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Annotation:Munster Gimlet
X:1 T:Munster Gimlet, The M:9/8 L:1/8 R:Slip Jig Q:"Quick" B:R.M. Levey – First Collection of the Dance Music of Ireland (1858, No. 27, p. 11) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gdor !fermata!d2d|:OcAG G2 GG2d|(cAG) Gad fed|(cAG) G2G G2G|1 F3{GABcde} fed cAd:|2 F3{GABcde} fed cAF|| G2g (gag) g2G|G2gg2a (bag)|d2e (FGE) F2A|Afe {g}fed cAG| G2g (gag) g2G|G2g g2a (bag)|(bag) (agf) (gfe)|fge f2d fedO!D.C.!||
MUNSTER GIMLET. AKA and see "Kitty Come Down to Limerick," "Plumkum," "Whack at the Whigs (A)," "Will You Come Down to Limerick? (1)." Irish, Slip Jig. G Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'. The famed early 20th century Irish-American piper Patsy Touhey (1865-1923), called the tune by this title and recorded it on a cylinder in the first decade of the 20th century.
Kitty come down, come down,
Kitty come down to Limerick.
I knew by the glint in her eye
That she wanted a touch of the gimlet!
A gimlet is a tool for boring holes in wood; thus a bawdy connotation.
Francis O'Neill, in Irish Folk Music, a Fascinating Hobby (1910), records:
An uncommonly fine tune of this class [i.e. slip or hop jigs], in three strains, obtained from John Ennis, is "Will You Come Down to Limerick?" Simpler versions are known to old-time musicians of Munster and Connacht, and in Chicago. Ennis had no monopoly of it, for it was well known to Delaney, Early, and McFadden. As an old-time Slip Jig it seems to have been called "The Munster Gimlet," a singularly inapt title; but when it came into vogue as a song name, we are unable to say.
See also the related "Leitrim Jig (1) (The)."
