Growing up in Belfast Northern Ireland I remember there was a comedian who appeared regularly on TV who was named Jimmy Cricket. He took the piss as a Wellington boot wearing, tuxedoed mammies boy. His theme tune was ‘The Irish Washer Woman’ and he always entered on stage doing a really terrible (but funny) jig. He was very witty and always good for a laugh.
Have a laugh here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC4TaV8HEzw
He was responsible for every bloody tourist within earshot requesting this tune, it was quite easy to get around not playing it, a simple ‘Sorry, I don’t know that tune’ would usually suffice. There were always the few die hards who would give you ‘Oh, it goes like this; diddley-diddley-diddley-diddley’. My blank look was usually enough for them to shrug their shoulders and give up.
It is a good tune when played correctly. It just got to the point where it was starting to get into the ‘Danny boy’ league.
I have found that in some sessions here in Australia it has the cringe factor attached to it. It may be that it is one of those tunes that got done to death and if I was to start it up I would not get too many folk joining in. I played the tune a few years ago, solo, on stage at a festival. When I announced what I was going to play I could see a few raised eyebrows and people moving uncomfortably in their seats. I played the tune as a waltz, speeding up and morphing into a jig then playing it as a hornpipe. It is a great tune to play as a hornpipe.
There aren’t too many really bad Irish traditional tunes, but there are plenty of good enough tunes that get played really badly.
