Annotation:Drunken Gauger (1)

Tune properties and standard notation

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DRUNKEN GAUGER [1], THE (An Tuiséara ar a Mheisce). AKA and see "Munster Rake (The)," "Welcome the Piper" (Failte don Piobaire), "Swaggering Jig (1) (The)," "Noggin of Cream (The)," "Taggit Along the Room," "Seanduine Coileailte (An)," "Silly Old Man (1)(The)," "Girls Take Care How You Marry," "Give Us a Drink of Water (2), "Just in the Height of Her Bloom." Irish, Set Dance (6/8). Ireland, County Clare. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Roche): AABB (Breathnach). At one time a 'gauger' was a functionary whose job it was to monitor public houses to insure that various sized drinks were served in vessels of accurate measure: i.e. that a pint drink served actually measured a full pint, a gill measured a gill, and so on. Such intense scrutiny of alcoholic conveyances would undoubtedly be a thirsty business, perhaps helped along by a hopeful or sly publican if the measure might be short. Not a few gaugers probably achieved the level of inebriation required for the title. The set dance is supposed by some to imitate the attitude of a staggering gauger, weary and perhaps too 'affected' by his work. Breathnach says the set dance is especially associated with County Clare. The term 'gauger' has largely died out, says Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, although it is retained in modern usage (with a derogatory connotation) in County Donegal for a social service functionary whose job it is to monitor fraud with regard to welfare, or 'the dole'.

Charlie Piggott, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998), in the essay on Kilmaley, County Clare, fiddler, flute player and uilleann piper Peader O'Loughlin, remarks on tunes being disseminated into local, isolated traditions in Ireland by visiting musicians. It is remembered that "The Drunken Gouger" was introduced into the Kilmaley-Connolly, Clare, area "from the repertoire of dancing-master Paddy Barren, who regularly visited the O'Loughlin household and held dancing classes there." The tune is now commonly played throughout Clare. Clare fiddler Junior Crehan was recorded playing the tune and talking about it beforehand; he remembered it from the mendicant dancing master Barron's second visit to his area, around 1935 (Barron's first visit had been for an extended period from 1914-1918). Crehan learned the tune at the behest of Barron, who wanted him to play for the dancers, to whom Barron would teach both steps and sets for a shilling for three nights of instruction.

Source for notated version: fiddler Bobby Casey (County Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach].

Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ III), 1985; No. 61, pg. 30. Cotter (Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor), 1989; 90. Roche Collection, 1927; vol. 3, p. 68, No. 193. Treoir.

Recorded sources: Claddagh CC47, Ronan Browne & Peter O'Loughlin - "The South West Wind." Mulligan Records LUN 018, Bobby Casey - "Taking Flight" (1979).

See also listings at:
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index [2]

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Tune properties and standard notation