Annotation:Jimmy of a Thousand Welcomes

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JIMMY OF A THOUSAND WELCOMES (Jimmy Mo Mhile Stór). Irish, Air (3/4 time). G Major (O Canainn, Russell): A Major (Roche). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Roche, Russell): ABB' (O Canainn). The song was sung in Irish and well and English (which sounds quite stilted). The last verse in English goes:

I'll go to the woods and stay there the rest of my days,
Where no mortal I'll suffer my soul to tease,
With the wild rowans with red berries drooping o'er
I'll wait for my true love, sweet Jimmy, mo mhile stór.

Clare tin whistle player Micho Russell's mother's version went:

I will let my hair grow long and I will let up a beard.
I will sleep in my bed, cold, with a quilt made of my old trousers,
And if I don't get this girl from the mountain
I will leave this girl altogether.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 87, p. 75. Roche (Collection of Traditional Irish Music, vol. 1), 1912; No. 15, p. 11. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989, p. 25.

Recorded sources: Clo Iar-Chonnachta Records CICD 079, Eilin Ni Bheaglaoich - "Mile Dath/A Cloak of Many Colors." Clo Iar-Chonnachta Records CICD 150, Cait Ni Ailiosa (1894-1977) - "Maidin Bhog Alainn" (recorded c. 1960). Gael Linn Records, Jimmy Crowley - "Jimmy mo Mhile Stór." The Chieftains - "Tears of Stone" (featuring the Rankins). RTE MC124, Kathleen Brennan-Grant - "A Job of Journeywork" (fiddle solo).

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