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If I Had A Wife slide

Also known as Art O’Keefe’s, The Humours Of Mount Collins, The Humours Of Mountcollins, I’ll Paddle Me Own Canoe, I’ll Paddle My Own Canoe, Mad Dancing, Paddle My Own Canoe.

There are 20 recordings of this tune.

This tune has been recorded together with The Hare In The Corn (a few times), Around The House And Mind The Dresser (a few times) and Barrack Hill (a few times).

If I Had A Wife appears in 3 other tune collections.

If I Had A Wife has been added to 4 tune sets.

If I Had A Wife has been added to 64 tunebooks.

Download ABC

Three settings

1
X: 1
T: If I Had A Wife
R: slide
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
B2A ABd e2d d2B|AGA B2A G2D D2A|
B2A ABd e2d d2B|1 AGA B2A G3 G2A:|2 AGA B2A G3 gfe||
|:d2g gfg age dBd|e2a aba g2a bge|
d2g gfg age dBd|1 efg aba g3 gfe:|2 efg aba g3 G2A||
2
X: 2
T: If I Had A Wife
R: slide
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
B2A ABd e2d d2B|AGA B2A G2D D2A|
B2A ABd e2d d2B|1 AGA B2A G3 G2A:|2 AGA B2A G3 G2B||
|:d2g gfg age d3|e2a aba g3 b3|
d2g gfg age d3|1 eaa aba g3 g2 e:|2 eaa aba g3 G2A||
3
X: 3
T: If I Had A Wife
R: slide
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|: B3 ABd e2 d d2 B | AGA B2 A G2 D D3 |
B2 A ABd e2 d d2 B | AGA B2 A G3 G2 A :|[2 AGA B2 A G3 B2 A ||
|: d2 g g3 age d2 B | dgg gba g3 b2 g |
d2 g gfg age d2 d |[1 dgg gba g3 b2 g :|[2 dgg gba g3 ged |]

Eight comments

If I Had A Wife

From the playing of Johnny O’Leary.

I just couldn’t believe this wasn’t already here, but I’ve tried three keys and several takes on bar one, but nope, so far, no sign of a duplication… How did we miss this lovely little number? What other treasure is there for us to add here?

Paddle my own canoe

Its also on Chieftains 6 as a song (they learnt it from Dennis Murphy).

If I had a wife, the plague of my life,
I’ll tell you what I would do,
I’d buy her a boat and set her afloat
and paddle my own canoe.

I read elsewhere it is also called the Humours of Mount Collins

Chieftains 6 and If I Had a Wife

This slide and the song end the Chieftains 6 album, which is called Bonaparte’s Retreat, and is a retrospective of the Irish connections to Thomas Paine, the French Revolution and the tradition of nationalism that makes Ireland more similar to France than to England. The words to the song can be taken as a metaphor for the divorce of the Irish revolution from England.

If I Had A Wife

X:2 from Padraig O’Keefe and Denis Murphy.

X: 3 "Art O’Keefe’s Slide"

S: “Jimmy Doyle & Dan O’Leary: Traditional Music From The Kingdom Of Kerry”
https://thesession.org/recordings/1247 ~ track 10 (Side B, track 3) ~ the 1st polka of two

Q: 136-142 bpm (1 beat = three quavers/eighth notes)

~ the 1st ‘slide’ of two 😏