I working on a personal index of session tunes and I have a question about this jig (of is it jigs). I’m sure someone here will know the answer.
The version of Munster Buttermilk (aka Behind the Haystack) that I am familiar with starts out (in D):
d2e fdB | d2e fdB | AFE E2f| AFE E3
But in the Mel Bay collection, “110 Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes”, the jig identified as Munster Buttermilk starts like this (in G):
~g3 age | d2B BAB | d2B BAB | DBA G2
This looks too different to me to be a different versions of the same tune. Are these different tunes with the same name, or did the Mel Bay book misidentify the tune?
–Jay
According to Breathnach, there are indeed two versions of Munster Buttermilk. Besides the one also called Behind the Haystack which you are obviously familiar with, there is also this 2nd one:
- An Bhláthach Mhuimhneach: The Munster Buttermilk, from John Cathcart [fiddle], Derrylin, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, IX, 1966. It is remarkable that O’Neill does not have a version of this[2]. Settings in Petrie (from Joyce, untitled) (SP, 973) and Levey (L, i, p20). Squeeze your Thighs in a manuscript from Fermanagh written in 1865. In a copy made in 1920 the name was changed to Squeeze you thights. In County Leitrim it is called Take her or leave her. “Barr na Feirste” on a version got from Micko Russell and published in Ceol, iii, 4. The jig sometimes called The Sports of Multyfarnham (CRÉ, 43) is known as The Munster Buttermilk in Gneeveguilla in Kerry.
Don’t know what’s in the Mel Bay book , though - perhaps someone else can add more detail.
'luck now,
brian_k.
According to Breathnach, there are indeed two versions of Munster Buttermilk. Besides the one also called Behind the Haystack which you are obviously familiar with, there is also this 2nd one:
- An Bhláthach Mhuimhneach: The Munster Buttermilk, from John Cathcart [fiddle], Derrylin, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, IX, 1966. It is remarkable that O’Neill does not have a version of this[2]. Settings in Petrie (from Joyce, untitled) (SP, 973) and Levey (L, i, p20). Squeeze your Thighs in a manuscript from Fermanagh written in 1865. In a copy made in 1920 the name was changed to Squeeze you thights. In County Leitrim it is called Take her or leave her. “Barr na Feirste” on a version got from Micko Russell and published in Ceol, iii, 4. The jig sometimes called The Sports of Multyfarnham (CRÉ, 43) is known as The Munster Buttermilk in Gneeveguilla in Kerry.
Don’t know what’s in the Mel Bay book , though - perhaps someone else can add more detail.
'luck now,
brian_k.
Yes Jay, the three-part jig you cite as also known as “Behind the Haystack” appears as “Munster Buttermilk” on Molloy, Brady, Peoples. The two-part jig you found in Mel Bay appears as “Munster Buttermilk” on Murphy and Clifford’s The Star above the Garter. According to the Fiddler’s Companion, both tunes have been known under both names. I presume they must have been played together at some point and the names got crossed up.
Incidentally, I think the two-part jig is a lot nicer on whistle if you play it in D…
Thanks, guys. Now I can proceed with confidence.
–Jay