Kilkenny jig

tune requested by Bile
Source: Danu - the road less traveled
Transcription: gian marco pietrasanta

Mike Rafferty called this tune “Young Tom Ennis” after a music shop proprietor and piper in New York in the early 1920s. It’s also called “Young Tom Ennis” in O’Neill’s ‘Dance Music of Ireland’, so if it’s the same bloke, he wasn’t so young by the early 1920s.

Young Tom Ennis is a different tune Nigel, although especially the first part moves along similar lines.

Submitted on August 4th 2012 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/12108

https://thesession.org/tunes/131/comments

I’d love to know why you think they’re different tunes, Prof. If I were to compare the tune Mike Rafferty calls “Young Tom Ennis” to the “Kilkenny Jig” I’d do something like:

A part:
Kilkenny: | cBA dcB | AEF GAB | cBA dcB |ABA A2B |
YTE: | czA BdB | AGE GAB | czA Bed | BAG A2B |

B part:
Kilkenny: | g3 agf | g2e edB | a2e a2e | a2e edB |
YTE: | gge age | dBA GBd | gze age | deg a3 |

Granted, there some significant differences, but to me there seems too many concordances - or am I missing something?

I don’t know the tune Mike Raffety had down as Young Tom but the Kilkenny is, while obviously related, too different from the tune usually identified as Young Tom Ennis, especially the B part, to fly under that name. I think identifying it as such will only confuse matters.

Having a look at the O’Neill version, I think you’re right, Prof. It has a couple of G sharps which are really at odds with The Kilkenny. I need to start looking at lot more closely at the whole of the tune.

From the playing of Eric Wilson.