Also known as
Barney’s Goat, Beimíd Ag Ól, Late Home At Night, Óró, A Thaidhg, A Ghrá, The Peeler Jig, The Peeler, Peeler’s, The Peeler’s Jig, The Peeler’s, The Peelers’ Jig, The Peelers’, Skin The Peeler.
"The Roche Collection of Traditional Irish Music, Volume II", 1912
"Hop Jigs" ~ pages 24 - 28
X: 2
T: Skin the Peelers
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Gmaj
|: B2 B BAB G2 A | B2 B BAB dBA | B2 B BAB G2 A | B2 e e2 B dBA :|
|: B2 e e2 f g2 A | B2 e e2 B dBA | B2 e e2 f g2 a | b2 a g2 e dBA :|
"The Butterfly" is a muddled version of this, muddled, by all accounts, by Tommy Peoples mixing up two slip jigs… Because one is the better known, as is often the case, does not mean it is the ancestor. This one predates "The Butterfly"….
Correction to the above given transcription from Roche… Too many unkind distractions does not make a ^c… 😏
K: Emin
Hop or slip?
I note that in the Roche collection, cited by ceolachan, this tune is under Hop Jigs. And it does feel, to me, like one. For years I have had the sensation that the Butterfly ought to have been a hop jig, but it seems to be universally played as a slip jig. I am wondering whether hop jigs tend to be transformed into slip jigs (a short distance, obviously) because people do not dance hop jigs, or do not like them, or are not even aware of their existence.
A follow-up question
How would you play this tune in a session? Hop or slip?
ALL slip jigs in those early collections were called ‘hop jigs’…
The 3/4-3/8 transformation of 9/8 was in my mind just an interesting fancy some folks have for taking these tunes flat, without the customary skip/hop of slow-quick, or in the first beat of this transcription E2 E, the regular swing of the dance… But then, if you rip through them they naturally flatten out anyway in all that speed, like a hedgehog under a tyre…
Re: Skin The Peelers
This is in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection from 1883. It’s called Skin the Peeler there. You can find Barney’s Goat there too. They are listed simply as as ‘jig’. Both are similar or precursors to The Butterfly. I think there was a song in the 1700s similar too but I can’t find my source for that anymore…
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