Ride A Mile slip jig

You left out an eighth note accidently in the ABC in the fourth measure from the end - should it be an A or a B quarter note? Or a combination of eighth notes? Or, perhaps it is syncopated in some way…

I meant, of course, omitting the eighth rest that is already there, since we don’t typically play a “rest” in the true sense of the word…you know what I mean. Thanks!

This version is a basic transcription of the tune as played by flute player Conal Ó Gráda on “The Top of Coom.”
The rests are wherever he left notes out for a breath. The 1/8th rests can be filled in by making the previous note a quarter. As for the quarter rest in bar 4 of the C part, your guess is as good as mine. Conal consistently took a breath on that note/rest.

I know a different slip jig which has the almost identical first part: https://thesession.org/tunes/3297

Ok, now I understand about the rests. I noticed that a measure of the C part went missing, but using good ITM common sense it’s possible to know what the measure should have been. I re-did the ABC without the breaths and with the missing measure included here:

X: 1
T: Ride A Mile
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Gmaj
dBG G2A G2e|dBG GB/c/d gfe|dBG G2A G2E|F2G A2 B cBA:|
def g3 fed|g2B B2A B2A|def g2 g fed|e2A A2B cBA|
def g2 g fed|g2B B2A B2A|def g2 g fed|e2A A2a afe||
BAB g2B g2B|BAB g2B b2B|BAB g2B g2B|A3 A2B cBA|
BAB g2B g2B|BAB g2B b2g|BAB g2B g2B|a2 f e2f g2e||

It’s a really nice tune - thanks for posting it. I have such a weakness for slip jigs.

I have only heard this version of the tune but the missing measure at the end of the C part is as Conal played it. It really gives the feeling of riding on a galloping horse.
In the thorough transcription Grey Larsen made of the tune in his book he mentions that that last bit could be written either as 3 measures in 9/8 or 1 measure in 9/8 and 3 in 6/8.

Hmm, that’s interesting. So it’s supposed to be a bit crooked then, like “The Big Man Within.” I wonder if this is a more modern tune, or an older one that just happens to be crooked.

I always understood that crooked tunes were more apt to be older tunes. But those were generally with an extra beat added in a bar. I don’t know about tunes missing a whole bar.

Thanks for posting the slip jig version of this tune - I have been waiting for someone to do it before I posted this version. On the An Fhidil, Sraith 2 album ( by Kevin Burke ) it is listed as a reel . When I did a search for this tune all the versions I could find were slip jigs. The version on the An Fhidil, Sraith 2 album is not a slip jig and when I transcribed it , it only made sense to write it in 12/8. It goes something like this :

T: Ride A Mile
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Bmin
FAF EBE DED D2 B| FAF EBE DFA B2 B | FAF EBE DED D2 f gfe fed AFAB2 B ||
dBd fdB AFA DFA | dBd fdB AFA B2 B | dBd fdB AFA def | gfe fed AFA B2 B ||
| dBd fdd edd fdd | dBd fdd AFA B2 B | dBd fdd edd fdf | gfe fed AFA B2 B ||
DFA dAF DFA BGE | DFA dAF DFA B3 | DFA dAF DFA Bef | gfe fed AFA B2B ||
def def DFA dAF | def def DFA B3 | def def ded def | gfe fed AFA B3 ||

This tune has been popular in Northumberland since the 18th century or earlier. Apparently it appears in the Playford collection of 1700, so it’s really really old, and most likely English. I would be willing to bet that it’s Northumbrian in origin but I have no way of proving that. It seems like a typical Northumbrian pipe jig, but the fact that it there are also Irish and Scottish versions of it suggests that at one time it was an extremely popular and widespread tune, much like “Andrew Carr/Kerr” (“Tipperary Hills”) https://thesession.org/tunes/3244 and
https://thesession.org/tunes/1714. Most of the older settings have 2 parts which can come in any order.

3 different versions appear in the William Vickers manuscript (1770) under different names, all transcribed below with inserted corrections to obvious “typos”:

T: A Mile To Ride
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
S: William Vickers (1770)
K: G
dBd gag fed|gdB BdB d2e|dBd gag fed|a2A ABA c2e:|
|:dBG G2B dBG|d/c/B/A/G GAB d2g|dBG GAB dBG|ecA ABA c2e:|

T: Stanhope In W[e]ardale
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
S: William Vickers (1770)
K: G
ded Bed BGB|d2B BdB d2e|ded Bed BGB|c2A AcA c2e:|
|:GAB gag fed|edB gdB d2e|GAB gag fed|ecA AcA c2e:|

T: Stannerton Hopping
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
S: William Vickers (1770)
K: G (I transposed it from F for easy comparison)
ded Bed BGB|gag gdB d2e|ded Bed BGB|c2A ABA c2e:|
|:dBB gBB aBB|dBB gBB d2e|dBB gBB aBB|c2A ABA c2e:|

Of the above names, by far the most common in Northumberland is “A Mile To Ride”. I’d say that this is because the setting most pipers now play is the one that appears in John Peacock’s manuscript (compiled 1800-1805). This was the version that was used for the Minstrelsy in the late 19th century:

T: A Mile To Ride
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
S: John Peacock (1800-1805)
K: G
dBd g2g f2d|g2B BcB d2e|dBd g2g f2d|ecA ABA c2e:|
|:dBG G2c B2c|dBG GAB c2e|dBG G2c B2d|ecA A2B c2e:|

A similar setting with yet another local title comes from the John Bell manuscript (1812):

T: Stamfordham Hopping
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
S: John Bell (1812)
K: G
dBd gag fed|g2B BcB d2e|dBd gag fed|a2A ABA c2e:|
|:dBG G2G G2B|dBG GBG c2e|dBG G2G G2B|ecA A2B c2e:|

Lastly, here’s the setting I like to play, which is a combination of my favourite bits of various English and Irish settings in 2 parts:

T: A Mile To Ride
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: G
dBd gag fed|g2B ~B3 d2e|dBd gag fed|ecA ABA c2e:|
|:dBG GAG G2e|dBG GAG efg|dBG GAG GBd|ecA A2B c2e:|

Other settings can be found at JC’s tunefinder, including O’Neill’s.

Please feel free to ignore my earlier post. It’s a mistake, I mixed up the tracks on the CD - it’s track3, The Geese in the Bog.

noxious blanket, above, has given an ABC version of the tune that to all intents and purposes matches a slip-jig of this name featured on an album - “called “A Mile To Ride” - made by the Tyneside-based group The High Level Ranters in the ‘70’s. It’s a really good strong tune; being all within one major octave, it would have been playable on the earliest versions of the Northumbrian smallpipes. It’s not the same tune as that for which the sheet music is given.

Stanhope in Weardale is a small town which is the capital of Weardale, the upper valley of the River Wear - the river which flows through Durham City and features in photos and pictures of the Cathedral.

Nicholas, have another look at the sheetmusic. It’s basically a different setting of the same tune, with the A and B parts in a different order and an extra part tagged on the end.

Noxious Blanket, I’ve had another look and though the tunes are obviously akin/related, I wouldn’t say they were the same. I haven’t tried to work out their places on the tune’s family tree. But I think your/The High Level Ranters’ tune is altogether better than the one given in the sheet music, that’s the main thing I wished to say.

For a simplified, hop jig variant of this tune, go here https://thesession.org/tunes/2579.

Dow - it’s in Thompson’s Compleat Collection as ‘Ride a Mile’, and is pretty much the same as your first Vickers example.

This tune is worth learning for its 3rd part only.

this tune is worth learning for it 3rd part alone…

There’s a difference between a three-legged chair and a four-legged chair with a leg missing.

X:5 from Andy McGann & Paddy Reynolds; X:6 from Patsy Touhey.

https://thesession.org/tunes/3297

I personally feel that “Mile to Ride” (as played by High Level Ranters and Kathryn Tickell) and “Ride A Mile” are two separate tunes, because although they sound similar they are still quite distinct. Though I’m usually quite partial to Northumbrian music, I think I still prefer the Irish “Ride a Mile” better.

This is the version from the Winder manuscripts, c1830s. North Lancashire.
www.andyhornby.net/Winders.html