When Sick Is It Tea That You Want? jig

Anyone whose Grandma gave them whiskey to douse a fever or sooth a sore throat knows that this is a rhetorical question, and on the cd Bridgetown Burke and Connolly give this simple jig enough swing to get the point across. I transcribed this directly from the cd, and came out with a much more playable, lively version of the tune than any of the written forms I’ve seen. Burke freely slurs across the bars to keep the tune swinging, but otherwise there’s nothing particularly tricky about his approach.

This appears in his early 19th century manuscript (published on Tyneside) under the title "Go To The D**** And Shake Yourself". Maybe in those days it would have been considered a bad omen to read the word "devil" on the page! The abc for that C major setting is below:

K:C
|:G|Gcc cBA|G>AG GEG|Ecc dcd|ecA A2G|
Gcc cBA|G>AG GEG|cec dgf|ecc c2:|
|:e/f/|gec cBc|AFF F2f/g/|afd ded|BGG G2G|
Gcc cBA|G>AG GEG|cec dgf|ecc c2:|

I learned this version from the Boys of the Lough’s recording of it:

|:A|Add dcB|AdB AFG|Add cde|fdB BAF|
Add dcB|AdB AFG|Add cde|fdc d2:|
|:f/g/|add d2 =c|BGG G2 g/a/|bee e2 d|cAA A2 B|
Add dcB|AdB AFG|Add cde|fdc d2:|

I must have first heard this from Packie Byrne many years ago, with a long intro concerning a piper at a party offered a cup of tea by the lady of the house first thing in the morning. When he plays this tune she asks its name, whereupon he says "When you’re drunk, is it tea that you want ?" she gets the message and a whiskey for him..

I learned an almost identical tune to this by the name of Go To the Devil and Shake yourself, and had forgotten most of it, and found this…either way an interestingly titled tune…

I’m sick of this tune and I don’t think tea can fix it

Here’s Johnny’s setting.

X: 1
T: When Sick Is It Tea That You Want?
S:Johnny B. Connolly
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
B|:Add dcB|ABA AFA|ABd ede|fdB ~B3|
Add dcB|ABA AFA|ABd ede|1fdc d2B:|2fdc dfg||
|:afd dcd|BGF G2 a|bge e2d|cAA A2 G|
FAd fdB|ABA AFA|ABd ede|1fdc dfg:|2fdc d2B||

Not so sure that is correct, in Mackintosh’s 1801 collection ‘A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs & Co’ it isn’t claimed as one of his while many other tunes are.

Ok mea culpa! Great tune, whatever the origin

Not to worry, I just happened to go through the collection recently, chasing up another tune attributed to him.

It’s available for download here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/80796

I posted Johnny’s setting not realizing Will transcribed the same source… for some reason I thought it was different. It came at the end of a long string of transcriptions that day… oh well.

Here is an interesting version published by Breandan Breathnach in Ceol Rince na hÉireann, vol. 3, 1985, p. 13, no 27 as Tae ab’ ea a Theastaíonn is Tú Tinn?

According to Breandan Breathnach and tunearch.org , this tune is also known as The Penniless Traveller.
Here is a setting in G which appears in O’Neill’s Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody, 1922, no. 156.

K:G
B/2c/2|dgg gfe|ded dBc|dgg g2 a|bag Te2 d|
dgg gfe|ded dBd|gbg a/2b/2c’a|bgg g2:|
|:B/2c/2|dBG GFG|ecc c2 d|eAA ABG|Edd d2 B|
|1dgg gfe|ded dBd|gbg a/2b/2c’a|bgg g2:|
|2dgg faa|gbb abc’|d’bg a/2b/2c’a|bgg g2|]

Gay McKeon version for piping

The source of this variant is https://thesession.org/recordings/5517. I heard this track played on Clare.fm and enjoyed the twist they give to the B part on the 2nd repeat. Otherwise it’s quite the old version I have known before.

|: G2 c cBA | GAG GEF | Gcc c2 d | ecA AcA |
Gcc cBA | GAG GEF | Gcc Bcd |[1 ecB cBA :|[2 ecB c2 ||
|: e/f/ |\
gec cBc | AFF F2 a | afd d/e/dc | BGG GEF |
Gcc cBA | GAG GEF | Gcc Bcd |[1 ecB c2 :|[2 ecB cBA |]