Annotation:Jerry's Beaver Hat
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JERRY'S BEAVER HAT ({h-}Ata-Featan Diarmaid/Diarmada). AKA and see "Cat in the Corner (4) (The)," "Cooley's Jig," "Paddy Get Up," "Returned Yank (The)," "When Sick is it Tea You Want?" Irish, Double Jig. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A popular session reel, that has crept into non-Irish traditions, popular as well among American contra dance musicians and Cape Breton fiddlers. The title references the centuries-long popularity of the beaver hat (until the mid-19th century), as beaver fur was a durable, water resistant and pliable substance for gentleman's hats. The animal was hunted almost to extinction on two continents, thus effectively ending the fashion.
The tune was recorded under the "Jerry's Beaver Hat" title by the Moate Ceilidhe Band in 1953 (paired with "Maid in the Meadow"). The Kilfenora Ceili Band called the jig "The Returned Yank" when they recorded it in 1958.
Sources for notated versions: flute player Colm O'Donnell (b. 1962, Aclare, County Sligo) [Flaherty]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; Reuben Smith (b. 1931, Blooming Point, Queen's County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; New Jersey flute player Mike Rafferty, born in Ballinakill, Co. Galway, in 1926 [Harker].
Printed sources: Cotter (Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor), 1989; p. 45. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; p. 10. Harker (300 Tunes from Mike Rafferty), 2005; No. 164, p. 51. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 195, p. 113. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 71, p. 80. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; p. 21. O'Neill (Music of Ireland: 1850 Melodies), 1903; No. 754, p. 141. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), 1907; No. 40, p. 23. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 136. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; p. 12.
Recorded sources: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation LM470, Buddy MacMaster & Winnie Chafe - "Atlantic Fiddling" (1979). Dublin Records DU 1004, "The Fabulous Kilfenora Ceili Band" (2003. Originally recorded 1958). Gael Linn CEF 114, Noel Hill & Tony McMahon - "I gCnoc na Grai" (In Nocknagree). Larraga MOR1302, Mike Rafferty - "Speed 78" (2004). Lochshore CDLDL 1215, Croab Rua - "The More That's Said the Less the Better" (1992). Regal Zonophone IZ1278 (78 RPM), Moate Ceili Band (1945). Talcon Records KG240, Paddy Cronin - "The House in the Glen" (197?).
See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info [3]
Hear the tune played by the Moate Céilí Band at the Comhaltas Archive [4]