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The Feet Washing jig

There is 1 recording of this tune.

The Feet Washing has been added to 8 tunebooks.

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Two settings

1
X: 1
T: The Feet Washing
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Amix
f|ecA ABA|Bce f2g|agf ece|fac BBB|
ecA ABA|Bce f2g|agf ece|fac A2:|
e|fae f2e|faf ece|fae f2e|aec BBB|
fae f2e|faf ece|agf ece|fac A2e|
fae f2e|faf ece|fae f2e|aec BBB|
ecA ABA|Bce f2g|agf ece|fac A2||
2
X: 2
T: The Feet Washing
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Amaj
f|ecA A>BA|Bce f2 e|f/g/af ece|f/g/ac B2
a|ecA A>BA|Bce f2 g|agf ece|f/g/ac A2:|
e|f/g/ae f2 e|f/g/af ece|f/g/ae f2 e|fac B2
e|f/g/ae f2 e|f/g/af ece|f/g/ae f2 e|fac A2
e|f/g/ae f2 e|f/g/af ece|f/g/ae f2e|fac B2
e|ecA A>BA|Bce f2 g|agf ece|f/g/ac A2||

Five comments

The Feet Washing

An old Scottish Jig which can be found in the The Athole Collection. I transcribed this from the 1st crackin’ set on Paul MacNeil and Jamie MacInnis’s CD “Fosgail An Dorus”. The tune is followed by Irishman’s Heart to the Ladies and Price of a Pig.

Neil Gow?

Just noticed on David Brewer’s CD Turning Pages that this tune is in a set that he calls “Gow Jigs” - anyone know?

Key change?

To me, this piece sounds better when it’s played in A maj. Would doing so be heretical?

Key change?

I have only heard it played on Highland pipes and SSP, and of course, we do not have a G# on those pipes - thus, I transcribed it as they played it. And, oddly, to me, it sounds better that way 🙂

That said, it IS a Scottish dance tune, and, if Neil Gow did indeed write it, he most certainly wrote it in A major. My feeling is - go with whatever floats your boat.

The Feet Washing

I think it’s doubtful that it’s a Gow composition, and it’s not claimed by any of the Gows in the 3rd Complete Repository where it’s published. I offer that version as X:2 above for comparison.

There is a pipe reel of the same name in Capt Simon Fraser’s Collection of 1874, and he writes, in his usual florid style, “The feet-washing is certainly a momentous concern, associating ominous trepidation with merriment, exquisitely described, as sung in Gaelic, by Culduthel, and the editor’s grandfather…” Alas, while he recorded the tune, he did not the words.