Comb Your Hair And Curl It slip jig

I believe this tune was on the very first album of The Chieftains, roundabout the late sixties. I don

My ear and other ABC-verions tells me that the C in the 4th bar should be C-flat.

I wrote down the ABC rather quickly without much checking, and I must’ve missed that one. I agree that a C-flat sounds better. Personally I usually just play a long roll on this note though.

I’m guessing you mean c natural—?

C-flat is a B-natural… I do think you’d mean C-Natural… which, on flute and whistle, is an oxymoron… considering the C-Sharp is a natural fingering and the C-natural is a cross (unless you play boehm flute, but that’s another story…)

Jean Carignan of Montreal, PQ, Canada recorded this tune with a variant of the Fox Chase or Fox Hunters Slip Jig. He plays both pieces with 4/4 timing. This can be found on Michael Colemans versions also…

Not to split hairs, but that’s probably b/c it really is a hop jig.

https://thesession.org/discussions/2748/

It sounds like Harry Bradley playing this tune almost in 6/8.

M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: hop jig
K: Edor
BE EF GA|(3Bcd ec d2|BE EF GA|(3BcB AG FD:|
ge ed eg|fd dc d2|ge ed ec|(3BcB AG FD:|

I think we should play it in 9/8 when we’re slowing down.

Here’s another setting based on Grey Larsen’s whistle playing:

M: 9/8
K: Edor
B2E E2F G2A|B2e ece dBA|B2E E2F G2A|B=cB A2G FED:|
g2e efe e2f|~g3 efg afd|g2e efe e2c|d2B ABG FED:|

In the Harry Bradley version above, I think you mean 3/4, not 6/8. Your transcription pairs eighth notes together, which makes sense musically. But I think 6/8 implies three eighth note groupings. Obviously a player would figure this out, and it looks fairly obvious on the page. Just being a little picky. Sorry.

I spent some time with this tune today and it came out something like this….

X:1
T:Comb Your Hair and Curl It
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:slip jig
K:D
|: B2E E2F G2A | Bcd edc d2c |
B2E E2F G2A | ~B2d AGF GFE :|
| g2e e2d efg | f2d d2c def |
| g2e e2B d2B | dBA AGF GFE |
| g2e e2d efg | f2d d2c def |
| g2e edc d2B | ABA AGF GFE |

Now I know where I got my version… Altan… here is more how it should be:

X:1
T:Comb Your Hair and Curl It
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:slip jig
K:D
|: B2E E2F G2A | Bcd edc d2c |
B2E E2F G2A | BdB AGF GFE :|
| g2e e2d efg | f2d d2c def |
| g2e e2d edc | d2B AGF GFE |
| g2e e2d eag | f2d d2c def |
| g2e e2d edc | d2B AGF GFE |

i heard this at ana ltan gig
good tune 🙂

can i just point out tht all the c-flat/ natural stuff at th top of the page is sooo annoying. ok so someone got it wrong, its not a c flat as thts a b sharp or something but to some of us note names mean v little anyway so sooorrrrryyyy if we get it slightly wrong once in a while. u all knew what was meant anyway

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=23189

The second tune of the set, played as a hop jig as Coleman recorded it.

Here’s another hop jig setting, similar to the Harry Bradley version above, and also played here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SJ3XrFJSqg) by Tommasso Tornielli on flute.

play video

X: 1
T: Comb Your Hair and Curl It
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Edor
BEE FGA|B2 dc d2|BEE FGA|B/d/B AF GE|
BEE FGA|B2 dc dA|BEE FGA|B/d/B AF GE||
gee deg|fdd cde|gee ded|B/c/d AF GE|
gee deg|fdd cde|ge df ed|B/c/d AF GE||

ooops—typo. Second to last measure should be: |ge fd ed|

Harry Bradley got the hop jig setting of this tune straight from Michael Coleman’s recording. It’s quite possible that other hop jig settings also come from Michael Coleman, both directly or indirectly.

Here’s how I hear it on Altan, just a few changes from merry highlanders, thanks merry:

X:1
T:Comb Your Hair and Curl It
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:slip jig
K:D
|: B2E E2F G2A | Bcd edc d2c |
B2E E2F G2A | B=cB AGF G2E :|
| g2e e2d efg | f2d d2c def |
| g2e e2d e2c | d2B AGF G2E |
| g2e e2d efg | f2d d2c def |
| g2e e2d e2c | d2B AGF GFE |

My favorite version of this tune will be from Roger Sherlock’s "Memories of Sligo" Album recorded with guitar backing by Mary Conroy. Ceol Alainn state this about the set: "two well known slip jigs played in 3/2 time, in the style of north-east English triple hornpipes. Rarely heard in Irish music, these are the elusive and, now, contentiously-titled hop jigs known throughout Ireland before the decline of the triple hornpipe as a popular dance tune in the late-Eighteenth Century". A lovely tune indeed!

Good Piping jig

Isn’t the form AB with 8 measures each?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFHKZAiyEw

play video

From the playing of Banna De Dhá.

Here’s a fairly straight setting.