Annotation:Is Trua gan Peata 'n Mhaoir agam (1)
Tune properties and standard notation
IS TRUA GAN PEATA 'N MHAOIR AGAM [1]. AKA and see "Your Mother's Fair Pet," "Peata Beag mo Mháthar," "Peata Geal do Mháthar," "I'm Ready Now," "Our House at Home." Irish; Reel, Polka and Air. D Major/A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Paul de Grae translates the title as "a pity I don't have the steward's pet." The name is from the chorus of a song (sung to the first part of the tune), from the playing of Doolin, County Clare, tin-whistle player Micho Russell (1915-1994) who called it "Peata Beag is a Mháthair" (Little pet and its mother). Breathnach finds versions in Joyce (Cnuasach ceoil a rinne Patrick Weston Joyce, pp. 12-13) and Petrie (Ancient Music of Ireland, 1882, 42/43). He gives one of Russell's verses:
I wish I had a bainbhín bainbhín = young pig
A bainbhín, a bainbhín,
I wish I had a bainbhín
That would drink the pratie water.
Russell maintained that drinking the water after boiling potatoes (i.e. pratie water) was good for your feet and that young pigs liked it (Piggott, Blooming Meadows, 1998).
Source for notated version: Micko Russell, 1966 (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach].
Printed sources: Breathnach (CRÉ II), 1976; No. 259, p. 134. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, vol. 1), 1999; p. 8 (appears as "Peata Beag Mo Mháthar").
Recorded sources: Michael Tubridy: The Eagle's Whistle