Gillan’s Apples In Winter jig

Timo was looking for this tune, and this four-part version (which matches the snippet of a part he submitted) is different from the two-part Gillan’s Apples posted by Josh Kane some time ago.

I’ve heard fiddlers and box players put the sharped G’s in on the endings for each part, but whistlers and fluters often leave them out, playing cAA A2 instead. Best to listen and join the majority. The G sharps give a more modal A sound to the whole tune that I like.

Hope this helps, Timo.

My version’s a bit different to Will’s:

X: 1
T: Gillan’s Apples
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
|:dAF FAF|FAF F2d|BGE EFE|EFE EFA|
dAF FEF|DFA d2e|fed cdB|1 cAA ABc:|2 cAA A2d||
|:cAe cAe|cAe edc|dBf dBf|dBf fed|
cAe cAe|cAe e2a|fed cdB|cAA A2d:|
|:cBA BAF|dAF D2d|cBA BAF|AFE E2d|
cBA BAF|DFA d2e|fed cdB|cAA A2d:|
|:cAA eAA|fgf edc|dBB fBB|fgf fed|
cAA eAA|fAA aAA|fed cdB|1 cAA A2d:|2 cAA ABc||

Genetic imperfections? ~ What’s in a name anyway?

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on December 4th 2001 by Josh Kane.
https://thesession.org/tunes/413

Key signature: G Major
Submitted on July 30th 2003 by Steve Jones.
https://thesession.org/tunes/1855

Did Gillan have an orchard? ~ Brown Snout, Catshead, Foxwhelp, Sweeny Nonpareil, Minier’s Dumpling, Hanwell Souring, Yellow Ingestrie, Wormsley Pippin, Pineapple Russet, Esopus Spitzenburgh, Baton’s Incomparable??? Yeah, we could do that, “Gillan’s Brown Snout Apples”… Maybe not…

I found this in the fiddler’s companion online (I think) along with a ton of other “Jackson’s” jigs. It’s also called Apples in Winter there.

It was published in O’Farrell’s Nation Collection, as, I think, Jackson’s Growling Cat. I like that name better, and I don’t know any other tunes named Jackson’s Growling Cat.

Apparently it was Gillan, not Gillian. John Gillan was a tune collector and O’Neill got some tunes off him.

Learned this at an Irish music week from the Hanley himself!!!!… we all thought it was a version of Gillian’s apples. What are your thoughts? In G maj I believe.
This was learned by ear in the oral tradition.

d/e/f |: g3 B,A | G2A GBd | e3 edB | dBA ABA | DGG GBA | GBd g2a | bag fgf | ed’c d2|:

e|: faa faa | faa agf | gbb gbb | gbb bag | faa faa | faa afa | bag fgf | ed’ cd |:

Yes -- COMHALTAS has this tune in Book 2 Page 7 as posted above by Emma Miller. The tune listed here should be titled JACKSONS GROWLING CAT . Also its not Apples in Winter. If you want to hear Apples in Winter, listen to the great , now deceased Tony Mc Mahon playing it, or other fine Irish Traditional players on youtube.

Damn, 15 years ago I posted incorrect information. This tune is published in O‘Farrell’s Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes with the four parts above as “Apples in Winter”, and also in O’Farrell’s Pocket Companion as “Apples in Winter”, but with only two parts. In either case, lepracawn is incorrect - this tune absolutely should be called Apples in Winter, as the use of that title for this tune predates the use of it for the two-part tune that’s more commonly called Apples in Winter. As mentioned previously, the only reason this is known as Gillan’s Apples is because O’Neill happened to collect it from Gillan *after* already having the other tune, and wanted to distinguish it. It should be known as Gillan’s Apples in Winter in that case, or just call them both Apples in Winter. It’s not as though there aren’t plenty of other tunes that already share names!

As for the name Jackson’s Growling Cat: “Breathnach (1996) finds this title for the tune in a manuscript lent by Dr. H.S. Corran (Dublin)” https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Jackson%27s_Growling_Cat

I still love the name, though!