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The Rolling Waves jig

Also known as The Limerick Lass, The Lonesome, Maguire’s, Maguire’s Clan March, Maguire’s Kick, Maguire’s March, McGuire’s Kick, McGuire’s March, Osna Ḟadċuṁaċ, The Rolling Wave, Saoistí Ṫoinne, The Sprig Of Stradone, The Spring Of Stradone.

There are 52 recordings of a tune by this name.

A tune by this name has been recorded together with They Stole My Wife’s Plough (lots of times), The Lark On The Strand (a few times), Alamo (a few times), An Sean Duine (a few times) and The Banks Of Lough Gowna (a few times).

The Rolling Waves has been added to 84 tune sets.

The Rolling Waves has been added to 638 tunebooks.

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Six settings

X: 1
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F2 E EDE|F2 D DED|F2 E EFA|d2 e fdA|
|F2 E EDE|F2 D DED|AFE EFA|B3 d3:|
|:ABd e2 f|d2 cB2 A|ABd e2 f|d2 A B3|
|ABd ede|fdB BAF|AFE EFA|B3 d3:|
# Added .
X: 2
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F2 E EDE|F2 D D3|F2 E EFA|d3 fdA|
|F2 E EDE|F2 D D3|AFE EFA|B3 d3:|
|:ABd e2 f|d2A B2 A|ABd e2 f|d2 A B3|
|ABd ede|fdB BAF|AFE EFA|1B3 d3:|2d3 fdA||
# Added by JACKB .
X: 3
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F2E EDE|F2D DED|F2E EFA|d2e fdA|
|F2E EDE|F2D DED|F2E EFA|BAB d2d:|
|:ABd e2 f|d2c B2A|ABd e2 f|dBA B2B|
|ABd ede|fdB BAF|AFE EFA|BAB d2d:|
X: 4
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F2 E EDE|F2 D DED|F2 E EFA|d2 e fdA|
|F2 E EDE|F2 D DED|AFE EFA|B3 d3:|
|:ABd e2 f|d2 cB2 A|ABd e2 f|d2 A B3|ABd ede|fdB BAB|ABd ede|
|fdB BAF|AFE EFA|B2c d2e|1fed cBA|B2A FDF:|2fdB AFA|B3 d3||
X: 5
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
|:F2E EDE|F2D D3|F2E EFA|d2e fdA|
F2E EDE|F2D D3|AFE EFA|B3 d2A:||
|:ABd e2f|d2A B2A|ABd e2f|d2A B2A|
ABd ede|fdB BAF|AFE EFA|B3 d3:||
# Added by JACKB .
X: 6
T: The Rolling Waves
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Cmaj
E2D DCD | E2C C2C | E2D DEG | c2d ecG |
E2D DCD | E2C C2D | E2D DEG | AGA c3:|
|:GAc d2 e | c2B A2G | GAc d2d | cAG A3 |
GAc dec | GcA AGE | GED DEG |1 AGA c3 :|2 c2d ecG||

Twenty-four comments

The Rolling Waves

I learned this from the playing of Kevin Burke (is it on the "Portland" album?), smooth and swingy, not too fast. You want to get the feeling of being gently rocked in your dinghy on a light swell. It makes a nice companion to the Humours of Trim (also listed as the Rolling Waves in the archives here), with Willie Coleman’s in between.

On fiddle, Burke likes to slide the F2 in measure 1 down just a little and the F2 in measure 2 up a smidge to add sway to the already rolling feel. And you can roll any of the B3’s and d3’s as you see fit.

The tunes makes an easy whistle or flute piece as well, ready made for beginner’s fingers (like mine) to find on the low D whistle, for instance. You can cut to separate the doubled-up E’s D’s wherever they occur and the side-by-side A’s from measure 2 to measure 3 in Part B, and the two B’s in measure 6 of Part B.

Posted .

James Kelly also plays this

…on his Caple Street recording. Very nice—don’t know if this recording is still available.

“Martin O’Connor’s Polka” ~ making life tough for poor ol’ Al Brown

Submitted on July 10th 2006 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/5952

Now Martin O’Connor knows both these tunes but gave this polka as a nameless or ‘gan ainm’. Check out the lovely shared bit between the two, the A-parts. Here’s the first four bars from this polka:

|: D/E/ |
FE ED/E/ | FD D>E | FE DA | dB BA | ~

There’s also a slide in the family…

Polkas

~ a few basic rhythmic possibilities, bar and beat, minus the possibilities of z… ‘N’ = generic note…

Within the measure:
| N4 | = | N2- N2 | ~
| N2- N>N | ~ | N2- NN | ~ | NN- N2 | ~ | NN- N>N | ~ | NN- NN |

Within the beat:
N2 ~ NN ~ N>N ~ NN/N/ ~ N/N/N ~ N/N/N/N/

Oops! ~ There’s a screw up if ever I saw one. I thought I was in the comments for the polka. That’ll surprise some folks, not my screwing up, but finding the above here…

SLIDES / JIGS ~ in order to make partial restitution for the srew-up above…

~ a few basic rhythmic possibilities, not all necessarily ‘common’ ~ minus the possibilities of z… ‘N’ = generic note…

Across two beats:
| N6 | = | N3- N3 | ~
N3- N2 N ~ N2 N- N3 ~ N2 N- N2 N ~

On one beat:
N3 ~ N2 N ~ N N2 ~ NNN ~ N>NN ~ N<NN ~
N/N/NN ~ NN/N/N ~ NNN/N/

I can just imagine folks going around going "Nuh-Nuh-Nuuuuh"… Dow, holding his head and looking for aspirin…

The Clan March of the Maguires. Is in the Gunn Book (Fermanagh 1865) as the Spring of Stradone. Stradone is a village on the Fermanagh/Cavan border

The Sprig of Stradone

Oops I got that wrong, it’s definitely the SPRIG of Stradone in the Gunn Book. I’m told that a Sprig is a piece of music in Scotland.

Can’t help but wonder….

What about "The Brig’ o’ Strathdon" ?

Posted by .

Is this a jig or a march?

Or both?

Both - some people just like to turn slower tunes into jigs. But I think that if you want to be true to the source, it would be a march, the way it is played, for instance, by James Kelly on "Capel Street", or by Mickey Dunne here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTguk3CI1R

Is this “The French March”?

Isn’t this the same tune as "The French March" on the Chieftains 1983 "The Year of the French."

The Rolling Waves, X:2

From Kevin Burke

Posted by .

X3: Wille Clancy’s version

FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|FEF ~D3|A2F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|~F3 ~G3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|E~F2 ~D3|(3.A.c.A F GFE|
|FEF ~D3|{A} D2d .cAG|(3FGA F GBG|A{B}A F GFE||
|{A}D2d cAd|cAd cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|(3FGA F GBG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cAd|ded cAG|~F2 d .cAG|~A2F GFE|
|{A}D2d cde|(3.g.f.e .d cAG| E~F2~G3|~A2F GFE||

Willie Clancy’s pipes version with a different b-part

Re: The Rolling Waves

Is this the tune on Portland by Kevin Burke or is it The humours of Trim on the album instead ?

The Rolling Waves, X:4

This is a great tune, with a vibrant life and rhythm of its own, floating somewhere in that modal space between D major and E minor. The pace and strength of the tune really builds throughout the second part. The bits and pieces that I have added just accentuate that build through the repeat. This would be a great tune get rolling with a whistle and guitar, especially if the guitarist knows his Irish jigs. I can see an arrangement of this tune being the favorite track on an Irish Trad. album, if only a group of real talented musicians can pick it up!

The Rolling Waves, X:6

Taken from ‘A Fine Selection of Over 200 Irish Traditional Tunes for Sessions’, compiled by David Speers with a Forward by Matt Cranitch. It appears in this book as The Lonesome jig. This setting is in C major, giving it a more resonant feel. Might be a good one to go with Hole in the Hedge (in C), which I sometimes pair with The Mist Covered Mountain (in D mix, as on the first Na Connery’s recording - sorry flutes and whistles!).