Annotation:Black Rogue (1)
X:1 T:The Black Rogue [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:O'Neill - Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907), No. 302 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G | dBB BAB | dBB B2g | dBB BAB | GEE E2g | dBB BAB | dBB BAG | ABc BAB | GEE E2 :| |: d | gfg aga | bge edB | gfg aga | bge e3/2f/g/a/ | bag agf | gef g2e | dBB BAB | GEE E2 :||
BLACK ROGUE [1], THE (An Rógaire dub/dubh)). AKA and see "Bunch of Green Rushes (2) (The)," "Bark is on the Swelling Shore (The)" "Before I Was Married (2)," "Billy O'Rourke's Jig (1)," "Black Joke (2) (The)," "Come Under My Plaidie," "Donnybrook Fair," "God Bless the Grey Mountain," "Humors of Donnybrook Fair," "Inishowen," "Irish Lady (2) (The)," "Irish Lass (2)," "Johnny McGill/Johnnie MacGill," "Life is all Chequered," "Michael Malloy/Molloy/Mulloy," "Miss Thornton's Jig," "My Silly Auld Man," "Nature and Melody," "O Pleasant was the Moon," "Paddy McNicholas'," "Sack of Potatoes (The)," "Shane Glas/Shaun Glas," "Sublime Was the Warning," "Shandrum Boggoon," "This Life is All Chequered," "'Tis a bit of a thing," "What sounds can compare." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). G Major (Levey, O'Neill): D Mixolydian (Shields/Goodman): D Major (Taylor). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The provenance for the tune is unclear as it is claimed by both Irish and Scots, but it is widely known throughout Ireland. The "Black Rogue" title for the melody is derived from a old song still sung in Irish to the tune. It has been said to have been composed by Girvan Ayrshire, Scotland, musician Johnny McGill (born c. 1707, whose name is attached to Scottish versions), and indeed, "Johnny McGill" can be thought of as a modal version of "Black Rogue." See also Robert Riddell's of Glenriddell (Dumfriesshire) version "My Silly Auld Man."
The melody was included three times in the music manuscripts of Church of Ireland cleric James Goodman (1828-1896). Goodman was an Irish speaker and uilleann piper who collected in tradition in County Cork and elsewhere in Munster, and who also gleaned tunes from other musicians' manuscripts and printed sources. See also Goodman's "Billy O'Rourke" and "Droichead Loch Gearr." O'Neill's setting is essentially the same as that given by late 18th/early 19th century piper O'Farrell, who included many Scottish melodies in his collection of Irish tunes. An early recording of the jig was by John Sheridan and his Boys on 78 RPM disc in 1928, and the jig was a great favorite of Donegal fiddlers Mickey and John Doherty. Compare this tune with "Paddy the Weaver" in O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922, No. 134).
"Black Rogue" was in the repertoire of Cape Breton fiddler Bill Lamey, whose playing of it at Cape Breton dances in Boston was remembered by a young Jerry Holland. Lamey may have picked it up from Irish sources, such as Leitrim flute player John McKenna's influential 78 RPM recording.
