The Otters’ waltz

Seeing as we’re in a waltz moment, here’s a bit of shmaltz…

Will this shmatlz suit you Jamie T?

Heh, heh! - and have you read that book by the Chinese seer ‘Who Flung Dung’? So give the masses the key in G…? But it is in ‘g’… Do you mean ‘e’ minor (#)?:

K: Emin
|:B,2 E2 G2|(c4 c)B|(B6|B6)|B,2 E3 G|c2 B3 ^G|(A6|A6)|
B,2 ^D2 F2|(B4 B)^G|(A6|A6)|B2 A3 F|B,2 A3 F|(G6|G2) F2 E2|
B,2 E2 G2|(c4 c)B|(B6|B6)|E2 ^G2 B2|e2 d3 B|(c6|c6)|
e2 c2 A2|E4 c2|c6|B6|B,2 ^D2 F2|B2 A2 F2|
1 (E6|E6):|
2 E2 EF E^D|E2 e3 ^d||
|:d6|df ed cB|c2 B3 ^A|B6|B6|f^d BA GF|A2 G3 F|G6|
B2 F3 G|A2 G2 F2|B2 E3 F|G2 F2 E2|B,2 ^D3 F|A2 G2 F2|E2 E^D EF|
1 E2 e3 ^d:|2 E6||

I can’t say where this evolved from, and I don’t feel completely comfortable with saying anymore than it just happened, bubbling out of the quagmire of my mind - credit goes to Moskovskaya, a river bank an otters…all favoured company…I think it was originally in Irish, but I’d have to down some more Moskovskaya to see it that was really the case or if it was French or Russian, but sadly I’ve only a large empty bottle on the windowsill to remind me of my lack…hmmmmm…

However, and hold yourself from disbelief, I only had a D whistle with me when all present ‘possessed’ me…and miles away from any priest…

Actually, as I’m listening to it now and noting the melancholia, there’s the history too, not just the Moskovskaya (I never liked vodka until someone initiated me with this, mmm, mmm!)…

Holding back on specifics, not sure if I’m past being prosecuted, I used to sneak into this zoo after hours, to visit the animals, but not so foolish as some. I’ve no interest in petting pumas or teasing tigers. I’d made a friend, so there was reason, and you may have guessed it already, an otter, a female. There were all kinds of warnings on the cage, but she just looked so lonely and folorn, all on her own. We used to talk, or I did, and she made sounds, especially mournful ones when I had to leave her. She also had mange, and I used to comment about this to the keeper during the day. Part of the play was her biting me, but never giving the weight she was capable of, always playful and soft. She died, and I never climbed that fence again.

So, on a river bank, seeing otters free and ‘dancing’, and curious, and the Moskovskaya - well, ‘Moscow Nights’ - and I’m getting all morose again…it’s the ‘lack’…

And the Indian theatre critic,Pandit Unmercifully

The gongs were going, as this creation that came over me, under various influences, had a ring of similarity to it, anyway, as the dyslexic memory works, a few days later the name came up, a Finnish one, and a damned nice three part waltz. Now Jeremy doesn’t want non-Irish here, but as this is the obvious root to my sojourn for the waltzing otters, it seems only fair to give you that lovely Finnish waltz, first learned waltzing to it and later learned from a Finnish box player on one of those funky box systems some call ‘International’. I’ve written it as follows so the four bar phrases line up. , This still one of my favourite shmaltzes though I haven’t played it in ages…:

T: Metsäkukkia
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Gmin
|:
D2 G2 A2|B2 A2 G2|(d6|d6)|
D2 G2 A2|B2 A2 G2|(e6|e6)|
c2 d2 e2|e2 d2 c2|(d6|d6)|
D2 ^F2 A2|c2 B2 A2|(G6|1 G2) z4:|
2 G2) g3 f||:
(f6|f2) g3 e|(d6|d2) e3 d|
(c6|c2) d3 c|(B6|B2) d2 d2|
(d6|d2) c2 B2|(A6|A2) B2 A2|
D2 ^C2 D2|B4 A2|(G6|1 G2) g3 f:|
2 G2) z2 g^f||:
g2 z2 d^c|d2 z2 BA|B2 z2 G^F|G2 z2 d2|
e4 d2|c2 e2 g2|(d6|d6|
d2 ^f3 g|a6|d2 g3 a|b6|
d2 ^f3 a|b4 a2|(g6|1 g2) z2 g^f:|
2 g2) z4||

is played by the “Boys of the Lough”, by many IrTRad bands and even a few sessions, so it is traditional, isn’t it?

I like your argument ‘urs’, but I’ve tried before and had stuff just disappear - “POOF!” - so I’ve added it back here. The connection was hammering for release in my head, but it took awhile for my misfiring brain cells to dig it out. I hope ‘Otters’ is different enough, at least steeped in the Moskovskaya, to exist on its own, for the sake of all inspiration involved…

https://thesession.org/tunes/4585

‘Jamie T’ is a friend, mentioned above, who is no longer with the site. Having lost his patience with things here he requested to leave. Back then that could mean every contribution he’d made would go with him, as it did. There are a few places where we were sharing a bit of banter, including here, where it can seem I’m talking with myself, not that that can’t also be true. The tune “The Tyred Fiddle” was written for him:
https://thesession.org/tunes/3477