Annotation:All Covered with Moss
X:1 T:All Covered with Moss M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 58) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G c2 E EDE|GED DED|c2E EDE|cBc dcA| GED DED|DED DEF|EDE GAB|1 c3 BAG:|2 c3 BAB|| |:G2A BGB|AGA BGTE|G2A BGB|c3 BAB| |1 G2A BGB|AGA BAB|ded dcB|c3 B2A:| |2 GBd gdB|ded dBA|GED GAB|cdc BAG||
ALL COVERED WITH MOSS. AKA and see "Roger the Weaver." Irish, Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tonal center of the tune changes from 'C' to 'G' in the second strain, albeit not a strict key change (as in a North American quadrille. Rather, the first strain falls into the modal category, while the second is more solidly in 'G' major. 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 published the melody in his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) as "Roger the Weaver."
