig sets, single jig sets, and slide sets.  It is in double jig sets on the following albums: the first tune of track 11 on De Dannan’s second album Selected Jigs and Reels and Songs (1977), the second of track 6 on Catherine McEvoy album (with Felix Dolathe) Traditional Flute Music In The Sligo-Roscommon Style (1996), and the second tune of track 5 on Cathal Hayden’s Live In Belfast (2007).  It is #34 in Breandán Breathnach’s Ceol Rince na hÉireann 1 (1963).

For the ABC click Hag’s Purse

Hag’s Purse, slow tempo (Mandolin, Eddie Edwards)

Hag’s Purse, med tempo (Mandolin, Eddie Edwards)

Hag’s Purse, med tempo  (fiddle, David Agee)

Hag’s Purse, Jig is Dmix (with 2 F naturals)

Coal Fire Hob, c. 1909

This three-part (double) jig is played AABBCC, and called “An Píopa ar an mBaic” in Irish. It’s #705 in O’Neill’s 1850 (1903), and #9 in O’Neill’s 1001 (1907).  Through thr wonders of technology you can also transport yourself to a parlor, and listen to a version on ITMA from the 1930s, track 10.  A hob, by the way, is a raised surface on which to place pots, pans, and utensils for cooking in order to keep them warm.  It might be just a little raised brick surface within a large hearth, or even a raised surface in front of a fireplace, but not to be confused with a fireplace fender which is used to keep burning material from rolling out onto the floor. In the pic is a very simple coal fire hob with space just big enough for a kettle or pot of soup. There are/were many kinds, some amazingly elaborate. Depending on its construction and proximity to the fire, you might put your feet up on the hob, or lay wet cloths on the hob, or find a fiddler or piper sitting on the hob. The story behind the tune is that it used to be called “The Piper on the Hob” and was a reference to some cold winter nights when a cricket would chirp away on the hob, which was, and still is by some, regarded as sign of good luck.  The Fiddler’s Companion attributes the story to Seamus Ennis.

Now in the original story of Pinocchio, from Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1883) written by Carlo Lorenzini (1826-1890) an Italian children’s writer known by his pen name Carlo Collodi, the wooden boy falls asleep with his feet on what translators often write as “stove,” but is better rendered as “hob” — it’s brace in Italian, and so to make any sense would have to be a brazer with a hob, or at least that’s the conclusion I came to after discussing it with an Italian girlfriend a couple of decades ago.  As a result his feet burn off.  And, by the way, Pinocchio in the original is a hellion (bambino da inferno)! As is true in most cases the Disney  protagonist is completely unrecognizable.

ANYWAY, there is also a tune called “Pipe on the Hob” in Dmix, but it’s a very different tune. Our tune is on the Bothy Band album Out of the Wind, Into the Sun (1977), with Paddy Keenan on uilleann pipes.

For the ABC click Pipe on the Hob

Pipe on the Hob, slow tempo (fiddle, Dave Agee)

Pipe on the Hob, med tempo (fiddle, Dave Agee)

Pipe on the Hob, Jig in Ador

Drummond Castle

This Scottish jig is named after a castle in Perthshire, Scotland, just south of Crieff in Muthill perish. It’s still a privately owned castle, and has extensive Italian Renaissance style gardens with a long history.  Sir Malcolm Drummond fought alongside Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn (1314) during the First War of Scottish Independence, and was given the lands (see Peter Armstrong, Bannockburn 1314: Robert Bruce’s Great Victory, Osprey: 2002).  The fourth Lord Drummond was made Earl of Perth by King James VI/I – the King James (1567–1625) who authorized a new translation of the Bible into English that made it sound older than the spoken English of the time.  Lord Drummond, Earl of Perth, then began construction on Drummond Castle atop a prominent and at places rather steep spine of rock known as the Gask Ridge. Cromwell’s forces attacked and sacked Drummond Castle during the royalist rising in Scotland after the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1642–1651).  It was owned by the state from 1750 to 1784 when it was repurchased by the Drummond family.  The castle has been enlarged and expanded over the centuries, as have the gardens, and it is now a fairly popular tourist attraction.  Music was present at the castle almost from the beginning, and there is tune book referred to either as “the Scottish Drummond Castle Manuscript” or “the Duke of Perth Manuscript,” that is currently in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle. There’s an inscription on the manuscript that reads “A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734.”  The tune “Drummond Castle” is in that manuscript, and begins with a rather steep jump in the first measure. The tune has been republished many times since then.

For the ABC click Drummond Castle

Drummond Castle, slow tempo (fiddle, David Agee)

Drummond Castle, med tempo (fiddle & mandolin)

Drummond Castle, jig in Aaeol