Don’t Touch That Green Linnet jig

This 3-part jig is a transcription I have made from track 10 of Tommy Peoples’ CD “The Quiet Glen”. I have stripped out all the ornamentation in the tune as played so as to lay bare the basic tune - much of the ornamentation on the CD isn’t easily notatable, in any case.
The tune is based largely on simple arpeggio figures, and this enables it to work well with guitar accompaniment.
It is a tune that lends itself well to ornamentation, as Tommy Peoples so wonderfully demonstrates when he plays it twice before following it with “Doolish”, but I feel that ornaments are the responsibility of the individual player and should not be slavishly copied from someone else - not that some of TP’s ornaments lend themselves to being slavishly copied anyway!
The version of bars 5 and 6 of the second part played by Tommy Peoples on the CD is as follows “a3/2fd dfa|bge e/f/g2”, and I see no reason why this slight embellishment of the basic tune couldn’t be adopted if desired.
The tune as played on the CD sounds in the key of E-flat, but I believe that the players either tuned up a half-tone from D or it was done post-production. Anyway, it is much more playable - and sounds better - in D, as here submitted. Tommy Peoples and his guitarist Alph Duggan play the track at a metronome speed of 128, but the ornaments make it sound a lot faster.
In the sleeve notes to the CD, Tommy Peoples says, concerning this tune, “… I named after a small bird, to which innocent children got too close, unaware of its voraciousness”. This may be a reference to an on-going battle between some eminent players and bands, and a particular record company in the USA. I believe this issue has been discussed elsewhere on this website some while ago.
Trevor

I should perhaps make it clear that the composer is Tommy Peoples.
Trevor

The name posted is the correct name of the tune, as printed on the CD and in the notes. However, in order to provide a clear connection with Tommy Peoples’ CD “The Quiet Glen” I have also provided the alternative name “Don’t touch the green Linnet”, because that is the name given in the Records section of this website.
Trevor

I got this wonderful jig from a recording of the man himself, a CD titled “Fiddlesticks - Traditional Irish Music from Donegal”
(Nimbus Records- not sure if it’s still being put out) On it are many great Donegal fiddlers, including Ciaran Tourish, the Glackins, & many others. Tommy has several tracks unaccompanied, this being one of them. The track listing simply says “jigs” , but the tune that follows this one (also in “D” ) is definitely one of his (the name escapes me at the moment). If anyone knows whether or not this is his tune (and if he has a title for it) , please let me know. In the meantime, enjoy!

It’s a great set, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that jig was here already - the second is this one:
https://thesession.org/tunes/2132

incidentally I found out recently that that second jig is named for a Portland fiddler who lived in Clare for awhile and took lessons from Tommy Peoples - she’d ride her bike up to his house and the tree she used to prop up the bike became known as Jocelyn’s tree

It looks like this is your jig:
https://thesession.org/tunes/2309

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on April 13th 2009 by jaychoons.
~ /tunes/9525

X: 2
T: Don’t Touch That Green Linnet
C: Tommy Peoples
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
|: F |\
D2 F FEF | Add dfa | baf afd | ege fdA |
DFF FEF | A2 d dfa | baf gfe | fdB A2 :|
|: f |\
~a3 fdf | ~g2 B bge | afd (3Bcd e | dcB A2 f |
afd dfa | bge ~g2 b | afd (3Bcd e |[1 fdc d2 :|[2 fdc dA ||
|: G |\
~F2 A fdA | ~G2 B gdB | c2 e ~a3 |
ba^g a2 f | afd dAF | ~G2 B gdB | c2 e age |[1 fdc dA :|[2 fdc d2 |]

Note: the second ending for the C-part was added by me, to resolve on the tonic… ~ ‘c’

The notes from the duplication, with minor editing to protect the innocent:

I got this wonderful jig from a recording of the man himself, a CD titled
“Fiddlesticks - Traditional Irish Music from Donegal”
(Nimbus Records- not sure if it’s still being put out)
https://thesession.org/recordings/202
On it are many great Donegal fiddlers, including Ciaran Tourish, the Glackins, & many others. Tommy has several tracks unaccompanied, this being one of them. The track listing simply says “jigs”, but the tune that follows this one (also in “D” ) is definitely one of his (the name escapes me at the moment). In the meantime, enjoy!

# Posted on April 13th 2009 by jaychoons

It’s a great set - the second is this one:
https://thesession.org/tunes/2132
incidentally I found out recently that that second jig is named for a Portland fiddler who lived in Clare for awhile and took lessons from Tommy Peoples - she’d ride her bike up to his house and the tree she used to prop up the bike became known as Jocelyn’s tree.

# Posted on April 13th 2009 by airport

Thanks so much for the info on / titles of the tunes! “Don’t Touch That Green Linnet” - wow, that’s not even a SUBTLE swipe at Wendy Newton! Tommy, don’t hold stuff like that in, let it out, tell us how you really feel…

From the playing of Inis Fail.

A slight variant learned from Mirella Murray at the O’Flaherty’s retreat.

X:5 from Ian seems to be from the playing of Haley Richardson, played in her track with “The Whippet”: https://thesession.org/tunes/19650