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The Random jig

Also known as Random Notes.

There are 13 recordings of a tune by this name.

A tune by this name has been recorded together with The Lady’s Well (a few times) and The Starry Nights Of Shetland (a few times).

The Random has been added to 3 tune sets.

The Random has been added to 67 tunebooks.

Download ABC

One setting

X: 1
T: The Random
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:A|~d3 fed|cea ecA|~B3 efg|Bed cBA|dzd fed|cea ecA|BAB efg|Bec d2:|
|:z|DFA FAd|Adf dfa|afa geg|fdf ecA|DFA FAd|Adf dfa|dcB fed|cdB A2:|
|:z|Aaa Bbb|Ggg Aaa|Ddd efg|Bed cBA|Aaa Bbb|Ggg Aaa|Ddd efg|Bec d2:|

Six comments

Usually known as "The Random Jig", but I prefer to call it by its alternative title. Thought to have been composed by 19th century fiddler James Hill. He was born in Scotland (Dundee I think), but spent most of his life in Tyneside, so his tunes (many of which are hornpipes) became part of the Northumbrian tradition.

This was posted in response to a recent thread entitled "POXY MELODY PLAYERS", in which there was a discussion about the fact that a bunch of random notes does not constitute a tune.

Random Notes

One of Hills great tunes. The Angels of the North combine this with Robert Topliffe’s three-parrter version of Elsie Marlie for the innumerable 5 verse 48bar dances that exist. Its a cracking set and terribly North-eastern.
Noel Jackson
Angels of the North

There must be some mistake…

I took the ABC file to the concertina.net midi player, and this just doesn’t sound at all like richard thompson’s setting on _strict tempo_. what’s up with that?

I don’t have that album, Matt, but I just had a listen to a clip of that track over at amazon.com, and got enough from that. The tune I heard in that clip was the Hexham Quadrille https://thesession.org/tunes/2179, not the Random Jig.

thank you dow — wasn’t sure anyone would see this query! do you mean the the track on _strict tempo_ is the hexham quadrille? richard thompson got it wrong???? i will have to rethink my universe. anyway, i may have to buy a mando, just to play that tune.