Michael Gorman’s slip jig

the first tune of the last set of the Bothy Band "Old Hag you have kiled me"

Apparently this is Michael Gorman’s hop jig setting of "The Tipperary Hills", a different version of which appears in O’Neill’s:

|:F2A AFA AFA|G2B BGB BGB|F2A AFA ABc|d2B AFD E2D:|
|:d2B AFD DFA|Bcd efg f2e|d2B AFD DFA|Bcd AFD E2D:|

…is "Andrew Carr" https://thesession.org/tunes/3244

on old hag you have killed me, when he plays michael gorman’s, to me it feels like its a reel at the beginning even though its a slip jig. the whole

| F3 A2F A2F | G3 B2G B2G |

thing. is it me not knowing something about the way slip jigs are played, him playing it that way on purpose, or me hearing it wrong?

It’s hard sometimes…Matt’s playing of the Silver Slipper has some players falling over themselves. It could be more to do with some incredibly intricate fingering. Try Paddy Keenan’s interpretation of John Flemming’s Fancy for example.
I can’t give you the thread, but I’m sure some one will. It’s played as a reel, sort of, but it’s very subtle, and written as 12/8 if memory serves me correctly.

Jimmy McHugh always said Gorman’s was 9/8. as does Paddy Mills, Sligo, who was taught by Gorman himself.

Bx

i talked to my uncle about it today and showed him the recording, and he said it was because slip jigs are usually played with the largest emphasis on one, not as much on 4 and 7 as i thought. otherwise they would just be jigs. of course i’m simplifying it, but it makes sense now.

i had a suspicion that *i* was wrong, haha. and yup, i was! it was a good lesson learned.

although maybe he was taking a lot of liberty with this tune in particular. i personally think it sounds better the way he plays it rather than the way it makes sense to me. although what confuses me is in the beginning he does swing the quarter / eighth rhythm, but then, in the measure

|Bcd A2G FE:|

he plays it as i thought he shouldve played it earlier. i guess thats why ITM is primarily an oral tradition, rather than a written one, because i cant even imagine the nightmare of trying to write out mathematically perfect how he plays it!

brian- if you could find that, or anyone else find what he’s referring to, i would appreciate it. now that i have learned time signatures pretty well i need to learn when to unlearn them.

If you write the first three bars with this rhythm: dotted crotchet, dotted quaver, dotted quaver, it works fine.

As played by The Bothy Band, isn’t it just a 3/2?

X: 3
T: Hills of Tipperary, The
S: Michael Gorman, fiddler
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Dmaj
|: F3 A2 F A2 F | G3 B2 B B2 A |
F2 A A2 F A3 | Bcd A2 G FED :|
|: d3 f2 d c2 A | B2 e e2 d cBA |
[1 d3 f2 d c2 A | Bcd A2 G FED :|
[2 f2 d e2 c d3 | A2 B A2 G FED |]

T: Tipperary Hills, The

nice played in brisk 3/4 and followed by the same type of 3/4 ‘slip jig’: Larry McDonagh’s
https://thesession.org/tunes/1492/comments

more similar tunes at: https://thesession.org/tunes/2579/comments (similar rhythm I mean)

This slip jig is also combined with ‘The Boys of Ballisodare’ around the Gurteen and Tubbercurry area.