Annotation:Cock and the Hen (1) (The)

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COCK AND THE HEN, THE. AKA and see "Cathal McConnell's Slip Jig," "Dennis Ryan's Slip Jig," "Whinny Hills of Leitrim (The)." Irish, Slip (or sometimes, 'Hop') Jig (9/8). B Minor ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) {Cole, Feldman & O'Doherty, Kennedy, Miller & Perron, Roche, Ryan}: F# Minor ('A' part) & A Major ('B' part) {Taylor}: C Major ('A' part) & A Minor ('B' part) {Joyce}. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Miller & Perron): AABB (most versions). The tune is sometimes called "Dennis Ryan's Slip Jig" (by, for example the Boys of the Lough) in honor of the County Offaly fiddle player. The group Lunasa called it "Cathal McConnell's" on their album "Otherworld," in honor of the Boys of the Lough flute player, while Josephine Marsh recorded it as "Northern Jig (The)" on her first solo album. A similar tune is the Donegal-associated "Doodley Doodley Dank." The melody appears in the c. 1785 music manuscript collection (as "The Cock and the Hen") of pastoral piper John Sutherland of Aberdeenshire, set in 3/8 time. The pastoral pipes were a precursor to the smallpipes. Sutherland's manuscript contained tunes from throughout Ireland and Britain.

Source for notated version: fiddlers Francie and Mickey Byrne (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty]; Fred Breunig (Brattleboro, Vermont) [Miller & Perron].

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 66. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; p. 160 (appears as 1st "Untitled Slip Jig"). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 529, p. 284 ('A' and 'B' parts are reversed from Cole's & Roche). Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Slip Jigs & Waltzes), 1999; No. 12, p. 5. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 2nd Edition, 2006; p. 44. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 2), 1912; p. 24, No. 252. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 97. Taylor (The Crossroads Dance), 1992; No. 53, p. 40.

Recorded sources: Shaskeen – "The Mouse Behind the Dresser." Patty Bronson and Laura MacKenzie – "Cherish the Ladies." Kells Music 9501, Dervish – "Playing with Fire." Chulrua – "Barefoot on the Altar" (appears as tune following "The Whinny Hills of Leitrim," despite the fact that the liner notes call it another version of "The Whinny Hills").

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

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