The title is among those mentioned in Patrick J. McCall’s poem “The Dance at Marley,” the incept of which goes: Murtagh Murphy’s barn was full to the door when the eve grew dull, For Phelim Moore his beautiful new pipes had brought to charm them.Tatter Jack Walsh
Played by: Andrew John Cairns Source: Soundcloud Image: Patrick Joseph McCall (6 March 1861 – 8 March 1919) known as "P.J. McCall"
The title derives from the Irish "An t‑Athair Jack Walsh;” Athair meaning Father, as in a Catholic priest with the form An t-Athair being Irish Gaelic usage before a proper name.
See also the closely related Cape Breton tune "Charlie's Aunt" and the possibly partly-related “Little Brown Jug.” The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997).
The title is among those mentioned in Patrick J. McCall’s 1861 poem “The Dance at Marley,” the first three stanzas of which goes:
Murtagh Murphy’s barn was full to the door when the eve grew dull, For Phelim Moore his beautiful new pipes had brought to charm them; In the kitchen thronged the girls - cheeks of roses, teeth of pearls - Admiring bows and braids and curls, till Phelim’s notes alarm them. Quick each maid her hat and shawl hung on dresser, bed, or wall, Smoothed down her hair and smiled on all as she the bawnoge entered, Where a shass of straw was laid on a ladder raised that made A seat for them as still they stayed while dancers by them cantered.
Although we are not trained musicologists and make no pretense to the profession, we have tried to apply such professional rigors to this Semantic Abc Web as we have internalized through our own formal and informal education.
This demands the gathering of as much information as possible about folk pieces to attempt to trace tune families, determine origins, influences and patterns of aural/oral transmittal, and to study individual and regional styles of performance.
Many musicians, like ourselves, are simply curious about titles, origins, sources and anecdotes regarding the music they play. Who, for example, can resist the urge to know where the title Blowzabella came from or what it means, or speculating on the motivations for naming a perfectly respectable tune Bloody Oul' Hag, is it Tay Ye Want?
Knowing the history of the melody we play, or at least to have a sense of its historical and social context, makes the tune 'present' in the here and now, and enhances our rendering of it.
Andrew Kuntz & Valerio Pelliccioni
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