Good Rock Tune

OK, this might be kind of weird, but bear with me. I have a rock/percussion band that plays instruments made of PVC pipe (and other stuff). The first piece we ever wrote borrowed a lot of copyrighted stuff in it, but a lot of the original stuff is really good, so we don’t want to just throw it out. Most of the unoriginal stuff we replaced, but I’m having a hard time replacing one part. So, I decided to just throw in something trad since most of that is free. Does anyone know of any good reels (or I *suppose* it could be a jig if necessary, though 4/4 is nice) that would sound good in a rock setting?

I know heaps of good reels, but none that would sound good in a rock setting. You could try some nursery rhymes or something. Surely they’re in the public domain? Pop Goes The Amplifier, Mary Had a Little Snort, etc etc.

Seriously though, the Golden Stud https://thesession.org/tunes/4740. It’s like one big electric guitar riff, and you could get some mean power chords going, maybe take it up an octave or 2 and make it scream. Problem is, it’s a recent one, and probably copyrighted, but you could always use the ideas and make up your own along similar lines.

Piper’s Despair would sound pretty kickass to my ears.

—DtM

The first time I ever heard the Lark in the Morning it was by some Celtic rock outfit back in the late sixties - I think they titled the tune "jig-a-jig" but I can’t remember the name of the band. It was quite effective if you like that kind of thing. If it’s reels you want something in "A" (High reel or Boys of Malin) or "B minor" (Glass of Beer or Otters Holt) might work as they have a high energy feel to them.

For a decidedly grungey feel, get somebody to play the jig The Cliffs Of Moher on a screechy electric fiddle. The bit at the end where it goes right down makes me think of the Gadarene swine charging over the cliff.

"Jig a Jig" was recorded by East of Eden.

I’m afraid I’ve still got the album 🙁
Can’t be bothered digging it out just now but wasn’t Morrison’s jig one of the tunes?
Fairport Convention also did Lark in the Morning but I’m not sure if it was one of the "Jig a Jig" tunes.
Sometime, I’ll check. Might have a E of E, Horslips. JSD etc etc afternoon with the old vinyl.

Ben
You could get some ideas from the Shooglenifty CDs - mad Angus does some great stuff which may be along the lines you’re looking for.

http://www.shoogle.com/index.htm

Look up a group called "Horslips" on Google. Blow your mind with electric "rock" reels.

Or the famous songwriter, Richard Thompson, played some great stuff on electric guitar, reels, jigs the lot, with "Fairport Convention". Mind you, Thompson is some guitar player.

"Jig-AJig" by East Of Eden was actually a reel.

There’s an old discussion on here about jig-a-jig, somewhere. You can listen to the track if you go here http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/
and type in "Jig-a-Jig". Still sounds great.

Farewell To Erin, The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Kitty’s Wedding, Miss McLeods, The Banshee, The Blackthorne. If you want to be trite you can do The Kesh, but it’s been done many times over by rock bands.