Does "Irish Washerwoman" have a bad rap?

Whistle
21

The tune accompanies a Scottish National Dance of the same name. It is a compulsory dance in competition, along with the sailor’s hornpipe.

The dancer’s costume is a Hollywood view of what an Irish washerwoman would be like. During the dance the dancers have to shake their fists as if angry at someone. My ex-wife who was a highland dancer and Irish, refused to dance it thinking that it was demeaning towards the Irish.

We have a guy here in Windsor who plays the hell out of that tune almost every chance he gets and at speeds that almost no one can play with him, and it does get very, very, thin at times.

So it isn’t one of my favourites!

MarkB

22

I don’t know what yer all talking about… Irish Washerwoman is the hottest tune going in the Boston session scene these days.

Me: “Hey Peter, we haven’t played Irish Washerwoman since the beginning of the session, and there were only 3 whistles in the session then. Don’t you think we ought to play it again now that 5 more whistle players, 2 bodhran players and a guitarist have joined in?”

Peter: “Good stuff Chris. I don’t think we really got into the groove of it when we played it earlier, and it’ll sound so much better with the additional whistle players, bodhran players and the guitarist. Let’s play it again, 6 times through, followed by the Kesh Jig and then Saddle the Pony. We’ll take turns on the parts too, alternating between harmony and melody too, so it won’t be as boring as most of our sets. How’s that sound?”

Me: “That sounds fantastic Peter, okay, should you start or should I start, and what key whistles should we play it with?”

Peter: “You can start Chris. Have you got your McHaffie low E#? I’ve always loved that whistle. That way you can play in E# and I’ll play in D and we’ll have some really cool harmonies. Sound good?”

Me: “Good stuff… count of 4!”

Peter: “Wait, Chris does that mean just before 4, right on 4, of after 4?”

Me: “Dammit Peter, you’re right, this is just too complicated. How about some polkas? Let’s do that one we play as a round!”

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[ This Message was edited by: ChrisLaughlin on 2003-01-20 18:28 ]

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Please, Oh Please, ChrisLaughlin where is this pub in Boston that such a lovely tune is played on your Maytag. Is it next to a laundromat? You might need some Bounce for your load – ah tune.

It sounds like it might be empty – devoid of life — paying customers, or people who are deaf, or muscially challenged!

Or some place to avoid when visiting!

Where did you say the pub was?

MarkB

24

For what it’s worth, here are the words that show up in an Ask.com search for “The Irish Washerwoman lyrics.”

IRISH WASHERWOMAN/CORPORAL CASEY

When I was at home I was merry and frisky,
My dad kept a pig and my mother sold whisky,
My uncle was rich, but never would by aisey
Till I was enlisted by Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey,
My dear little Shelah, I thought would run crazy,
When I trudged away with tough Corporal Casey.

I marched from Kilkenny, and, as I was thinking
On Shelah, my heart in my bosom was sinking,
But soon I was forced to look fresh as a daisy,
For fear of a drubbing from Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey!
The devil go with him, I ne’er could be lazy,
He struck my shirts so, ould Corporal Casey.

We went into battle, I took the blows fairly
That fell on my pate, but they bothered me rarely,
And who should the first be that dropped, why, and please ye,
It was my good friend, honest Corporal Casey.
Och! rub a dub, row de dow, Corporal Casey!
Thinks I you are quiet, and I shall be aisey,
So eight years I fought without Corporal Casey.

25

Chris, that was hilarious! Man, that had me laughing as hard as some of the stuff in “rrruuummbbbllllle” thread…

26

I suspect that it has been cast out into exterior darkness because it’s associated with “stage Irishness”. Time for some movie buff to count how many times it’s been used as background music for the bar-room brawl that is a sine qua non of any Hollywood depiction of Ireland. It was possibly Tuohey’s recording that made it known in the US outside Irish circles.

A similarly damned tune is “The Rakes of Mallow” because it seems to be the only tune that dancing teachers use for their very first lesson (and for the next few hundred). About 99.99% of musicians just hate it.

Among singers, “The Fields of athenry” is the equivalent pariah, for more obscure reasons.

27

On 2003-01-22 07:42, Roger O’Keeffe wrote:
A similarly damned tune is “The Rakes of Mallow”

Remember that Rapper set I mentioned a few posts ago? Rakes of Mallow is in that one as well.
It may not be fashionable in musical circles but it can bring in an awful lot of free pints.

28

All jokes aside, when you play for hire, sometimes you have to play what the folks who are paying you want to hear.

In the fife and drum world, we get asked to play Yankee Doodle at least 3 times at every job. Oh yeah, and Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Old Dan Tucker, Grandfather’s Clock and Turkey in the Straw. We also get asked to play the Rakes of Mallow, the Girl I left Behind Me, Gary Owen, and yes, the Irish Washerwoman. So we play them. We play them as well as we can, and occasionally one of us even comes up with a new arrangement, and we try that.

Of course, the fife and drum canon is somewhat smaller than the trad. There are only about 1500 or 2000 tunes in common use. Fife and drum sessions (which are called jollifications, by the way) last longer than trad sessions, people wander in and out, and it is not uncommon to repeat a tune a couple of hours later. There is also no disrespect for easy tunes - beginners are encouraged to hang around, and asked what tunes they know so that they can participate. My friend Sue is the New York state champion fifer, and will often ask that we play something fat (easy) so that the kids can join in.

Also, there are reasons why these tunes became cliches. One of the reasons is that they strike a chord in people. So play 'em! Unless they’re asking for that tune from Titanic. Or Riverdance.

Just my $.02 (U.S. - that’s $7.50 Canadian).

29

On 2003-01-22 07:42, Roger O’Keeffe wrote:
I suspect that it has been cast out into exterior darkness because it’s associated with “stage Irishness”. Time for some movie buff to count how many times it’s been used as background music for the bar-room brawl that is a sine qua non of any Hollywood depiction of Ireland. It was possibly Tuohey’s recording that made it known in the US outside Irish circles.

A similarly damned tune is “The Rakes of Mallow” because it seems to be the only tune that dancing teachers use for their very first lesson (and for the next few hundred). About 99.99% of musicians just hate it.

Among singers, “The Fields of athenry” is the equivalent pariah, for more obscure reasons.

Don’t forget “Whisky in the Jar” (which I can tolerate every once in a while) and “The Flowers of the Forest” (which I can’t)!

30

Well, I’m sorry …

I just pulled up a midi of “Washerwoman” and listened to it again. Even in that canned version, I think it’s a terrific tune. Too bad there’s so much baggage associated with it. That B part swirls wonderfully. Lots of character to it. Makes me want to grab someone and dance.

No offense intended – sometimes it may be a liability to be too experienced or too sophisticated. Because of their innocence and the newness of everything, my kids can get an amazing amount of pleasure out of things that seem utterly unremarkable to me.

Best wishes,
Jerry

31

From what I hear it was a hot tune in Donegal for a while. It’s on the “Fiddlesticks” album (one of the Cork University Traditional Music Festival recordings), with Máiraid Ní Mhaonaigh, Ciaran Tourish, Liz Doherty, Kevin and Seamus Glackin, Tommy Peoples, and a bunch of others all screaming through it in high style. The tune seems to lend itself to that fast downbeaty groove beloved of Donegal fiddlers … dah BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita BAbita …

(edited to correct the spelling of “Tourish.”)

[ This Message was edited by: Ro3b on 2003-01-22 15:15 ]

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A similarly damned tune is “The Rakes of Mallow” because it seems to be the only tune that dancing teachers use for their very first lesson (and for the next few hundred). About 99.99% of musicians just hate it.

If any of you have seen that Nike (I think) commercial with the streaker running around the soccer stadium, eluding capture all the while as the proper Brit announcer gives a running commentary, you’ll recall that when the streaker grabs a mic and starts doing the shimmy the announcer says “I’m afraid that’s an image that will be etched on my brain for quite some time.” That echoes the problem I have with the Rakes of Mallow. Many years ago, the local TV station was running a clip on their news show about that day’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, and the clip they chose to run was of a line of tuba players marching by as they played the Rakes of Mallow. That brief image has ever since been etched on my brain, and surfaces every time that tune (or even its name) pops up.

I suspect that it’s “tune abuse” of this sort that is the root of the problem most serious players of ITM have with tunes like the Rakes of Mallow, Irish Washerwoman, Butterfly, Sweets of May, High Cauld Cap, etc. Some of these aren’t actually bad tunes (okay, most of them are…), but at some point in the collective consciousness of Irish trad players, there have been bad images associated with them. So they end up in a pariah status, unbeknownst to those who aren’t part of the collective consciousness and are still able to judge the tune on its merits and find reason to request it. Which either results in a re-examination and rehabilition of the tune by the ITM collective consciousness, or (more likely) yet another unpleasant experience to further cement the pariah status of the tune into the ITM collective consciousness.

As for the Irish Washerwoman, I was actually at a session last night where a punter requested it. There were five of us there who were by no means ITM rookies, and I don’t think any of us had ever actually played the tune. One of us (not me) was able to scrape together a creditable rendition in response to the punter’s request. You know, it’s actually not that bad a tune…

33

It strikes me that it’s a good thing that traditional musicians (i.e. those who played and passed on the tunes through the generations) weren’t as concerned with changes in fashion as we modern folks are. Think how many tunes would have been lost to us.
Perhaps it’s modern mass media and commuications that lead to enough overkill to make us think of tunes as cliches.

34

On 2003-01-20 05:44, Walden wrote:
For a rendition of Irish Washerwoman by a promising young player, check out this thread: > http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=9110&forum=1&start=15

I’ll study this new (to me) evidence by winding it through A Messing Slur Downer.
After this, I may take sides in the rrrummmble.

35

I’m intrigued to notice that the Kesh jig and the Butterfly feature in this category.

I first heard the Butterfly on Tommy Potts’s album and liked it a lot (I have a particular grá for slip jigs), but it was the Bothy Band’s version of it that really “etched it on my mind” in a positive sense. I had never even heard of the Kesh jig until the Bothy recording of it, and the first time I heard it I thought it was electrifying. Neither was a known no-no until then, and I can only assume that it’s precisely because the Bothy version of both caught so many people’s imagination that they have been played to death and got onto the rap sheet.

Or maybe I’ve misunderstood the whole thread and we’ve been talking about “urban” music (love that PC euphemism!) all the time.