The Rolling Waves jig

Usually the titles of Irish tunes don’t have any connection to the actual content, but this one really does have the feel of rolling waves.

beautiful tune. I just learned it last night from a mandolin player - sounds just perfect at an easy-going pace.

I learned this one off a Chieftain’s album, or possibly it was a soundtrack for the documentary they scored for the Irish Horse. It didn’t come with a name attached to it then, but this tune is listed as the Humours of Trim in O’Neill’s.

The Rolling Waves, on the other hand, at least the jig as popularlized by Kevin Burke and others, goes as follies (in D maj) : |F2 E EDE|F2 D DED|F2 E EFA|d2 e fdA| etc., which also does a fair job of conveying the feel of waves.

duh…someday I’ll learn to read the details first….

With reference to the Chieftains playing this tune, I have it listed as ‘The Grey Fox’.

The group Tarras have teamed the Rolling Waves with The Leitrim Fancy on their album "Walking Down Mainstreet". They called the track ‘Calico’.

On Kevin Crawford’s "In Good Company", I think he plays this tune in D mixolydian i.e. with natural Cs.

Sounds pretty good.

has it on piano/harpsicchord on an album he recorded with string quatuor etc…
(sprightly version that too)

|:~F3 DED|D2d cAG|FAF DED|A2F GFE|
FEF DED|D2d cAG|FAF GBG|A2F GFE:|
D2d cAd|cAd cAG|F2d cAG|FAF GEA|
D2d cAd|fed cAG|FAF GBG|A2F GFE:|

though McSherry uses |d=cA d=cA| instead of |dcA dcA|
I like the "happy version" more :)

I found this tune squished in between a few other things on a Chieftains track titled ‘Sea Image’.

It helped me a lot on practicing my first ornamentations for UP. crans on D, cuts at high D…

As played by Willy Clancy:

X:220
T:Rolling Wave, The
B:Dance Music of Willie Clancy (Dublin 1976)
Z:Nigel Gatherer
N:rough transcription only
M:6/8
R:Jig
L:1/8
K:D
FEF D3 | D2 d cAG | FEF D3 | AAF GFE |
FEF D3 | D2 d cAG | E F2 G3 | (4AcAF GFE :|
D2 d cAd | cAd cAG | F2 d cAG | A2 F GFE |
D2 d cAc | ded cAG | (4FGAF GBG | AAF GFE |
D2 d cAd | cAd cAG | F2 d cAG | FAF GFE |
D2 d cde | (4gfed cAG | E F2 G3 | A2 F GFE |]

From Eamon Coyne:

X: 1
T: Gan Ainm?
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
dc | BcB GBG | GBg fdc | BcB GBG | dGB cBA |
~B3 GBG | GBg fdc | ~B3 ~c3 | dDB cBA :|
|: Geg fdg | fdg fdc | Bdg fdc | ~B3 cBA |
Geg fda | bag fdc | ~B3 ~c3 | dGB cBA :|

see: https://thesession.org/discussions/18300

Hello. Can anybody please post the full ABC version of the jig as recorded in the "in good company" CD?

I tried with the line posted by will CPT but I feel it’s not right. Am I wrong? :-)

Thank you all so much

Anal, I posted a line from a different tune that’s known as the Rolling Waves. The jig from In Good Company is sometimes called the Rolling Waves, but it’s older name is Humours of Trim. And Crawford plays it in Dmix (with c naturals), rather than the D major of Jeremy’s transcription. But the D maj version is the one I hear most widely played at sessions.

Kevin’s version is more like:

X: 1
T: Humours of Trim
T: Rolling Waves
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: D
~F3 DED|D2 d cAG|~F3 DED|A2 F GFE|
~F3 DED|D2 d cAG|F/G/AF GBG|A2 F GFE:||
D2 d cAd|cAd cAG|F2 d cAd|A2 F GFE|
D2 d cAd|fed cAG|F/G/AF GBG|A2 F GFE||

Now how did that happen? I put the key as Dmix (as I mentioned in my comments before the abcs. Sigh.

The point is, Crawford plays this with all c naturals. Meh.

thank you so much for posting that!

hello,
I listened carefully and I don’t feel like it begins with a roll on F#. It seems FEF to me. Any opinions?

Thanks so much for sharing!

Where I like to someties take it, not necessarily ~F… The ~D3 option is given as an opportunity for various posibilities, including a cran…

I’ve been playing this tune recently and the ABC (and generated sheet music) listed for The Rolling Waves doesn’t look right. The dotted-crotchets (dotted 1/4 notes) are usually played with rolls, not as 3 quavers (1/8 notes). This is how it looks:

|: ~F3 DED | D2d cAG | ~F3 DED | A2F GFE | ~F3 DED | D2d cAG | ~F3 ~G3 | A2F GFE : |
|: D2d cAd | cAd cAG | F2d cAF | A2F GFE | D2d cde | fed cAG | ~F3 ~G3 | A2F GFE :|

I love this tune the Rolling Waves. If anyone seen "The Boys Of The County Clare". the openning scene is a father playing alongside his three barefoot boys. It’s beautiful. Now, I’ve been made aware of another tune by the same name that sounds similar as well. Sometimes their played together. Anyone suggest an artist who recorded it?

"Rolls" are an option and not every musician plays them, or style requires them. there are always other options as, including not playing them at all…

Jim - the "father" in the opening scenes of "TB&GFTCC" is none other than our own contributer here - "Ptarmigan". I’ll have a think about recordings of the 2 jigs and get back to you.

Ptarmigan started a thread on site here where he had YouTube links to this… I’ll see if I can find them again…

https://thesession.org/members/3668

I like the accidentally D Major version of Crawford’s take as posted back in ‘08 by Miss Lonelyhearts. The intended D Mix is nice, too, of course!

I happened to find this gan ainm in Petrie’s manuscripts, tune #155, before I heard a version of it (John & Julia Clifford’s).
Petrie transcribes it in 12/8, without any repeats notated. Looks like it’d probably be a three-part version:

X: 1
T: Petrie’s #155 (Rolling Waves/Humours of Trim)
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
A|(FE).F (DE).D D2d (cA)G|(FE).F (FE).D A2F (GF).E|
(FE).F (DE).D D2d (cA).G|(FA).F (GB).G A2.F (GF).E |
D2d (cA).d (cA).d (cA).G|F2d (cA).d A2F (GF).E|
D2d (cA).c (de).d (cA).G|(FA).F (GB).G A2F (GF).E|
D2d cAd (cA)d (cA).G|F2d (cA).d A2F (GF).E|
D2d cAd (fe).d (cA).G|FAF GBG A2F GFE|

More playably, it could look like this:

X: 1
T: Petrie’s #155
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
X: 1
T: Petrie’s #155 (Rolling Waves/Humours of Trim)
M: 12/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Dmaj
A|:FEF DED D2d cAG|FEF FED A2F GFE|
FEF DED D2d cAG|FAF GBG A2F GFE :|:
D2d cAd cAd cAG|F2d cAd A2F GFE|[1
D2d cAc ded cAG|FAF GBG A2F GFE:|[2
D2d cAd fed cAG|FAF GBG A2F GFE||

NOTE: Sorry about the doubled up headers on my post above,

Trying to put a few tunes together in a set with The Rolling Waves. All suggestions appreciated.

Strange, I was also wondering what tune goes well with this tune this morning. The best tune I thought of was Contentment is Wealth: https://thesession.org/tunes/6842 Try playing Rolling Waves after that.

Thanks for that suggestion Slainte. I tried out Contentment is Wealth and it works, but right now I’m leaning heavily towards following Rolling Waves with Out On the Ocean. There’s a posting on Youtube with these two tunes together and it has had me humming all afternoon.

Does anyone know the version that Jeremy Kittel does on this youtube video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAcmg4bfRKw&feature=autoplay&list=PLBADF6D0B8B9F5DCC&index=4&playnext=3

play video

I love it and its totally different. Love the one posted here too.,

I also found the same version as Jeremy Kittel’s on a Kevin Burke album Portland called The Rolling Waves….totally different tune.

found my way to the other version….
https://thesession.org/tunes/88/comments

The Chieftains do a set that they call Sea Image. It includes the standard jig setting of this tune and also a slip jig setting, like so:


X:1
T: Rolling Waves [Slip Jig], The
T: Sea Image [Slip Jig]
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: Slip jig
K: D
FEF D2d cAG | F2D AGF GFE | FEF D2d cAG | ~F2A ~G2B AFE |
FEF D2d cAG | F2D AGF GFE | FEF D2d cAG | ~F2A ~G2B AFE ||
D2d cAd cAG | F2d A2F GFE | D2d cAc ded | ~F2A ~G2B AFE |
D2d cAd cAG | F2d A2F GFE | D2d cAd fed | ~F2A ~G2B AFE ||

Also, if anyone knows the name of the air they play in between, please let me know.

As a slip jig you should consider submitting it to the database on its own…

I found the original version to be strange. This is how people play it around here, the ornaments are for plectrum instruments.

X:1
T: Rolling Waves, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K:Dmaj
|:FEF DED| D2d cAG|FF/2F/2F FED|A2F GFE|
FEF DED|D2d cAG|FF/2F/2F GFG|A2F GFE:|
D2d cAd| cAd cAG|F2d cAG |FF/2F/2F GFE|
D2d cde|fed cAG|FF/2F/2F GFG|A2F GFE:|

Oops! Sorry I just noticed after publishing setting #10 that Jeremy already commented on Kevin Crawford’s version probably being D-mixolydian, and _almost_ all the same notes as Jeremy’s setting #1 !!
So, for the version I put up today I simply changed the "key" from Dmaj to Dmix, and made minor changes to notes played in bar 3 of both A and B parts. In short, all C’s are natural.

I found those 2 names in Bill Black’s miscellaneous tunes (http://www.capeirish.com/webabc/collections/misc/misc-tunes.txt) in the key of G. The source indicated by Bill is "The Ted Furey Collection of Irish Traditional Tunes" which I don’t know.

Just uploaded the slipjig setting from Chieftains 8/Film Cuts seperately:

https://thesession.org/tunes/13904

-K

I got this tune from the playing of Tom Stafford

https://youtu.be/YRrqsQnuv6A

play video

I have heard this tune played before the other Rolling Waves and then chased by Behind the Haystack

I must admit, I’m completely baffled by the way Willie Clancy played this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLqLNbkTmo4

play video

It’s not helped by the fact that the recording seems to "fade him up", so it’s hard to pinpoint exactly at what point he is actually starting the tune, as opposed to commencing the drone and (possibly) playing a few ‘warm-up notes’.

If I were transcribing his playing, following his emphasis, I would start the tune on the first C sharp. He places an emphasis so it’s almost like one bar of 3 followed by a bar of 5…

When he gets to the B part he continues the emphasis on the C sharps, and that’s perfectly conventional - you can count along in straightforward 4s and it feels like any other standard B-part. Until the last bar of it that is, which seems to be extended with an extra note or two…?! Does he have irregular bar lengths at the end of the B section?

Looking at the many transcriptions above, I’m inclined to think I’m completely misinterpreting it all. But I generally trust my ears on these things, and I’ve spent enough time listening to Willie Clancy’s playing to be pretty used to his turns of phrase. Anyone else hear what I’m talking about and can point me on the right track?

Nigel Gatherer’s transcription is the closest to Clancy’s found here:
https://thesession.org/tunes/88#setting12619

As the recording fades in Willie starts up the pipes and tumbles into the tune - you can simply ignore the first few notes of the recording and start counting with the FEF D3 | D2 - recognizing that the D3s are cranned and the D2s are not.

..;

Taught by Brian McNamara Willie Clancy 2016

The one that Kittel and Kevin Burke do is on this site as "The Lonesome Jig". Also heard it called the rolling wave…

some chords

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNcH_nkCqwk

play video

Great lively rendition by the great Tony McMahon & equally impressive Steve Cooney on guitar.

For learning on the c#d box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spNwMu3dkUk

play video