Scarce O’ Tatties jig

The following is about this song from the Clarke Tin Whistle book by Bill Ochs: "A recently composed tune by Norman Maclean, piper from Uist in the Outer Hebrides. A friend of his working in London complained about the qulaity of potatoes there, and so this tune was born"

There’s a strong rhythm to this tune which you can emphasise by double-stopping that opening A note (drone an E with it). Alternatively, you could change it from one long A note into a triplet, ABA for example.

There’s some other long notes in the second part where you could do the same thing. So, instead of simply a long E followed by a long A, you’d have EFE ABA.

A fiddler friend of mine, Clay Scott, hauled this one up from the depths of memory along the followling lines—similar to Jeremy’s setting, but for a few notes here and there. We’ve added it to our short list of frequently played tunes at the local session.

X: 1
T: Scarce O’ Tatties
M: 6/8
L: 1/8
C: Norman McLean
K: Amix
Ace efg|edB dBG|Ace efg|edB Ace|
~a3 gag|faf ecA|Ace efg|1 edB A2 A:|2 edB A2 a||
aeg a2 f|gaf ecA|aeg a2 f|gaf e3|
efe Ace|def fed|Ace efg|1 edB A2 a:|2 edB A2 A||

I’ve added the version I’m familiar with. We wouldn’t play any Cs in this tune at all. Chord structure and modes aren’t my strong point but A dorian seems more accurate to me. Also, it’s played heavily swung, almost like a 6/8 march, so I’ve added that to the dots too.

A friend gave me this good tune. He told me that he picked it on a Silly Wizard’s recording.