Annotation:Top it off
X:1 T:Tip it off M:9/8 L:1/8 R:Slip Jig S:Thomas M. Kernan music manuscript collection (1844-c.1850, Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford) Z:Transcribed by Conor Ward K:D B|A2(F F2d) (cB)A|B2(c d2e) (fd)B|A2(F F2d) (cB)A|(BdB) (AFA) D2:| |:g|f2(d d2f) .d2.f|e2(c c2e) .c2.e|d2(B Bcd) (cB)A|1 (Bcd) (edc) d2:|2 (Bcd) (edc) (dc)B||
TOP IT OFF (Cuir barr air). AKA – “Tip it Off.” AKA and see "Connemara Jig," "Maid's Complaint (The)," “McCarthy's Jig,” "Rogue is Mad to be at Her (2) (The)," “Rouse It.” Irish, Slip Jig (9/8 time). D Major (Kernan, Sullivan): D Major/Mixolydian (Breathnach). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Sullivan): AABB' (Breathnach, Kernan). Breathnach (1963) states R.M. Levey’s (1858) “Connemara Jig” is a version of this tune. Levey also includes the tune in his second collection (1873) under the title “Rouse It,” set in the key of F. Current versions of the tune feature an extra beat on the last bar of the first part (with an irregular ‘B’ part as well), possibly in imitation of Seamus Ennis’s version. However, the earliest sighting of this tune is in the Leonard-Kernan MS (1844-c.1850, Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford) where it's entitled "Tip if Off,” the same title as it appears in the c. 1883 music manuscript of County Leitrim musician Stephen Greir (MS 14, No. 16). Researcher Conor Ward remarks that “it was a very popular tune in counties Leitrim and Longford appearing in local manuscripts from successive generations of fiddle players. It was recently recorded by the group 'The Drôle', on their CD 'A Few Tunes for our Friends'. This group includes Peader Ó Riada, John Kelly and Éamon McGivney. The latter musician is a native of Granard, Co. Longford, and a former pupil of Father John Quinn. Éamon had learned the tune while playing in one of Father Quinn’s céilí bands in the 1970s, and so was able to give the Kernan manuscript as their source for this tune in the sleeve notes.” Fr. Quinn also finds two versions in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) under the title “Maid's Complaint (The)” (p. 100) and as “Hop—Jig” (p. 80), and further untitled cognates as “Irish Jig” in James Mason’s Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, Vol. 2 (Glasgow, 1844-46, p.1), and an untitled hop jig in Patrick Weston Joyce’s Ancient Irish Music (Dublin, 1873, No. 7). Finally, Fr. Quinn identifies O’Neill’s “Dress Her Out in Fine Clothes” as a member of the “Top it Off” tune family.
Compare also the related reel-time first part of “The Sunny Banks.”
