I Ne’er Shall Wean Her jig

When played in A dorian, this tune is called "I Shall Ne’er Wean Her," and in B minor its title becomes "Mrs. O’Sullivan’s."

Reminds me of a tune the great Ulster singers Len Graham and the late Joe Holmes used to lilt in jig and reel versions. I think they called it "Wellington’s Medal".

I’m a bit confused about the key here - it seems to me that If I accompany this tune I play the chords for C major.

~ and just a minor variant:

|: G |
EGG GED | EGG c2 B | AcA AGA | cde e2 d |
cde g2 a | ged c2 d | e2 a edB | cAG A2 :|
|: d |
e2 g ged | egg g2 d | e2 a aga | bag a2 g |
cc/d/e g2 a | ged c2 B | Aaa e2 d | cAG A2 :|

& a version in F minor:

https://thesession.org/tunes/3971

Stoneboy wrote, "I’m a bit confused about the key here - it seems to me that If I accompany this tune I play the chords for C major." I agree. A dorian has an F sharp in it; C major, of course, has F natural. There are several places in this tune where you could drop an F natural in and it would sound fine, e.g., in measure 5 in the run up to G. I don’t think there’s any place an F# would fit.

Yeah, it ends on an A, but so what? It just begs to resolve to a C chord.

Great tune this! Here it is played by the group Sproai http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpR2jGWEVuU&feature=grec_browse

play video

The second tune of course.

It reminds me of a few vague tunes and, less vaguely, of an early Pogues song, which name I’ve forgotten.

The first part proceeds by steps, it creates an anxious suspense; is this imperious rise gointa stop?

I posted a setting which is very close to the Lúnasa version in their Maids In The Kitchen track. Of course they played it in Gm to be more cool :-), but Am is easier, at least on my banjo, or C whistle - lost my Bb whistle somewhere - should get another.

Maids In The Kitchen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LBNaadGvdI

play video

Found in several old Scottish collections as The Irish Girl… https://thesession.org/tunes/13224

Some variations from Patrick Street.

A few small variations from the previous setting posted, transposed up to Bmin, and a variant ending from the Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson album Air-Fix (track "Gordon"). Wouldn’t use that ending every time playing through the tune of course!