The Drops Of Brandy slip jig

This tune is found on William Coulter’s CD: "Celtic Sessions"

In Bristol we play it in G. This gives the useful option of playing it at the lower octave.
Trevor

I believe the original is in A and scottish. Am I wrong?

I think it is Scottish and we certainly play it a lot for dance sets like "Drops of Brandy" and "Strip the widow—sorry Willow 🙂 ". Both are very similar. Usually, it’s played in A or G here. Again, the setting is different, though who’s to say we’re right? 🙂

Drops of Brandy is also in the Metis tradition as well! It was very cool the time I saw a Metis dance troupe and band at a festival and out pops a version of Drops of Brandy…

I forgot to say, it makes a nice round to play, each player coming in after 4 bars. When played in G one player can play at the octave. If you have more than two players playing as a round (we’ve done it with 4) everyone has to concentrate very hard otherwise it’s so easy to lose it.
Trevor

I believe it is in O’Neill’s in the key of G instead of A… I play it either way. I believe it is irish in origin - but it doesn’t really matter, it is lots of fun to play and teach as it has a good slip jig rhthym.

We play this in G as well at our Asheville sessions.

I’ve known others who play it in A as well.

The Metis versions of Drops of Brandy that I’ve heard seem to have little relationship to the slip jig - they’re in 2/4 or 4/4 time and have a different melody altogether - great tunes in their own right. Much closer in feel to Fench-Canadian than Irish.

I love this old standard and will be adding more, but for the moment, feeling that powers greater than me are moving me and trying to keep me civil ( GRRRR! 😉 ) ~ here goes windy’s take in 3 keys and on a proper diet ~

X: 1
T: Drops Of Brandy
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: D Major
|: ABA FDF FDF | ABA FDF GFE |
ABA FDF FDF | GFG E2 F GFE :|
|: DFA dAF dAF | DFA dAF GFE |
[1 DFA dAF dAF | GFG E2 F GFE :|
[2 DFA dfe dAF | GFG E2 F GFE ||

X: 2
T: Drops Of Brandy
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: G Major
|: ded BGB BGB | ded BGB cBA |
ded BGB BGB | cBc A2 B cBA :|
|: GBd gdB gdB | GBd gdB cBA |
[1 GBd gdB gdB | cBc A2 B cBA :|
[2 GBd gba gdB | cBc A2 B cBA ||

X: 3
T: Drops Of Brandy
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: A Major
|: efe cAc cAc | efe cAc dcB |
efe cAc cAc | dcd B2 c dcB :|
|: Ace aec aec | Ace aec dcB |
[1 Ace aec aec | dcd B2 c dcB :|
[2 Ace ac’b aec | dcd B2 c dcB ||

Key signature: D Major
Submitted on September 25th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/7771

here’s the traditional lilt: (Part A is the lilt, Part B is the verses)

Curfá:
Didildí déidildí déidildí
didildí déidildí deam
didildí déidildí déidildí
didildí déidildí deam

Tá nead ag an dreoilín, an dreoilín
tá nead ag an dreoilín sa sceach,
Tá nead ag an dreoilín, an dreoilín
is gearrcaigh ag teacht amach.

Tá nead ag a’ fiolar na faille,
tá nead ag an gcaistín cnoic,
tá nead ag an éan is airde
is nead ag an bhfaoilinn dubh.

Téanam go Dairbhre, Dairbhre
téanam go Dairbhre, a Chit,
téanam go Dairbhre, Dairbhre,
is ólfaimid tenny bit.

I’m more inclined to take it so, starting with the long-short in the first measure of the A-part and repeating it in bars 2 & 3 ~

K: G Major
|: d2 B BGB BGB | d2 B BGB cBA | d2 B BGB BGB | cBc A2 B cBA :| ~

James Kelly does a really nice version of this one on the CD ‘Traditional Irish Music", with Paddy Keenan, Zan McLeod, Mark Stone and Daithi Connaughton. Track 7, with The Gift from the Fairies / Drops of Brandy / Is the Big Man Within?. I love this one!

I hastily posted a version in G, disregarding all the rules (well, I am a newbie to TheSession).
Oh well, it is quite useful to have for our set lists; we play Drop’s of Brandy (in G)/Another Jig Will Do/The Foxhunter’s.

The third part of Dirty Linen by Fairport is called Drops of Brandy in some listings but is a different tune:

BGB BGB d2c | BGB cBA d2c | BGB BGB cdc | A2b cBA d2c

Can anyone give me another name for this tune or tell me if it’s on this site under a different name?

Leo Rowsome, piper, was recorded playing this at about a hundred miles an hour in 1933:

http://www.archive.org/details/LeoRowsome-DropsOfBrandyBarneyBrannigan

BrownAdam ~ you’ve got the bars confusing you ~ move them one beat over to the left, and making a correction from A2 b to A2 B ~

~ BGB BGB | d2c BGB cBA | d2c BGB BGB | cdc A2 B cBA | d2 c ~

It’s the same tune…

Just for the record, a nice version of this lovely slip jig is played during the intro of the famous RTE series The Green Linnet with Barney McKenna and Tony MacMahon. 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43gPtaBbaPI

play video

Taken from ‘A Fine Selection of Over 200 Irish Traditional Tunes for Sessions’, compiled by David Speers with a Forward by Matt Cranitch. This version in A major with different phrasing at the end of the first part.

Setting in G Major following AABB with chords and two endings for the second part.

The first 2 versions here differ in mode. The first has 2 sharps and the second three, but the notes are quite similar. So, is one correct?
Also I see versions posted here in major and some in Lydian mode. For one example, there are two in G: one with one sharp (F) and the other with 2 sharps (f & c). Both begin with d,e,d. Are both ‘correct.’ I’m not talking about the key but rather the mode.

With a tip of the hat to The Chieftains (Water from the Well - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYrJJFpjrNg). Have some fun with it. They do.

play video

After a few times in this key I play it on the flute starting on the second octave D.

X:1
T: Drops of Gin
M: 4/4
K: D
A2BA FDDF|A2 FA G EE2|A2BA FDD2| 1 G2 FG E2 FG:|2 G2 FG E4 ||
D2 FA dAFA|dAFA G E2G|D2FA dAFA| GEFD E4|
D2 FA dAFA|dAFA G E3|D2FA dfec| dBAF E2 (FG)|