Annotation:Strike the Gay Harp
X:1 T:Strike the gay Harp T:Night Dance, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air or Jig B:P.M. Haverty – One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 3 (1859, No. 227, p. 110) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:C “Con Spirito”c>AA B>GG|AGF (E>DC)|cAA BGG|c>GE DEG| (c<de) (A>Bc)|(GAF) E2D|C>CC C2E|(GED) (DEG)|| c2e e2e|g>ag (gec)|c2e g2g|(afd) (dBG)| c2e g2g|(af/g/a/f/) g2f|{f}(e>dc) (ced)|(cGE) (DEG)|| ced c>ed|cGF (E>DC)|ced ced|cGE (DEG)| (cde) (A>Bc)|(GAF) E2D|C>CC C2E|(GED) (DEG)||
STRIKE THE GAY HARP. AKA and see "Fitzpatrick's Jig," "Jackson's Night Cap," "Night Dance (The)," "Piper's Welcome (The)," "Strike the Young Harp." Irish, Double Jig (6/8 time). D Major or D Mixolydian/Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Harker/Rafferty, Mallinson, McNulty, Taylor): AA'BBCC (O'Neill). The tune appears to be most often played in the major rather than the modal mode. The tune first appeared as “Jackson’s Night Cap” printed in Jackson’s Celebrated Tunes, Dublin, 1774. It was recorded on a 78 RPM in the 1920’s by Sligo fiddlers James Morrison and Paddy Sweeney. 20th century Bronx fiddler Martin Mulvihill called the tune “Fitzpatrick's Jig,” probably after Tim Fitzpatrick, a New York accordion player and contemporary of the great Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, who often accompanied New York fiddler Lad O'Beirne.
One supposes that the title refers to playing the harp in a celebratory mood, or playing music that is reflective of a convivial humor. That harpers could indeed be ‘celebratory’ is attested to by Arthur O’Neill (1734-1818), one of the last of the old itinerant Irish harpers who had been blinded at age two. He wrote in this memoirs of the Granard harp competitions he participated in at the end of the 18th century: “After this first [1781] Ball was ended I became a favourite in and about Granard, where I remained about four months, where my company was much sought for. I will not attempt to say how I deserved such attention, only that I was then more cautious of avoiding inebriation than the other harpers and kept as little of their company as possible.”
See also note for "Strike the Young Harp|" for additional remarks on the tune.
