The Irish Washerwoman
"The Irish Washerwoman" is a traditional jig known to have been played throughout Britain & Ireland and in North America. Although usually considered an Irish tune, some scholars claim that it is English in origin, derived from the seventeenth-century tune "Dargason".[1]
This jig was incorporated as the first movement of the Irish Suite, a collection of traditional tunes arranged for orchestra by American composer Leroy Anderson in 1946.[2]
Over the years many songs have used The Irish Washerwoman tune. One of the most popularly known lyrics sung to the tune is McTavish Is Dead.[3]
In popular culture
The song has been used in many movies, such as Christmas in Connecticut and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In the Little House on the Prairie book series, Pa Ingalls plays the song on his fiddle.[4]
References
- The Traditional Tune Archive, https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Irish_Washerwoman_(1)
- The Irish Washerwoman from Irish Suite
- McTavish Is Dead
- Cleaveland, Nancy S. ""Irish Washerwoman"". Pioneergirl.com. The Seventhwinter Group. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
External links
- A clip of John Sheahan and André Rieu playing the jig on violins
- A site with lyrics
- Sheet music on thesession.org
- Sheet music for piano – intermediate level 4, with sound recording.
- The Chemist's Drinking Song
- The Old Irish Washerwoman Feature film.
- Irish Washerwoman as collected from Stephen Baldwin, Gloucestershire fiddler, with sound recording.
- Louis-Antoine Jullien used the tune in his "The Royal Irish Quadrilles".