Annotation:Cherish the Ladies

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CHERISH THE LADIES (Alltri Na Mna). AKA and see "Capper's Jig," "Humors of Cappa (2) (The), "Jackson's Thought," "Thought," "Wallop the Ladies," "Wise Maid (2), (The)." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (McDermott, Roche): AABB' (Joyce): ABC (Stanford/Petrie): AABBCA (Cole): AABBCC (Williamson): AABBCD (Mitchell): AABBCCDD (Goodman, Kennedy): AABBCDDEE (Brody): AABBCCDDEE (O'Neill/Krassen): ABBCDDEE (Moylan): AABBCCDDEEFF (O'Neill/1850 & 1001). A popular session jig. O'Neill (Irish Folk Music, p. 94) says: "Dr. Petrie refers to it as a Munster jig, yet none whom the writer heard play it in any style were natives of that province. In its original form of two strains it was one of Jackson's jigs, and Dr. Petrie's opinion receives corroboration by finding a simple version of the tune in Dr. Joyce's Old Irish Folk Airs and Songs, just published." O'Neill remarks again in Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913, p. 183) the tune had been ascribed to the famous 18th century County Limerick composer Walker 'Piper' Jackson. He did not specify where he obtained this information, but "Jackson" is listed as the composer in Elias Howe's c. 1866 Musician's Omnibus No. 3 (p. 220). Paul de Grae (notes to MOI/DMI, 2017) is of the opinion that Howe's version of "Cherish the Ladies" formed the basis for Chief O'Neill's more elaborate six-part one, as the first two stains are "almost exactly identical, and the Howe/Ryan's third part is very like O'Neill's (or rather, Gillan's) fourth part." O'Neill also printed the first two strains of his "Cherish the Ladies" independent of his other strains under the title "Humors of Cappa (2) (The)."

The first strain of the tune is the common one across versions, but various other strains have been grafted on, sometimes shared among other published versions and/or in different order. As de Grae (2017) notes:

The Petrie setting referred to is Stanford/Petrie 921; it is in three parts, with the second part practically identical to Howe's third. Joyce's two-part setting (J4:25) consists of the first part common to all the other settings cited, plus the part which is second in Petrie, third in Howe and Ryan, and fourth in the Gillan/O'Neill setting.

Canon biography:James Goodman (County Cork) entered into his large mid-19th music manuscript collection (vol. iv, p. 2) a tune called "Thought" attributed to Jackson that is a version of "Cherish the Ladies," and this may be the source of attributions to that musician (see note for "Annotation:Thought" for the several alternate and related titles). Researcher Connor Ward finds a cognate version of "Cherish" under the title "Jackson's Thought" in the turn-of-the-20th century music manuscripts of the Reynolds family of Gaigue, Ballinamuck, Co. Longford. Another four-part version of the jig was transcribed into Goodman's manuscript collection (vol. 3, p. 81) as "Wallop the Ladies."

County Sligo/New York City fiddler Michael Coleman made a much-admired 78 RPM recording of this tune in the 1930's. Later, in the 1940's, he made a recording on aluminum acetate for a private collector of a two-part version of the tune [1], which was called "The Pathway to the Well" in a tune book compiled by Mayo/NYC fiddler John McGrath. Coleman's 1940's two-part tune is a distanced version of the multiple-part "Cherish the Ladies"; the same "Pathway to the Well" uses some of the same melodic material and is similar in character, although considered an independent tune. Paddy Glackin recorded a three-part version, of which the first and last sections correspond to the 'A' and 'B' sections in Joyce. Accordionist Frank Quinn recorded a five-part version under the title "The Wise Maid" in 1926, which is rather similar to Paddy Glackin's five-part version.

Sources for notated versions: "Taken down from the playing of Ned Goggin the Glenosheen fiddler" [Joyce]; from the manuscript collection of retired businessman and Irish music enthusiast John Gillan, collected from musicians in his home county of Longford and the adjoining Leitrim [O'Neill]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region, Kerry), recorded at a recital at Na Píobairí Uilleann, February, 1981 [Moylan]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; "A Munster jig. From Mrs. Close" [Stanford/Petrie].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 64. Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 72. Howe (Musician's Onmibus No. 3), c. 1866; p. 220. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 25, p. 15. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 18, p. 6. McDermott (Allan's Irish Fiddler), c. 1920's, No. 24, p. 6. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 94, pp. 82-83. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 36, pp. 21-22. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 19. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 730, p. 136. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 29, p. 21. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1), 1912; p. 39, No. 88. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 102. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 921, p. 234. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 80.

Recorded sources: Claddagh CC14, Chieftains- "Chieftains 4" (1972). Gael-Linn CEF060, "Paddy Glackin." Shanachie 79024, "Chieftains 4" (1983). Victor 79007, Frank Quinn (1926).

See also listings at: Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [4].
Hear Michael Coleman's 1940 version, recorded for a private collector, at the Internet Archive [5]

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