Out On The Ocean jig

This is one of those tunes that sound equally good if played as a slow, gentle jig or as a rollicking, fast session tune.

Deario’s,

Got a Boys of the Lough album which opens with a jig called "Out on the Ocean". It’s in A major and I’ve found some scores in the very same key.
But I also did find some versions in the G major key. Both can be played on my instrument (flute) but I do wonder why it appears in different key’s.
Does it have to do with instruments, regions, or is it merely coincidental?

Bart

I believe it’s usually played in G (goes to E minor for the turn) at the sessions I attend. Whatever works for you is the best key, yes?

It is often played in either key, it all depends on the feel ie what key the tune played before or after it is in. It happens a lot with other tunes too eg. Boys of Ballisodare can be played in F or G The Foxhunters reel can be played in G or A.

One of our favourite jigs which is liked to be played in G for 2 or 3 times and then switches to A (or D) . It gives a very interesting note.
So the tune makes a good set by its own. See CD of Paddy Keenan: na keen affair

Ruediger

In Chicago it is usually played in G but fiddlers and banjos like it in A.

As far as it being "coincidental", I’d say it is more "accidental" (that is, 1 sharp or 3 sharps 🙂

I’ve mostly heard it and prefer it in G. G gives it a more comfortable layed back feel, like waves rolling on the ocean/a boat rolling on the swell…. whereas often tunes in A are slightly more "aggressive"sounding/feeling (for want of a better word to describe it).

Thank you all!

Boy, is this a great site.

Bart

On his Iron Man album. Just for reference. Who cares?

One of my favourite jigs, actually sat on a yacht in the middle of the Atlantic ocean last year and played it - seemed kinda appropriate!!

Does anyone know any good tunes to make this into a good set - maybe a reel to follow or a durge to begin, I dunno - just something interesting and a little different would be nice!!

Cheers all.

Our session usually play this last in the set "Geese in the Bog (Key of C) and Connachtman’s Rambles" - a nice threesome.

The Islands - the islands.

It is an island.

Hence the name.

Our ceili band usually plays Out on the Ocean last in a set with Connaughts Man’s Rambles and Lilting Banshee

T: Out On The Ocean
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|: F/E/ |D2 B BAG | B/c/dB ABA | GED G2 A | BcB AGE |
D2 B BAG | BdB A2 B | GED G2 A | BGF G2 :|
|: d |efe edB | ege edB |1 ded dBA | ded dBA |
G2 A B2 d | ege dBA | GED G2 A | BGF G2 :|
[2 ded dd/e/f | gfe dBA | G2 A B2 d |
e/f/ge dBA | GED G2 A | BGF G2 :|

also - another 2nd ending for the A-part, eight bar, and the B-part first ending would mirror this:

| BGF G :|
|: B/c/d |

Deby plays this on her album with Jacky Tar and the Full-Rigged ship, and that’s how our session plays it

Somebody did a really slow version of this - I seem to remember a guitar accompaniment with maybe a bass guitar in the background. It’s disappeared from the brain cells though and no amount of searching through the CD collection turns it up - any clues what I’m on about?

Ian Carr (with the Kathryn Tickell Band) did a version of this where he plays the tune on harmonics the first time through and then normally for a couple of times. It’s played fairly slowly and has a bass in the background. He plays it in Gmaj.

K: Amaj
E2c cBA|cec BcB|AFE A2B|cBc BAF|
E2c cBA|cec BcB|AFE A2B|1 cAA A2F:|2 cAA Ace||
~f3 fec|faf fec|efe ece|a2f ecB|
A2B c2e|faf ecB|AFE A2B|1 cAA Ace:|2 cAA A2F||

Very nice Kieran, skillfully done. A good addition to tunes in Amaj for keyless flute, and one to add to my short list. Thanks!

After first hearing this tune done by Planxty on After The Break, I must say it sounds beautiful in A Major. Though it looks like if one were compelled, they could pick up an E whistle and use the "g major" fingering to bring it back in A major… However I always like knowing the same tune in different keys on one whistle if possible, simply just fun, so I’ll use the D.

yeah…

Seeing the mistakes of the earlier submission, here it is again with corrections and some other possibilities. Like with any tune, it could be rolled to death, like taking a steam roller over a bunny, but I wouldn’t recommend that, as there’d be nothing left to barbecue afterwards…

X: 2
T: Out On The Ocean
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
|: FE |\
D2 B BAG | B/c/dB ABA | GED G2 A | BcB AGE |
D2 B BAG | BdB A2 B | GED G2 A | BGF G :|
Bd |\
efe edB | ege edB | ded dBA | d>ed dBA |
G2 A B2 d | ege dBA | GED G2 A | BGF GB/c/d |
e2 e edB | egf edB | d2 d dd/e/f | gfe dBA |
G2 A B2 d | e/f/ge dBA | GED G2 A | BGF G |]

I am learning Octave Mandolin and find this tune awesome when played on it in G as a slow jig…. I play Sporting Pitchfork (D) before it. Makes for a nice laid back pair.

Bob

BTW, I also pair Out On The Ocean to follow the song Farewell To Tarwathie (sung in D, tune in G - makes a nice transition and appropriate finish) - all on Oct Mando.
Bob

Yet another version:
X: 1
T: Out On The Ocean
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
B3 BAG|BdB A2B|GED G2A|BAB GED|
BAB BAG|BdB A2B|GED G2A|BGG G3:|
ege edB|ege edB|ded dBA|ded dBA|
G2A B2d|ege dBA|GED G2A|BGG G3|
ege edB|ege dBA|ded def|gfe dBA|
G2A B2d|ege dBA|GED G2A|BGG G3||

I have been working on this tune and it works great followed by "Queen of The Rushes" on Paddy O’Hare’s version as transcript below. Hope you like it! 🙂

X: 1
T: Out On The Ocean
S: Paddy O’Hare - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH7W6qij57o

play video

M: 6/8
L: 1/8
Z: Alex Navar
R: jig
K: Gmaj
DBB BAG|BdB AAA|GED G2A|BBB AGE|
DBB BAG|BdB AAA|GED G2A|1AGF G3:|2 AGF AB/c/d||
|:e2e edB|e2e edB|d3 def|gfe dBA|
G2A B2d|efe dBA|GED G2A|1AGF AB/c/d:|2 AGF G3||

I just added a version of the tune that is much the same as X1 but I have added chords for accompaniment. For those not familiar with ABC nototion the chords are in double quotes and precede the note where the chord should be struck.

I’ve played it in G, I’ve played it in A, and I have the preference for A, where the key seems to lift the tune more, especially if it’s the second tune in a set after the first tune in G etc.. A great example of this is a live session set of Tom Ward’s (G)/Out on the ocean (A) on the Ceol Tigh Neachtain CD on Gael-Linn record label. For me, this just goes up into the stratosphere!

who wrote this tune? any story behind it, aside being out on the sea?

This setting comes from this clip of Francie Mooney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoK4TtH2dUE , posted in discussions by IamFrench and identified by ceolachan as a version of Out On The Ocean. It’s probably the most different setting here, and sounds almost like an intermediate stage between the common version of Out On The Ocean and its probable ancestor, the Scottish march The Rock And The Wee Pickle Tow, also related to O’Sullivan’s March https://thesession.org/tunes/2204.

play video

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the transcription, as there is talking going on over the music in the video. I have written out the A part in full (i.e. without repeat marks), to include a small variation on the repeat.

Tommy Peoples’ recording of Out on The Ocean on ‘The Iron Man’ https://thesession.org/recordings/596 , although much closer to the standard version overall, contains some echoes of Francie Mooney’s setting in the variations.

@Anna Rachel McDonald
I doubt this tune has a known composer - it’s part of a very old family of tunes, in my opinion. You might be interested to read the comments on O’Sullivan’s March (see above).

Based on the playing of this tune by Francie Mooney

Discussion: Name of this Jig?
# Posted by IamFrench - 21/02/2013
https://thesession.org/discussions/31402

Francie Mooney - ‘Áit i mo Chroí’ (Pt. 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoK4TtH2dUE

play video

I’d been meaning to add this for years ~

The Fiddler’s Companion: "The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow"
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/ROC.htm#ROCK_AND_THE/A_WEE_PICKLE_TOW

Thanks to Joe and Adele Greene, ‘Dulahan’ ~
https://thesession.org/members/11705
~ for a lovely wakeup call this morning, 24/02/2013, 08:59, putting me back on course, much appreciated… 🙂

I can’t believe I’ve let it slide that long… 😏 We’ve known this one in several guises from numerous sources, including Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere in Canada and North America; Northumberland, Scotland, the Shetlands ~ and, heading South, Australia & New Zealand ~ and Playford too… 😀

https://thesession.org/tunes/2204

https://thesession.org/members/33023

Correcting a mistake made previously, which has ended up linking back to myself… 😏

A lovely A Major setting courtesy of gam: "Thanks, ceolachan, for resolving the strange ‘deja vu’ that comes over me whenever I play Out on the Ocean. I used to play The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow years ago on the pipes, and never realised they were practically one and the same tune — " - # Posted by gam - 24/02/2013

These are the dots Francie Mooney had for this tune, provided by Joe and Adele Greene, ‘Dulahan’, something to compare with the two previous transcriptions based on Francie’s playing, X: 9 & X: 10.

I’ve added the lead note |: d |\ for the B-part, which was missing. Also possible ~ |: g |\…

Going back to Bart’s comment 10 years ago - that unusual A major setting that the BOL played, they learnt from the Canadian fiddler Jean Carignan. It’s different enough to be a REAL variant, not just an alternative phrasing here and there.

The Boys of the Lough - my haven’t they changed, at the start of the 70s they had Dick Gaughan and a bodhranist/ singer Robin Morton, no Richardson brothers. Now you wouldn’t know the line-up at all, only Cathal remains from the run-on side. No disrespect to the new members of course.

Same with Battlefield Band. Even Alan Reid’s gone. Like grandfather’s axe, eh ?

Out In The Ocean is one of the tracks on Nigel Kennedy’s album, Recital. I have been learning fiddle since November and it is my favourite out the tunes that I have tried so far.
Mark Mulherin

The G major and A major setting closer to Paddy Keenan’s version.

Version of this tune by ‘The Flying Toads’ live at Bath Folk Festival here:

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

play video

www.flyingtoads.co.uk

Keith

From these fourteen arrangements of “Out on the Ocean” which one emulates best to Matt Molloy’s setting on Heathery Breeze CD? Realizing he is playing a Bb flute, I think, so the key is probably different.

Can anyone help

Kit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90fNOlKmSKU

play video

Wow, the 2nd part (at least setting #1) is very similiar to setting #1 of The Cowboy Jig. Can’t play them both as I keep confusing and mixing-matching them and don’t get either one right!

"Call the Set III"
https://thesession.org/recordings/5713

a very nice version at slower tempo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GOuBN4GpqI

play video

Local setting