The Five Pound Flute jig

Johnny Hardie of the Old Blind Dogs wrote this jig. It may be slightly folk-processed as I learned it from Maine fiddler Ed Howe who couldn’t recall how he learned it . . . There are obviously many ornamentation options of the repeated low D.

the flute must have been an eight key with all those low C’s.

I was at the Orkney Folk Festival when this tragic incident occurred. A flute-maker put 2 flutes into the Festival shop in a bit of a hurry, said something along the lines of “this one is 4 and this one is 5”, meaning of course £400 and £500. He came back to find one had been sold for £5.00. True! I never heard if the flute-maker got the right money or not - I was always a bit reluctant to ask, because it would be an obvious sore point.
Mind you, I got my first flute for £10.00.

Even though I’ve got the keys, I play almost all of those low C-naturals up an octave. It gives a nice punch to the rhythm.

This tune can be heard on “Dance of the Celts” (Narada Collection - ND63932: 1997) and is the opening part of a set - followed by ‘Donald McLellan’s Exercise’ and ‘What pain have I endured since last year’ . . . (The latter obviously written by someone who has just given away an expensive flute!)

from a set played by Old Blind Dogs

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

play video