Annotation:Dusty Windowsill

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 DUSTY WINDOWSILL. AKA - "Dust on the Windows." AKA and see "Austin Barret's," "The Blasket Sound Jig," "The Chicago (Jig)," "Harding's Jig," "Harland's," "Johnny Harling's," "The Howling Jig," "Tim Harding's." Irish, Jig. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Black): AA'BB'CC (Alewine). A very popular session tune composed by Chicago whistle player Johnny Harling, apparently entitled "Dusty Window Sills" at first. Harling was at a friend's apartment when the tune came to him, and, not finding any writing instrument or paper to hand, he improvised by scratching it into the dust on a nearby windowsill. Later he returned with paper, but the title was evident. Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll (who said Harling was supposed to have given the tune to Austin Barrett who used it in a competition in Ireland, under the modified title "Dusty Windowsill." There is a rumor, totally unfounded, that the title was inspired by the rock group Kansas and their hit "Dust in the Wind." "The Chicago (Jig)" title is from Pete Cooper's Irish fiddle tutorial.   Source for notated version:   Printed sources: Alewine (Maid that Cut Off the Chicken's Lips), 1987; p. 16. Ashbrook (Playing the Hammered Dulcimer in Irish Tradition). Black (Music's the Very Best Thing), 1996; No. 86, p. 44. Cotter (Traditional Irish Tin Whistle Tutor), 1989; No. 55. Mallinson (100 Essential), 1995; No. 82, p. 36.  Recorded sources: Karen Ashbook - "Knock on the Door" (1986)  See also listings at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index Alan Ng's Irishtune.info

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