Annotation:All Covered with Moss

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ALL COVERED WITH MOSS. AKA and see "Roger the Weaver." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The melody changes key from 'C' to 'G' in the second strain, like a North American quadrille (a format much less common in Irish music). The tune was played by fiddler Edward Cronin, born in County Tipperary in the 1830's, although he had no name for it, nor could anyone recall it. A member of Francis O'Neill's traditional Irish music circle in Chicago, Sergeant Early (an uilleann piper and member of the Chicago police force), upon hearing Cronin play, remarked "with evident appreciation, 'Ah, that's well covered with moss'--alluding to its ancient strains" O'Neill seized upon the remark as a convenient title. [O'Neill's Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby (1910, chapt. 5). Collector P.W. Joyce earlier published the melody in his Ancient Irish Music (1873) as "Roger the Weaver."

Printed sources: O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 782, p. 146. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 58, p. 26. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 23.

Recorded sources: Alison Perkins and Nicolas Brown - "All Covered With Moss" (2016) [1]

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