Irish Washerwoman
Irish Washerwoman
The song may be over-used, but I like Irish Washerwoman. I have begun learning this classic tune on me whistle. It is a fun song. And there are ample samples on youtube.
This would be my first official jig I am learning.
This would be my first official jig I am learning.
Chad Wilson
Some whistles, an old fiddle, an old banjo, a bass, a guitar and a bodhran
Some whistles, an old fiddle, an old banjo, a bass, a guitar and a bodhran
- pancelticpiper
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
It's funny, I've been listening to and playing ITM for 30 years+ and I've never heard a "real" ITM musician play it except on a 78 from the 1920's.
I've actually worked up a flute/whistle version which gives the tune a style which ITM players would find acceptable, I think. I had to rework the tune a bit to make it fit our concept of the structure of ITM.
I've actually worked up a flute/whistle version which gives the tune a style which ITM players would find acceptable, I think. I had to rework the tune a bit to make it fit our concept of the structure of ITM.
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
- s1m0n
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
Few tunes are ever overused for being bad. To attain that status, they had to be pretty good melodies in the first place.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
Can we have a look at your tune then, Panceltic Piper? And maybe hear it?
Best wishes.
Best wishes.
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
Mr Internet says that over the years it's been recorded by fake ITM players like Patsy Touhey, Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien, Paddy Glackin, Sean Og Potts, & Ed Reavey.pancelticpiper wrote:It's funny, I've been listening to and playing ITM for 30 years+ and I've never heard a "real" ITM musician play it except on a 78 from the 1920's.
I've actually worked up a flute/whistle version which gives the tune a style which ITM players would find acceptable, I think. I had to rework the tune a bit to make it fit our concept of the structure of ITM.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
I have an idle notion that you might be able to play "The St. Patrick's Day March" alongside "The Irish Washerwoman" and get something slightly better than either one.
Haven't managed to convince anyone to let me try it with them, though.
Haven't managed to convince anyone to let me try it with them, though.
Wizard needs whiskey, badly!
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
s1m0n wrote:Mr Internet says that over the years it's been recorded by fake ITM players like Patsy Touhey, Joe Derrane and Jerry O'Brien, Paddy Glackin, Sean Og Potts, & Ed Reavey.pancelticpiper wrote:It's funny, I've been listening to and playing ITM for 30 years+ and I've never heard a "real" ITM musician play it except on a 78 from the 1920's.
I've actually worked up a flute/whistle version which gives the tune a style which ITM players would find acceptable, I think. I had to rework the tune a bit to make it fit our concept of the structure of ITM.
That's interesting, I didn't know so many had recorded it. I've only heard it on old 78's by the likes of Touhey.
Of course Touhey, in addition to being a great traditional uilleann piper, played all the hokey tin-pan-alley stuff of his day, and was a stand-up comedian.
This reminds me of a story a fiddler friend told me: he went into a violin shop to buy some rosin or whatever, and the woman there, the owner and a good "classical" violinist, asked my friend what sort of music he played on violin. "Irish music" he replied.
"Oh, I play Irish music too!" she said, tucked her violin under her chin, and proceeded to play Irish Washerwoman entirely staccato, with the bow bouncing up and down on and off the strings for each note.
Also, for some reason, every pseudo-Irish band plays Irish Washerwoman where they start out rather slow and keep speeding it up until it's a blaze of notes. They think it's a show-stopper, that it's somehow really impressive.
The versions of this tune one usualy hears, likewise played by people clueless about ITM, don't have a form that fits what we think of as being acceptable ITM. That's why I put rolls etc in it, to make it sound like a normal Irish "double jig".
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
Time for this one again ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-JAP7Kf1cI
Who's the guy with the beard ?
Does that illustrate both S1m0n's and pancelticpiper's views ?
Who's the guy with the beard ?
Does that illustrate both S1m0n's and pancelticpiper's views ?
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
Drop a YouTube bomb on us, will you? Well take this! and This!david_h wrote:Time for this one again ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-JAP7Kf1cI
Who's the guy with the beard ?
Does that illustrate both S1m0n's and pancelticpiper's views ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhEHmmhS4f0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KQ-368Q5wg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKnmCgzjvMQ
Richard Cook
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
c1980 Quinn uilleann pipes
1945 Starck Highland pipes
Goldie Low D whistle
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
As the OP said
I liked the sax arrangment.caedmon wrote: ... It is a fun song...
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
sadley, this jig keeps getting pushed to the bottom of my 'to learn' list as its less fun the the other obscure hornpipes / funkey reels / videogame theme music which usually populated said list.
im sure i will get round to it.
im sure i will get round to it.
Re: Irish Washerwoman
Yikes! Then there's the song based on said tune:pancelticpiper wrote:Drop a YouTube bomb on us, will you? Well take this! and This!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhEHmmhS4f0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KQ-368Q5wg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKnmCgzjvMQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz_S7MSgwwI#t=12s
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Re: Irish Washerwoman
I still can't get a hold of this tune. I have the first part down, but the very last part just throws me off.
"In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words, than words without a heart." John Bunyan
Re: Irish Washerwoman
It's certainly not a terribly simple tune.
The Sailor's Hornpipe (the one Popeye
sings) gives me similar problems.
The Sailor's Hornpipe (the one Popeye
sings) gives me similar problems.
Re: Irish Washerwoman
Thanks to the OP, I've been trying to figure out what tune that was for a few years. Now that I know there is a "tune that must not be named" type of disdain following it, I will attempt to learn it out of curiousity, then be careful never to play it in public
Another one that was terribly familiar yet escaped me for a bit was "Rakes of Mallow". Any other songs that would come to mind, ones that most everyone associates with Irish music (whether they be ITM in origin or not)?
Another one that was terribly familiar yet escaped me for a bit was "Rakes of Mallow". Any other songs that would come to mind, ones that most everyone associates with Irish music (whether they be ITM in origin or not)?