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The Policeman’s Holiday jig

Also known as The Policeman’s Holyday.

There are 9 recordings of a tune by this name.

The Policeman’s Holiday has been added to 4 tune sets.

The Policeman's Holiday has been added to 36 tunebooks.

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Four settings

X: 1
T: The Policeman's Holiday
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
g||dBG DGB|gfa gdB|ecA EAc|eg/2g/2g gfe|
dBG DGc|B2d dcB|A^ce ~a3|fe^c dd/2d/2d:||
~g3 fdg|ecg dBA |GBd gfe|dBA GBd|
gea fdg|~e3 dcB|A^ce ~a3|fd^c ded:||
Bc^c dbf|agd f=fe|dbf agd|f=fe bge|
dbf agd|B2g gdB|A^ce ~a3|1fd^c d2z:|2fd^c d2g||
X: 2
T: The Policeman's Holiday
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
g||dBG DGc|ABd dB/c/d|e2c EAc|g3 gfe|
dBG DGc|B2d dcB|A^ce ~a3|1fd^c d2g:|2fd^c def|
~g3 ~f3|e2e dBA |GB/c/d g2e|dBA GB/c/d|
~g3 ~f3|~e3 d^cB|A^ce ~a3|fd^c d3|
gab fga|efg dBA|GB/c/d gB/c/d|gdB GB/c/d|
~g3 ~f3|~e3 d^cB|A^ce ~a3|fd^c d3|
Bc^c dbf|agd f=fe|dbf agd|fed bge|
dbf agd|B2g gdB|A^ce ~a3|1fd^c d2z:|2fd^c d2g||
X: 3
T: The Policeman's Holiday
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:ge|dBG B,DG|Bdd dBG|ecA A,CE|Ace gfe|
dBG B,DG|Bdd d"+"cB|Ace agd|fed d:|
ef|gea fdg|e"+"ce dBG|GBd gfe|dBG GBd|
gea fdg|e"+"ce dcB|Ace agd|fed d:|
|:c=c|B=c^c dbf|agd fe^d|dbf agd|fed bge|
dbf agd|Bag gdB|Ace agd|fed d:|
X: 4
T: The Policeman's Holiday
R: jig
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
|:ge|dBG B,DG|Bdd dBG|e^cA A,^CE|A^ce gfe|
dBG B,DG|Bdd dcB|A^ce agd|fed d:|
ef|gea fdg|ece dBG|GBd gfe|dBG GBd|
gea fdg|ece dcB|A^ce agd|fed d:|
|:^c=c|B=c^c dbf|agd fe^d|dbf agd|fed bge|
dbf agd|Bag gdB|A^ce agd|fed d:|

Nine comments

The Policeman’s Holiday

You’ll have to forgive me as this is my first attempt at submitting a tune.The person I first heard playing this tune was the flute player Davy Maguire from Belfast - I think it’s a bit of a party piece. He used to play it in sessions with the McSherry’s. Davy, Joanne McSherry, Paul McSherry and a great mandolin player whose name was Milo, I think, formed a band called Commonality who recorded this tune on their first and only eponymous LP. Emer Mayock does a version on her "Merry bits of Timber" CD and John Doherty recorded it; you can hear a snatch of the tune on this site:
http://cdnow.com/switch/from=sr-850864/target=buyweb_purchase/ddcn=SD-1564+34020+2

My version is close to what I remember Davy playing on the flute- as you can hear on the John Doherty recording there is plenty of scope for variations.

I also found this reference to a piece of music with the same name but can’t find out whether it’s the same\similar!
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/200103/2001.03.04.04.html

Good luck with this one, as it’s a bitch to play.

Con

Fnat

Yikes! How did he do those F naturals? Did he use keys?

F natch

I don’t know if his flute is fully keyed, but he’s definitely got a few on there… I heard Jean Michel Veillon play it in Belfast once, but I suspect he learned it from Davy as they’re great friends.

Correcting my mistake

Davy’s band was called Commonalty - i.e. without the "i".

Only took me a year and a half to spot that.

Emer Mayock’s version

X: 1
T: Policeman’s Holyday, The
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Gmaj
N: Version from Emer Mayock’s "Merry Bits of Timber"
g||dBG DGc|ABd dB/c/d|e2c EAc|g3 gfe|
dBG DGc|B2d dcB|A^ce ~a3|1fd^c d2g:|2fd^c def|
~g3 ~f3|e2e dBA |GB/c/d g2e|dBA GB/c/d|
~g3 ~f3|~e3 d^cB|A^ce ~a3|fd^c d3|
gab fga|efg dBA|GB/c/d gB/c/d|gdB GB/c/d|
~g3 ~f3|~e3 d^cB|A^ce ~a3|fd^c d3|
Bc^c dbf|agd f=fe|dbf agd|fed bge|
dbf agd|B2g gdB|A^ce ~a3|1fd^c d2z:|2fd^c d2g||

The Policeman’s Holiday, X:3

Setting from the Northern Fiddler, of John Doherty’s playing, dutifully copied by Bill Black. In the book the C# notes marked here with a plus sign were noted as being "C natural the first time around, C sharp later." Listening to John play the tune on the Celebrated Recordings CD I don’t hear this at all. Feldman left out the repeats of the 1st and 3rd parts too. Perhaps John played the tune this way on the tape Alan was working from but judging by the morass of transcription errors in the book I doubt it.