Annotation:Out on the Ocean (1)
X:1 T:Out on the Ocean [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 K:G G|~B3 BAG|BdB A2B|GED G2A|BAB AGE| ~B3 BAG|BdB A2B|GED G2A|BGF G2:| ||d|ege edB|ege edB|ded dBA|ded dBA| G2A B2d|ege dBA|GED G2A|BGF GBd| ege edB|ege edB|ded def|gfe dBA| G2A B2d|ege dBA|GED G2A|BGF G2||
OUT ON THE OCEAN [1] ("Amac air an fairge" or "Amuig ar an fairge"). AKA and see "Banks of Ahasnagh," "Bucks of Ahasnagh (The)," "Crossing the Bogs," "Mick Mulcahy's (1)," "Over the Sea (2)," "O'Connell's Jig on the Top of Mount Everest," "Portroe (1) (The)," "Split the Whisker," "Tierney's Jig," "Tithes are all down (The)." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Silberberg): AABB (Mallinson, Martin & Hughes, O'Neill): AABB' (Tubridy): AA'BB' (Harker/Rafferty, Songer). A popular session jig, particularly with those in the early stages of learning the repertory. The melody was collected by Irish collector George Petrie in the mid-19th century under the title "Bucks of Ahasnagh (The)," while County Cork uilleann piper and Church of Ireland cleric wikipedia:James_Goodman_(musicologist) (1828-1896) entered a version as "Tithes are all down (The)" in his mid-19th century music manuscript collection (Book 1, p. 33). Jack Campin (jc@purr.demon.co.uk) identifies "Out on the Ocean" as one of many variants of the Lowland Scots tune "Rock and a Wee Pickle Tow," originally a women's spinning song. Francis O'Neill learned the tune from an accomplished West Clare flute player (and Chicago police patrolman) named Patrick "Big Pat" O'Mahony, a man of prodigious physique of whom he said: "...the 'swing' of his execution was perfect, but instead of 'beating time' with his foot on the floor like most musicians he was never so much at ease as when seated in a chair tilted back against a wall, while both feet swung rhythmically like a double pendulum" [O'Neill, Irish Folk Music, 1910].
While the jig is almost always played in 'G' major in modern sessions, the Boys of the Lough recorded it in 'A' major on their 1988 album "Sweet Rural Shade."