The Mist Covered Mountain jig

This is from a collection called “Session Tunes II” , by John B. Walsh. Junior Crehan is given as author.

I have always associated certain tunes with events in my life. Sometimes I find myself whistling a tune and it makes me remember places I’ve travelled to, usually because at that time I had been singing that tune to myself incessantly, or sometimes it is because I had played a particular CD over and over again until I got sick of it, and consequently made a connection with the tune in my head. Does anyone else get that lots?

This tune - “The Mist On The Mountain” - I will always associate with my holiday in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I had managed to get a free airline ticket worth $1000 and made a detour from Shanghai to spend a couple of weeks on Oahu and Maui. I was able to meet up with Derek (“Delboy”) - my friend from California, who had been able to get a couple of weeks of work.

Anyway, my stay on the island of Maui turned out to be unexpectedly strange. Del is well into cars, so we ended up renting this beautiful Mustang convertible in British Racing Green at the airport when we arrived. I had campaigned for something cheaper but didn’t take much persuading in the end. This car was a hormone on wheels.

Well, we spent a few days just chilling out, lying on beautiful beaches gazing at the sunset, moon and stars, and occasionally going for a dip in the water to play with the Hawaiian green sea turtles. We went to waterfalls, cool dripping caves, and black sand beaches. It was such a cool place.

Our hostel, on the other hand, was the worst I’ve ever stayed in. The owners were exceptionally unfriendly and constantly spaced out on magic mushrooms. The rooms were dirty and teeming with huge bedbugs, slavering for blood. When I pointed out to the owners that in case they hadn’t noticed, they had a massive bug problem, they answered “Oh we don’t talk about that”. Outside, the place was swarming with prostitutes and dodgy drug dealers. We decided to check out a day early and they wouldn’t give us our money back, and they also nicked off with our key deposits. We left feeling helpless and thoroughly ripped off.

We had wanted to go to the top of Mt Haleakala to see the sunrise before we left the island the following day, and sleeping in freezing temperatures on top of the world’s largest dormant volcano was, we decided, preferable to having to deal with such odd people and being bitten alive by miniature vampires. So we slept in the front of the Mustang at an altitude of 10000ft right at the top of this volcano, and I can tell you it was bloody freezing and extremely uncomfortable!

In the morning we were disappointed to find that our car was enveloped in thick fog (cloud actually) and we couldn’t even see the road in front of us never mind the sunrise. So here we were at 7 in the morning descending the mountain, dejected and unable to see a thing, and coughing up frothy pink sputum from our altitude sickness (not really). This is the part I associate with this tune - I think I was singing it to myself in my state of half-sleep as we negotiated the hairpin bends. I must have gently fallen asleep in the passenger seat because the next thing I remember was being jolted awake suddenly to find myself involved in a car accident. I was in the middle of a dream when there was this almighty crash and Del in the driver’s seat going “Oh shit… oh my God!”. I remember asking sleepily: “was that an animal?”

“Dude that was a goddamn TELEVISION!” screamed a wide-eyed Del as he burst out of the car. He was absolutely furious because we were actually on our way to the airport to return the car. We changed the wheel, which had been totally ripped to shreds and warped by the impact. Behind us on the grass verge was the oldest truck I’ve ever seen in my life. On the trailer was a mishmash of junk - broken wood, household appliances, toilets, god knows what else. All of this was stacked high Jenga style, and insufficiently tied up. To the right on the road lay the smashed telly amongst lots of broken glass, the remains of which one of the men from the truck was making a half-hearted attempt to sweep up. I approached one of the three men, who appeared to be the driver, and calmly said in my ever-so-English accent: “Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Erm.. I just think it might be a good idea if you put some sort of hazard sign on the road up there just to avoid any more accidents because you see, we’ve just hit that mess and now we’ve got a flatty”. The man was Hawaiian and rather large. “That’s your fault man.. you ran into it.” He continued to jabber in a panicked tone and I thought “I really can’t be arsed with this” so I sighed loudly and began to walk away saying “OK fine, fair enough”. I was too tired to have a go at him, having just woken up, and he suddenly stopped jabbering and looked stunned that I wasn’t trying to argue.

A police car arrived, lights blazing, and a cop wearing shades and a pistol stepped out, yelling at us to pull the car into the side of the road. What would a trip to America be without a run-in with the cops?! Anyway he took our details and Del wrote an accident report. I was so tripped out. 5 minutes later we arrived at the airport and turned in our bashed up car as we no longer had any need for it. It looked totally comical: a real sexy tank of a sports car with massive fat wheels, except for one of the front ones which looked like it had been transplanted from a pram. So I would like to say right here and now: “thank you ‘Budget Car Rental’, we enjoyed crashing your brand-new Open-top Mustang!”

Dow

A beautiful tune. Junior certainly had a knack for composition.

the ending should not end on a leading tone, it should normally end on the first note it is started on.

Does anyone know if Mist On The Mountain by Junior Crehan is copyrighted? Can I make a recording of it and post it on a forum for instance? If no money is involved, is it possible to have “online sessions” with such tunes?

Under US law, all original works are copyrighted automatically upon creation.

I think first of all is to find out if a) he wrote it and b) was it just a tune he played. If a) the most likely people to have copyright would be his family, but somehow I doubt it. If you know anyone in the Quilty/ Miltown area, get them to ask around.
b) No problem whatsoever, even if there is a claim I would ignore it.

Original Scottish slow air setting: https://thesession.org/tunes/470

Is this not ‘the Mist-*Covered* Mountain’?

yes

Yes, but we can choose.

Listening to this MIDI file I don’t hear the tune of Chi Mi Na Morbheana otherwise known as Mist Covered Mountains. The Chi Mi Na Morbheana tune was used by Jim MacLean for his song Hush Hush, Time to be Sleeping, or Smile in Your Sleep.

The Gaelic song Chi Mi Na Morbheana was written under the title Duil ri Baile Chaolais fhaicinn. The tune listed for it is Johnny stays long at the Fair.

http://ingeb.org/songs/chiminam.mid

or at JC’s
X:323
T:Mist Covered Mountains, The
T:Chi Mi Na Morbheanna
B:Scots Guards Standard Settings V.1
N:Transposed from Bm for comparison
Z:Nigel Gatherer
L:1/8
M:6/8
F:http://www.nigelgatherer.com/tunes/abc/abc4/mistc.abc 2005-01-23 17:46:46 UT
K:Am
A3 A3|e2 e e>dB|G3 G3|B>AB A>GA|
c3 d3|e>fg B>AG|A>Be d>cB|A3 A3:|
e3 e3|d>eg e>dB|G2 G d2 B|e2 e d>cB|
A3 c3|e>fg B>AG|A>Be d>cB|A3 A3:|

George, you’re wrong. This is a jig, not an air.

The online encyclopedia “The Fiddler’s Companion” (http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc/) lists this jig under the name “The Misty Mountain.” It has entries for both the jig and the song “Chi Mi na Morbheanna” (which includes the words). The entry for the jig indicates that Junior Crehan composed it by adapting the melody of the song.

I play the first part like this:

K: Ador
G|EAA ABd|edB AGE|~G3 GAB|dBA GED|
EAA ABd|edB ABd|efg dBG|BAG A2:|

You can listen to Junior Crehan himself play this tune: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7august.ram (starts around 27:00)

This is one of the new tunes we play at our session. It’s simple but I like it. We play it after another one of Junior’s compositions, An Lurgadàn.

Does anyone have a transcription of Mist (Jr.Crehan) in G dorian. That is the key that Kevin Burke played it in and I believe that Junior wrote it in. Thanks

The second part is usually played like this: a|age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB deg|

So, to put everything together:

K: Ador
G|EAA ABd|edB AGE|~G3 GAB|dBA GED|
EAA ABd|edB ABd|efg dBG|BAG A2:|
a|age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB deg|
age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAG A2a|
age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB GED|
EDE G2A|BAG ABd|efg dBG|BAG A2||

I’m pretty sure this is what you come across very often in many parts of the world, even though nobody plays exactly the same way and I do a bit differently.

There is a transcription of this in the CCE Book-‘Bowing Styles in Irish Fiddle Playing’ by David Lyth supposedly in the style of Junior Crehan
I think it’s in the key of C but as I wouldn’t know my Ionian from my Aeolian……..!!

Lyth’s transcription is G Mixolydian, but there’s only one B (natural), and it’s in the second ending to the B part, so it’s not unreasonable to call it G Dorian. But the key is definitely G, not C, in the transcription from Junior’s playing.

Watch Brian McGrath play the tune in a lovely style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Ih2exOFNI

play video

I mean Mountain, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLyyaXtx0w&feature=related

play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRwe6vL5kyE&feature=fvw

play video

D 2ND Wun is kool, wot abaht de 1st.

Eh? What language is that?

Gemini u r a pedent, I luv de 2nd 1

Pedant? That’s an awful big word for an eight year old.

I’m sorry, Andy. It’s snobbish and pedantic for me to even say this, but it is one my pet peeves, and I know a pet peeve of quite a few other session.orgers, when people write in “internet-speak.” Why would anyone write that way? It’s a poor reflection on the writer, as it makes them sound a bit dim and makes their post difficult to read.

I dunno, if you’re going to go the whole hog like AndyPandy etc., seems fair enough. Gets the brain cells working in a different pattern.

Some people are just so thick they will not ever get the message.

I really liked what the bodhrán player was doing in the first tune in that second clip.

better a pedant than a half-educated semi-literate ignoramus with no attention span.

im 2 stuped 2 ndrstnd tht. w’d e say?

It’s no good. I can’t actually do it.

I can do the lack of atten

Ethical,
In relation to the bodhrán player

I think you’ll find he fell in love with the table, which in his defense must be quite hard to resist as a tradschool bodhran player.

T: Mist On The Mountain, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Ador
G|EAA ABd|eAB AGE|G3 GAB|dBA GED|
EAA ABd|eAB AGE|efg dBG|BAG A2:|
a|age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB AGE|
age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAG A3|
age a2b|age edB|AGE G2A|BAB GED|
EDE G2A|B2A Bcd|efg dBG|BAG A3||

MusicManiacgirly said: “The ending should not end on a leading tone, it should normally end on the first note it is started on.”

Aye, but the tune does end on the same note it started on. The EAA figure is just that, a figure and could easily be replaced (as a variation perhaps) with a long roll on A or A2A.

That true story of mine looks strangely placed now. It was submitted for a session.org competition years ago when Jeremy was trying to encourage us to add lengthier and more personal comments in the tunes section.

Excellent effort!

Thanks for drawing my attention to a nicely written tale of woes… I don’t think I’ve every heard of anyone having an accident with a tele before… Are Hawaiian bed bugs bigger or different from the ones on London City public transportation? 😀

great tune!

A bheinn is àird’ a th’ anns an tir,
‘S ann oirr’ ìs trìc a chithear an ceò.
“The highest mountain in the land is oftnest covered with mist”
(c/o T.D.Macdonald)

Another one from Scotland (same source):
Dh’fheòrich i de’n ghaoithe “Ma chailleas mi thu càit’ am faigh mi thu?”
A ghaoth—“Air mullach na’n càrn.”
Dh’fheòrich i de’n cheò—“Ma chailleas mi thu, càit’ am faigh mi thu?”
A cheò—“Air mullach nam beann.”
Dh’fheòrich mi bho Chliù—“Ma chailleas mi thu, càit’ am faigh mi thu?”
’Cliù—“Caill mise aon uair, ‘s cha’n fhaigh thu gu brath tuilleadh mi.”

(… She asked of the mist–“If I lost you, where could I find you?”
The Mist–“On the top of the mountains.”
She asked of Fame–“If I lost you, where could I find you?”
Fame–“Lose me once, and you will never find me again.”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjqVxYzrjMc

play video

Dow, so far your story is one of the best tune narratives I have come across in this section.

I learned this tune (and many others besides) from the excellent recording ‘The Session’ by Na Connerys. They did it in D, which on the fiddle (or mandolin and banjo) means and intro note of low A on the G string and the whole tune sounds mellow. It does mean whistle players have to dig out a C whistle and flute players have to think a bit, though.

I’m puzzled by the talk about this being a dorian mode tune. It’s written with one sharp (usually signifying Gmaj or Emin) but it’s clearly not either of those keys because the tonic (final) note is A in the versions above. The third note of the scale, F, is missing, so it’s a gapped mode tune. But it has the feel of a mixolydian mode tune, with a ‘flattened’ 7th note (G on the scale above). A mixolydian tune would have its semitones at 3rd/4th and 6th/7th positions (counting from the tonic note).

As I mentioned, the third note of the scale is missing, but based on everything else, including how the tune sounds, I’ve always regarded it as being a mixolydian tune.

I’m probably older than most people posting here these days, but am I the only one who learned this tune after hearing it on Matt Molloy’s first record ? Without reading through every single post above, - [ apologies if I missed something, but life’s too short ] - he doesn’t seem to get any credit for his recording of it. I’d go out on a limb, and say it wasn’t that well-known outside of Ireland, as a jig, until he recorded it on his “Black album”.
“De Danann” also popularised it a bit as well, but a few years after Matt’s recording.
Also with regards to the above post, “Na Connerys” certainly didn’t record it “ in “D”“ - unless you mean “D-minor”, because it sounds to me as though they played it “ a string lower“ than is usual on the fiddle, and if, as you say, they start it on “A,” on a fiddle “G,” string, that would be the case.
I’m by no means an expert on modes, but I would have thought “mixolydian” as well. Someone may well point out that this is wrong, - [ cue endless pointless arguments ] - but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me, and I don’t give a sh*t, because this is a tune I have loved and played with Irish musicians for nearly 40 years now, and not a single one of them has ever raised the question about what “mode” it was in.
Who was it who said in reply to something like “how’s your music sight-reading ?”. “Just enough so it doesn’t interfere with my playing”. Just play it.
PS - Jacky Daly and Conor Keane used to play both the Scottish waltz-time version, and follow it with the Junior Crehan jig version as a set. They did that here in Aberdeen a few years back at a “Button Boxes and Moothies” festival we had. There are plans in hand for another one at the end of this year - watch this space.

Following the last comment, I meant Na Connerys recorded this in D mixolydian. That probably wasn’t clear amongst my musings. And on that subject, I agree a session is for music, but I hope this site can be used by people to air their thoughts on modes, or anything trad, even if it seems pointless.

This may be 11 years late dear Dr Dow, but thank you for that very funny story! I enjoyed the mind picture of that formerly pumped stang limping back into Budget. Despite the normal grieving due on behalf of ANY Mustang so injured, I do feel it served rent-a-wreck right, having a set of wheels on steroids like that available for rent. Too bad you didn’t accomplish said crash going through the front door of that marvelous hotel. You boys and your hormonal green pony would have been true heros. Cheers 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nRau1Kf0kY

play video

Love this tune! There’s a great rendition of this tune on Fullset’s album “Notes at Liberty” (2011). Not the version I posted though.

“Call the Set III”
Musicians: Pat Sullivan, Vince Milne, & Mick Daly
https://thesession.org/recordings/5713

This is the fiddle and mandolin friendly version. Occasionally, some parts of the tune, like the last section of the A-part, are an octave lower than usual.

This is Mike McGoldrick’s version, though he plays it on an A whistle.

This E dorian version of The Mist Covered Mountain comes from Paddy Glackin’s playing in the recent TG4 documentary about Junior Crehan. Note the very interesting variation second time through the turn.

This is David Lyth’s transcription of Junior Crehan’s Mist-Covered Mountain in Gdor.

An Arrangement I made for piano and flute of this tune https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50NkYXeycCA

play video

Here’s The Mist Covered Mountain on mandolin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcwHnM3mDak

play video

From the Martin Hayes I Buried My Wife And Danced On Her Grave/The Rooms Of Doogh/The Mist Covered Mountain recording, he adds countless variations, but this seems to be the essence of the tune as recorded.

🥂
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdsMJQ25/?k=1

https://youtu.be/iabNSBUsPyc

play video

Lovely De Danann tune